Sesshin is not for the fragile
While everyone is welcome at Sanshin, the reality is that this kind of sesshin is not right for everyone at all times. Attendees should be generally healthy in body and mind in order to have a meaningful sesshin experience. Sanshin's style of sesshin is one of the most intensive available, and while participating in sesshin is not a matter of endurance, it is a matter of resilience. Challenges, both physical and psychological, go with the territory, and participants need to be able to bounce back on their own easily enough to carry on. That resilience comes from maturity of practice, life experience, physical and mental health, and self awareness. We need to understand what's happening when we're feeling resistance to discomfort or potential discomfort, including whatever comes with sitting still, minimal new stimulation, lack of social interactions, and encountering the parts of ourselves that we'd rather avoid. The response to experiencing physical pain or a negative emotion during sesshin cannot be to express an opinion to friends, change the environment, go do something else, or create a distraction by eating, drinking or watching a video. If panic is the result when these options are removed, sesshin is not a good idea for you.
Before making the decision to participate, it's important to ask yourself some questions, and answer yourself honestly.
Mental health considerations
For the good of everyone, we urge you to consider which activities are most appropriate for you in your current circumstances. This style of sesshin features solitude and lack of interaction, moving us toward letting go of our self-concepts and our stories about who we are. In the zendo, if we're stable and healthy, we can safely take a vacation from "me." If we're experiencing some forms of disorder, that can feel like dissociation or annihilation and can be upsettingly disorienting. The reality is that the intensive style of sesshin we do here is not a good idea for those who have current psychiatric disorders such as psychoses, mood disorders, anxiety disorders and identity disorders. If you are new to practice and have a substance addiction or personality disorder, a sesshin at Sanshin is also likely not the best place for you to start. We recommend that first you discuss your wish to engage in zazen with your therapist or doctor, and once you've established a regular daily zazen practice. you begin by participating in a shorter and less intensive retreat. There are many such retreats offered by dharma centers around the country that are designed to introduce newer practitioners to the schedule, forms and experience of more prolonged zazen practice.
If you are not under the care of a mental health professional but feel drawn to sesshin as an escape from stress, a space for making life decisions, a dose of instant peace or a means of managing challenging emotions, sesshin is likewise not for you. Please seek help to sort out your troubles from people and organizations that are trained to offer the real resources you need. Not only will sesshin not serve your purpose, it may well make things feel worse. We are not mental health professionals, and while we can answer questions about practice, we will not be able to help you navigate psychological disturbances that may arise from intensive zazen.
Many sesshin participants do not live locally or practice regularly with our sangha; thus practice leaders don't always know them well or have familiarity with their situations. Likewise, while participants trust the container and the practice, they may not have any established relationship with our practice leaders. If mental health considerations are a part of your discernment about attending sesshin, you may be well advised to participate in a retreat being held by a sangha with which you can practice regularly in person and led by a teacher with whom you can build a relationship. The teacher can make recommendations about your practice path after getting to know you and can help you choose the best activities for you. The stability of a familiar sangha can be a real support to your practice.
Before making the decision to participate, it's important to ask yourself some questions, and answer yourself honestly.
- Will my physical health be adversely affected? Sesshin can be painful for the fittest of human bodies. If you're recovering from surgery or an injury or have back or joint issues, digestive or dietary conditions, problems sleeping, etc. that may be exacerbated by eating, sleeping and sitting during sesshin, consider carefully whether you really want to take this on.
- Will my mental health be adversely affected? If you're under the care of a therapist or other mental health professional, discuss whether a sesshin like this is contraindicated for you before you decide to register. If not but you have emotional or mental health concerns, be candid with yourself about whether you're prepared to sit calmly with whatever may arise, and to do so for 14 hours a day, day after day. While practice leaders are here to help with practice questions, we are not therapists who can respond to mental health crises.
- Registering for one day of the sesshin, rather than the full event. If that one day goes well, you can attend more of the next sesshin.
- Participating virtually from home.
- Attending sesshin with a sangha whose style is less intensive and which may have support resources available.
- Working with health care professionals to resolve issues of body and mind before deciding to attend sesshin.
Mental health considerations
For the good of everyone, we urge you to consider which activities are most appropriate for you in your current circumstances. This style of sesshin features solitude and lack of interaction, moving us toward letting go of our self-concepts and our stories about who we are. In the zendo, if we're stable and healthy, we can safely take a vacation from "me." If we're experiencing some forms of disorder, that can feel like dissociation or annihilation and can be upsettingly disorienting. The reality is that the intensive style of sesshin we do here is not a good idea for those who have current psychiatric disorders such as psychoses, mood disorders, anxiety disorders and identity disorders. If you are new to practice and have a substance addiction or personality disorder, a sesshin at Sanshin is also likely not the best place for you to start. We recommend that first you discuss your wish to engage in zazen with your therapist or doctor, and once you've established a regular daily zazen practice. you begin by participating in a shorter and less intensive retreat. There are many such retreats offered by dharma centers around the country that are designed to introduce newer practitioners to the schedule, forms and experience of more prolonged zazen practice.
If you are not under the care of a mental health professional but feel drawn to sesshin as an escape from stress, a space for making life decisions, a dose of instant peace or a means of managing challenging emotions, sesshin is likewise not for you. Please seek help to sort out your troubles from people and organizations that are trained to offer the real resources you need. Not only will sesshin not serve your purpose, it may well make things feel worse. We are not mental health professionals, and while we can answer questions about practice, we will not be able to help you navigate psychological disturbances that may arise from intensive zazen.
Many sesshin participants do not live locally or practice regularly with our sangha; thus practice leaders don't always know them well or have familiarity with their situations. Likewise, while participants trust the container and the practice, they may not have any established relationship with our practice leaders. If mental health considerations are a part of your discernment about attending sesshin, you may be well advised to participate in a retreat being held by a sangha with which you can practice regularly in person and led by a teacher with whom you can build a relationship. The teacher can make recommendations about your practice path after getting to know you and can help you choose the best activities for you. The stability of a familiar sangha can be a real support to your practice.
