What is the Visiting Resident Program?
Mountain Cloud’s Visiting Resident Program offers meditation practitioners the chance to dive deeply into the living dharma through daily sits, samu work practice and community participation. We are looking for self-directed individuals (of all ages – we are all Zen students) with an existing meditation practice interested in joining in the life of the center for a minimum of four weeks (3 months during Covid-19 challenges). If you do not have an existing practice, you must have a commitment to learning the practice while applying it to all aspects of day to day living.
Due to the COVID 19 situation, we are accepting a very limited number of visiting residents, preferably those who can stay onsite for a minimum of three months and are willing to accept a 14 day quarantine on arrival. For the time being all of our events have gone virtual, but our residents still hold twice daily sits in our zendo and practice samu for 2-3 hours each day. Residents also have access to our Teachers Valerie Forstman or Henry Shukman for private interviews. Our retreats are online as are our weekly Thursday evening talks. We plan to partially re-open and bring some activities back to the center with a virtual options. So far however, no date for a partial public re-opening has been set. That said, the few on-site residents we have, are enjoying a good deal of solitude with plenty of time for sitting, studying and samu.
The visiting resident experience enriches practitioner lives in a variety of ways…
- jump start or deepen practice through consistent sitting with others
- receive direct support through instruction, teachings, and community
- experience mindfulness as a lifestyle beyond meditation
- be valued not for your accomplishment or skill, but for being you, here, now!
- create spaciousness for personal reflection, insight, and discovery
On a daily basis, visiting residents will participate in an hour of both morning and evening meditation (more if wanted), three hours of daily work practice, access to our teacher Henry Shukman and use of our kitchen. Meals are not included except during retreats. Click here for pricing and for the daily schedule.
Visiting students need maturity and the ability to commit to a minimum four week stay. Personal qualities required include…
- Mental and emotional stability
- Flexible attitude
- Self-directed
- Adaptability to changing situations
- Comfortable working, living and practicing with limited privacy and space, in close proximity with a small community of diverse individuals
- Financial resources to maintain your stay and sustain personal needs – Click here for pricing
Unstructured Personal Retreats
If you cannot come for a minimum of four weeks, you may do a personal retreat at Mountain Cloud for several days or for a week or two. Our pricing structure differs from the Visiting Resident program and there is no samu requirement for personal retreats.
Suggested Readings
Mindfulness In Plain English, by Henepola Gunaratana
Zen Mind, Beginners Mind, by Shunryu Suzuki
The Miracle of Mindfulness, by Thich Nhat Hanh
If you have questions about becoming a Visiting Student at Mountain Cloud, Contact Johanna for more information.
To apply for our visiting resident program, fill out the form below.