30 Days of Zen Chants (Online Course)
Zen Chants Deep Dive: A 30-Day Journey
Daily Emails, Meditations & Cohort Forum: November 1 – 30
Live Workshops: Saturdays, November 1, 15, 22, and 29, 10:45am – 12pm MT / 12:45 – 2pm ET
“Chanting is a method of recalling, embodying, and sharing the dharma: the fact of who you truly are – of what this world is. One fact. One reality. In chanting, it can happen that the distance between hearer and heard dissolves. One sound. One giving-receiving. No one doing anything.” -Valerie Forstman, from the Sutra Book Introduction
Registration:
- Benefactor Fee of $149
- Program Fee of $99
- 25% and 50% needs-based scholarships available
- Members receive a 50% discount! See your Members’ Newsletter for a special link.
and overcoming past traumas that could happen in just one month.
— 2023 Course Participant
Course Components
Our Curriculum Coordinator Kieran Mead-Ward expands on the theme and the motivations for the course in the video below:
Daily Emails
Each day, you’ll receive an email with:
- The text of a chant / Sutra
- A message or practice invitation from one of our teachers/guides, helping us bring the chant to life in our imaginations, breath, body, perceptions, self-expression and relationships. Our teachers and guides are Valerie Forstman, Henry Shukman, Scott Thornton, Carolyn Seburn, Shana Smith, and Kieran Mead-Ward.
- A reflection prompt, inviting you to share in the optional online community forum
The daily emails are designed to be digestible and catalytic fodder for your daily practice, on and off the cushion.
Live Workshops
During the four live workshops, you’ll be able to engage directly with one of our Zen teachers as well as the course cohort, to explore your burning questions and insights and get live support.
Online Forum
So much magic happens in the optional daily community forum. We reflect and digest our practice and the teachings with our 30-day peers. Past participants have been impressed not only by how much they learn from others, but also what wisdom flows from their own being – primed by this rich and open sharing.
Online Sitting
And finally, our center provides opportunities to sit, daily, online with the cohort and our broader sangha. You have the option to engage in your daily practice independently or join a larger group for online sessions via Zoom. See here for our daily sitting schedule.
Participants are also encouraged to attend the Zazenkai on November 8th, a full day of practice in community. This Zazenkai is led by Guiding Teacher Valerie Forstman, and the theme will connect with the 30 Days of Zen. Learn more here.
The sangha aspect of the daily journal–reading others’ shared posts, identifying and learning from those shared posts, responding to others’ posts and getting feedback on my own posts–made me feel part of an open-hearted, like-minded community, which felt wonderful.
— 30-Day Course Participant
Register here
For scholarship registration, click here.
Members receive a 50% discount! See your Members’ Newsletter for a special link.
About Scholarships:
Scholarships are covered with the help of generous donations from fellow sangha members, with the intention to make these precious experiences available to those otherwise excluded, as a step towards inclusivity and wide welcome in this shared practice. We have intentionally removed barriers to applying for the scholarship in trust and compassion for each one’s discernment. If you are able, please consider making a donation or registering at the Benefactor rate to help support our scholarship offerings.
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Teachers
Valerie Forstman is an Associate Zen Master of the Sanbo Zen lineage and our Guiding Teacher here at Mountain Cloud. Her first teacher, with whom she continues to work, was Ruben Habito Roshi. Since 2003, she has also trained under the guidance of Yamada Ryoun Roshi, current abbot of Sanbo Zen.
Valerie came to Mountain Cloud with a shared vision of the core of the Zen path, a way of coming home to who we truly are. In keeping with the Sanbo Zen tradition, this path or ‘way’ may include koan training, “just sitting” practice, or simple breath awareness practice, all of which funnel into what it means to undergo the immense change of heart implied by the term “awakening.” What a joy and what a rich process it can be, not just to taste this, but to embody it and live it out in lives of compassionate service.
A first-career classical musician, Valerie holds degrees from Oberlin College Conservatory of Music and Stony Brook University in NY. She has taught and performed in the U.S., Canada, and around Europe. After discovering Zen, Valerie went on to earn a Masters of Theological Studies and Ph.D. from Brite Divinity School.
