Have you been wanting to meditate more and live in a community of like-minded folks who strive to live in a way that is meaningful?
We know that our day jobs can sometimes get in the way of exploring other ways of living, so we have created Willow’s co-working program to serve as a bridge between these two worlds.
Co-Working at Willow allows you to continue working remotely while living in a community of dedicated practitioners, getting one-on-one meditation guidance, and learning practices to connect more deeply with what is most important to you.
Our ecology of practices ranges from traditional Buddhist chanting & meditation, emotional healing, leadership development, and a variety of modern modalities to improve physical, emotional and psychological well-being. A full list can be found here.
What You’ll Get
COACHING
1-on-1 meditation coaching with a Monastic Academy teacher
HOUSING
Single or shared rooms available
NATURE
8 acres of beautiful forested land with trails and a stream
PRACTICE
Our unique ecology of practices, drawing on both ancient and modern modalities
OFFICE SPACE
Office spaces with reliable internet access and privacy for calls
DAILY MEALS
Two healthy, hearty vegan meals every day
COMMUNITY
A large network of deeply loving and supportive friends
STRUCTURE
Daily structure supports us in living happy, healthy lives
MONASTIC LIBRARY
Access to our extensive library of books on a wide variety of relevant topics
Who we are and how we train
The two pillars of our training are Awakening – classical insight, the ability to radically transform the mind – and Responsibility – the power to take clear action in the world.
We create an environment that fosters broad human development through practices which incorporate ancient wisdom traditions and modern transformational modalities.
View Our Practices
The Eightfold Path
The eightfold path offers a helpful framework for living a well-rounded and beneficial life, as we strive toward becoming better people. We continually reflect on and refine our views, intentions, speech, actions, livelihood, effort, mindfulness, and concentration.
3+ Hours of Meditation & Chanting Daily
Through regular meditation and chanting, we learn to reclaim our attention and strengthen the muscle of concentration while healing our minds and hearts. Regular one-on-one interviews with a teacher help us refine our direction, get unstuck, and continue striving. Our teaching methodology is inspired by Buddhist monks Soryu Forall and Shinzen Young.
Community
We live together, eat together, work together, meditate together, and train together. Being in community in this way can cause many of our difficult patterns to surface, and give us an opportunity to work with them among caring peers. Also, being surrounded by differing opinions and approaches helps to combat some of the dangerous pitfalls of autodidactism.
Circling & Authentic Relating
Through social practices like Circling and Authentic Relating, we are invited to discover the patterns of our social dynamics and learn the skills of speaking truthfully and showing up fully with each other exactly as we are, with no pretense or performance.
Emotional Processing
Emotional blockages are among the most difficult and pervasive things running our lives. We employ the Bio-Emotive Framework to help each other notice, process, and heal the wounds we carry through our lives.
Strict Monastic Structure
Our daily schedule is strict and uncompromising, with specific times for work, meals, exercise, meditation, and leisure time. This strictness supports us in fully immersing in the present task, allowing us the opportunity to quickly notice emotional resistances and work with them.
Vow / Peer Coaching
What do we each see as the deepest, truest, most authentic life we can lead? The Peer Coaching protocol allows us to support each other in finding alignment between the way we live and the way we want to live, and helps us to move from unclear stuckness into clarity and action.
Week-Long Silent Retreats
Every month, we spend one full week in silence, dedicating our days entirely to meditative practice. Through this, we work through some of the deeper tangles of our psyches, allowing us to tap into a wisdom that goes beyond mere intellect.
Service & Responsibility
Through taking on various roles and projects at Willow, trainees learn the work skills necessary to engage with the economics of the broader world skilfully and with confidence. We are often pushed and supported to take leadership beyond what we believe we can do, and through this we learn just how capable we can be.
Living With The Land
We are located on a beautiful 10-acre property which helps us learn how to live in harmony with nature every day. Our goal is to encourage the growth of a food forest and permaculture garden and work towards self-sustainability.
Embodiment
Our bodies hold a lot of knowledge – but we have to re-learn how to listen to them. Through connecting with ourselves in this way, we learn to use the natural wisdom of the body to take clear action in the world.
Daily Schedule
Morning and evening chanting and sitting periods are mandatory for all guests. The rest of the schedule is optional for co-working guests.
5 am – chant
5:30 – sit
6:30 – exercise
7:30 – breakfast & journal
8:15 – work (noble silence ends)
1:00 pm – lunch
1:45 – chores
2:00 – personal time
5:00 – evening activity
7:00 – sit (noble silence begins)
8:15 – chant
‘NOBLE SILENCE’
includes abstaining from speaking to others & using any of our digital devices
‘FREE DAYS’
begin Sunday afternoon and end on Monday evening at 9pm. During that time, there is no schedule to follow, but the rules of the monastic container must still be upheld.
‘RETREAT DAYS’
consist of 1 weeklong and 1-2 weekend retreats that take place at Willow each month. During these periods everyone present in the monastic container will be expected to work in accord with the particular schedule for that retreat, e.g. a weekend of silent meditation, a week of circling for hours each morning and evening.
Cost & Application Form
The cost of our co-working program is $50/day for a shared bedroom and $70/day for a solo bedroom. Financial assistance may be available under certain circumstances, however, please be aware that we rely on this income to support our community of full-time monastic trainees.