"There is nothing wrong"
– a book, a retreat, and a way of viewing the world.
Regardless of what you've been taught to believe, there is nothing wrong with you and there never has been! This is our most popular book and retreat as well as the underlying philosophy of all we do. There is much we wish were different, much we will work to change, but wanting something to be different doesn't mean there's something wrong with what is. Find out more at LivingCompassion.org...

PeaceStorming:
Gratitude wants to give. We are no longer required to suffer, life is increasingly joyful, and we want to share that freedom and joy with others through service. We do not seek to convert them to our perspective, only to be with them in peaceful, conscious, compassionate awareness. We do working meditation practice wherever it's needed. We might be painting, cleaning, digging or planting a garden—what we do is irrelevant, how we do what we do is everything. Find out more at LivingCompassion.org...

Retreats and workshops:
"The quality of your life is determined by the focus of your attention." Learning to turn attention away from the mind chatter that karmic conditioning causes us to believe is who we are and toward the present is the heart and soul of our Zen awareness practice. Workshops and retreats cover many aspects of life—meditation, compassion, sexuality, work, money, anger, depression—we use all of life's content to see how suffering happens so we can drop that suffering and live in peace. Find out more at LivingCompassion.org...

Daily Peace Quotes:
Monday through Friday an inspiring quote appears in your inbox. A great support for awareness practice. Find out more at LivingCompassion.org...

Africa Vulnerable Children Project:
Kantolomba Compound is a desperately poor squatter slum on the outskirts of Ndola, Zambia. When Living Compassion first began working with the residents there, they had no clean water, schools, employment, electricity, medical care, and very little to eat. Now children are attending school and eating every day; there's a well for fresh, clean water; a medical center has been built; people are employed, and opportunities for sustainable livelihood are growing. Find out more at LivingCompassion.org...

Email classes:
Classes on various aspects of practice are offered via the internet at intervals throughout the year. Assignments are emailed to participants. After completing the assignment, they can choose to send in what they've realized. A representative sample of the emails are responded to and sent out to the entire class. Classes are anonymous, mirroring the privileged environment in which we practice at the Zen Monastery Peace Center in workshops and retreats. Find out more at LivingCompassion.org...

Open Air with Cheri Huber:
Each Tuesday afternoon from 4:50-6 pm PST Cheri offers a Zen awareness practice perspective to callers from around the world. Find out more at LivingCompassion.org...

Books, CDs, and meditation supplies:
Keep It Simple is the Zen Monastery Practice Center's online, mail order retail store. Purchase your supports for awareness practice from Keep It Simple and those purchases will support the Zen Monastery Peace Center. Find out more at LivingCompassion.org...

Reflective Listening Buddies:
Join this support for practice program and you will be paired with another practitioner with whom you will spend one half hour, fifteen minutes each, taking turns sharing what's going on in your life and reflecting one another. No advice, no better ideas, no criticism or judgment, just speaking, listening, hearing, being heard, and reflecting. Reflective listening instruction included. Participation in coaching conference calls a requirement. Find out more at LivingCompassion.org...

Facilitation training:
Listening, being present to another person, and reflecting what they say is an integral part of our Zen awareness practice. Learning to reflect, draw out, and clarify what someone says, allowing both participants to hear clearly what is being said, is an extraordinary skill to bring to every aspect of life.

A privileged environment:
We practice in silence. We don't interfere with one another. We keep "custody of the eyes," allowing one another privacy to do deep introspective work without needing to be a personality, to be social, or to attend to others. It often feels strange in the beginning, but before long it feels like heaven.

Working meditation:
We practice sitting meditation, walking meditation, eating meditation, and very possibly the most useful of all, working meditation. Working meditation is not about "getting stuff done." Working meditation is our best opportunity to see “how we cause ourselves to suffer" in action. Learning to be present—kind, compassionate, and supportive—as you go about the activities of daily life is invaluable.

Sustainable living at the Zen Monastery Peace Center:
Our first precept is "not to live a harmful life, nor to encourage others to do so." For this reason we endeavor always to live as consciously and compassionately as we can with all aspects of life. We use solar energy, grow organically, cultivate plants we choose and learn to live peacefully with those we would not choose—including poison oak! Our vegetarian diet includes as much that is organic, locally grown, and fair trade as we can manage. Daily we incorporate new products such as non-plastic carry and storage containers.

Peaceful Politics:
When we engage in political action from a dualistic place—good/bad, left/right, them/us, red/blue—we perpetuate the delusion that we are making progress. What if we acted politically from center and well-being? Peaceful politics is about practicing civic engagement from center, not because we should or have to, but because it's more fun. And it gets us what we want—a true democracy where everyone can participate in shaping the common good.

Peace and Sustainability:
Sustainable living is a way to practice loving kindness with the earth and our environment. Most people want to live gently, using carefully the natural resources, but find themselves in habits and systems that make sustainable living a challenge. Rising to the challenge with compassion and encouragement for ourselves is how we act peacefully in the world. It doesn't make sense to be harsh with ourselves in an attempt to be gentle with the world. With practice, we can embrace all elements in our environment, even ourselves, in peace and sustainability.

"The Voices" Cartoon Series
We love bringing fun and laughter to the practice of conscious, compassionate awareness. In that spirit we are offering a cartoon series called “The Voices” about “the voices in your head.” This refers to the nearly endless stream of thoughts we all experience, the constant flow of judgment, ideas, criticisms and opinions that we tell ourselves day in and day out. It is important not to believe the voices have helpful information about us. Rather than believing what the voices say, we prefer the light-hearted approach of noticing them with humor and with compassion for ourselves Find out more at LivingCompassion.org...