As Guiding Teacher, Valerie is responsible for the quality and integrity of Zen offerings at Mountain Cloud. She offers dokusan to over 50 students a week and runs our sesshin and zazenkai. Alongside her guiding work at Mountain Cloud, Valerie leads sesshin (intensive Zen retreats) annually at two Zen centers in Germany.
Henry Shukman is Spiritual Director Emeritus at Mountain Cloud Zen Center. He joined the center as Guiding Teacher in 2010, bringing new fervor to the teaching at the center and fostering new programs. He then became Spiritual Director. Between 2010 and 2023, Henry has contributed greatly to the Mountain Cloud you see today.
He has trained with several Zen teachers, particularly the roshis Joan Rieck, John Gaynor, Ruben Habito and Yamada Ryoun Roshi, as well as with teachers and mentors in other traditions. Henry has received dharma transmission (inka shomei and sanmotsu) from Yamada Ryoun Roshi, Abbot of Sanbo Zen, and is a Shōshike (Authentic Zen Master) of the Sanbo Zen lineage of Kamakura, Japan. In addition, Henry is an award-winning author and poet. His struggles as a youth, combined with a spontaneous awakening experience at 19, paved the way for him to develop a well-rounded approach to spirituality and meditation, under the guidance of his teachers – one that includes both compassionate concern for the sufferings of the world and the great liberating power of awakening as its foundation. Henry is the founder and teacher of the Original Love Program, a comprehensive non-sectarian guide to meditation practice, and is the co-founder and teacher of the meditation app, The Way.
Learn more about Henry’s latest book – Original Love, his meditation app – The Way, workshops and current projects at www.HenryShukman.com
Scott Thornton (San’un-ken) is a Teacher in the Sanbo Zen lineage and a Teacher and Residency Advisor at Mountain Cloud. Scott provides practice guidance to residents and leads our weekly Book Group, monthly Aging Buddhas gatherings, and weekly Intro to Zen classes.
Scott and his wife, Guiding Teacher Valerie Forstman Roshi, came to work at Mountain Cloud in July of 2022. After an early career as an actor and singer, he turned to Clinical Psychology, a profession he has worked in for over 45 years (and from which he plans to retire in early 2026), though he still enjoys the occasional singer-songwriter gig! He began meditating on his own for 12 years before joining The Maria Kannon Zen Center in Dallas and beginning Koan study with Ruben Habito Rōshi in 2000. He continues his training with Henry Shukman Roshi.
Carolyn Seburn is a Sanbo Zen Teacher based in Ontario and a regular teacher in our hybrid/online events. She provides online dokusan to our members and during our 6-day retreats, dharma talks, and workshops for our 30 Days of Zen Course.
She is an authorized Dharma successor of Roselyn Stone (Sei’un An – Clearing Away the Clouds) Rôshi of the Mountain Moon Sangha (Toronto and Brisbane). She has been practicing Zen meditation since 1985 and guiding Zen practice since 2015. Married, with one offspring, Carolyn is also a biologist and public servant who focuses on wildlife conservation. Carolyn is also appointed a Zen teacher with Sanbo Zen International.
Shana Smith is an Assistant Teacher of Sanbo Zen based in Florida. Shana provides online 1-1 practice support to our members, and provides workshops for our 30 Days of Zen Course and sesshins.
Shana discovered yoga in 1990 and began attending regular classes in several different styles of yoga. After several years of ardent practice and study, she began to teach at her local studio and Yoga Temple. Shana became interested in the sensations and insights she experienced in Savasana, which led her to begin a regular meditation practice and in 2007 took refuge in the Sanbo Zen Lineage, and recently become a Sanbo Zen Assistant teacher. Over the years, she has found a tremendous synergy between Yoga and Zen, and integrates the two in her daily, committed practice.
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Registration Fee
- Benefactor Fee of $149
- Program Fee of $99
- Members receive a 50% discount! See your Members’ Newsletter for a special link.
- 25% and 50% needs-based scholarships available
Register Now
Registration is open throughout the course, and upon signing up, you will receive a digital copy of the previously sent daily emails, along with recordings of all live events.
If you have any questions about the program, feel free to contact Kieran.
