Practicing
Together
One-on-One Mentorship
A space for honest conversation, thoughtful reflection, and finding a way forward that you can put into practice.
You may be navigating a transition, questioning familiar patterns, or looking for a steadier relationship with yourself and others.
Perhaps you feel you’ve reached a plateau in recovery, even while participating in a 12-step program, Buddhist-adjacent recovery processes, or another recovery community. You may find yourself returning to unhelpful or unhealthy ways of coping, feeling stumped or confused. The ways addiction shows up in your life may have changed, yet familiar suffering or dissatisfaction remains—even if it is less intense than what first brought you into recovery.
Mentorship offers space to explore what feels stuck and how your recovery and practice can continue to grow, alongside the support you already have. We begin with what matters to you.
The intention is not to learn to suffer more efficiently or become better at enduring it. Freedom from suffering is an actual goal of this practice—including freedom from a negative sense of self that intrudes on our day-to-day experience.
Experience I bring to the conversation
My approach is informed, influenced, and shaped by 36 years of formal Zen training in monasteries and practice centers, and 39 years in long-term recovery practice in and around 12-step processes—adapted and modified as my understanding of what addiction actually is has grown. These are ongoing practices in my own life, shaping how I listen, meet difficulty, and work with change.
As an ordained Rinzai Zen Buddhist monk, I bring a grounding in formal practice alongside lived experience. Our conversations make room for both the practical questions of daily life and the deeper questions that may be underneath them.
What might bring you here
Moving through a life transition or a period of uncertainty.
Exploring how recovery and spiritual practice meet everyday life.
Looking closely at habits, relationships, and familiar reactions.
Finding greater clarity about what matters and how to live it.
Begin with a conversation
Write to me with a little about what brings you here and what you’re looking for. We can discuss whether mentorship feels like a good fit, along with availability, format, and cost.
Immersion Retreats for Groups
Practice can deepen when we make time to explore together. Alongside one-on-one mentorship, I offer immersion retreats for groups and communities, bringing Zen practice, lived experience, and recovery into conversation with everyday life.
If your sangha, recovery community, or other group is interested in hosting a one- or three-day immersion retreat outside of regularly scheduled events, please contact Mentor Garden. We can explore your interests and what would serve your group.
