Zen and Yoga

* This is a suggested donation. No one will be turned away for lack of funds and no one will check how much you put in the donation basket.

Wear loose comfortable clothes. The suggested donation to attend is at least $35 per person. It is those who attend these classes who pay the rent for the use of the center. If we can't make the rent, we'll have to close down. So feel free to donate more if you can. Remember this is by far the cheapest meditation class available in the area!

Beginners are welcome. But if you've never done zazen before, please look at the following page:

HOW TO DO ZAZEN

PARKING: You can usually use the parking lot next to the Hill St. Center. However, sometimes folks got blocked in by the people from the church next door who also use the lot. So we cannot guarantee this won't happen. To avoid this, there is a public parking lot just off Main St. with meters which charges 50 cents per hour. There's a Starbuck's on the corner of Hill & Main. The lot is more or less across the street from the Starbuck's. There's also some on-street parking in the area which is free. Your best bet is to park above 4th Street (meaning in the direction away from the ocean).

The focus of the class is on zazen practice. So come prepared to do the practice. If you come late, please enter quietly and start sitting. Watch everyone else if you don't know what to do. There are about ten zafus (sitting cushions) at the Hill St. Center.

Nina Mikkelsen is a third generation Santa Monica native and took her first yoga class there when she was thirteen. She immediately loved yoga and found that many of the postures felt natural to her. Since that time she has practiced various styles of yoga as well as other methods of meditation. Nina is a graduate of the first Teacher's Training Course at Karuna Yoga in Los Feliz. Since then she assisted two teachers at Karuna and then began to teach regularly as a substitute. During the last year she also worked on refining her daily practice at home as well as taking classes from a variety of teachers. Teaching yoga is a pleasure and an honor. Nina is thrilled to be able to share her love and knowledge of yoga with each and every one of her students.

Brad Warner is the author of Hardcore Zen, Sit Down & Shut Up and Zen Wrapped in Karma Dipped in Chocolate. He began studying Zen in the early 80's under Tim McCarthy, a student of Kobun Chino Roshi. Brad was ordained in the Soto School of Zen by Gudo Nishijima Roshi, co-translator of the only complete English edition of Dogen Zenji's 12th century masterpiece Shobogenzo. Before moving to California, Brad taught zazen classes and led retreats in Japan for several years. He now teaches and leads numerous retreats each year in the US, Canada, Europe and Japan.