Cardboard Boxes, Begging and Birdsong – Reflection from Street Retreat in Chicago

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, USA. “We ended up sleeping in cardboard boxes on the banks of the Chicago River…I didn’t sleep much, but I felt the cold to be a deep cleansing, the rocks breaking through my cardboard box to be incentives to stay aware, and the birds on the river were surprising rushes of interconnected joy. As the sun rose and the sky lightened, I came out the other side of my fears.” Skye Levin shares about her first experience on Street Retreat this past month in Chicago.

In Search of Dignity And Care: A ZPO Member’s Reflection On A Year of Street Retreats

“…The tech firms have headquarters literally right across the streetcar tracks from the Tenderloin, the city’s most impoverished neighborhood…my mind and my body can be and has been complicit in setting up boundaries and breaking down neighborhoods… if I allow all experience – the whole plaza – to penetrate me, then I will be transformed…” – ZPO Member Kosho Brian Durel of Upaya Zen Center.

ZPI Members Complete NYC Street Retreat, Sep 15-18

NEW YORK CITY, NY USA. For four days and three nights, I [Jesse Jiryu Davis] led a small group who chose to be homeless. In preparation, we raised a few thousand dollars to donate to homeless services, then we left behind our wallets and phones and all possessions, and joined to live on the streets together.

Large Sprite, Large Heart- In the Aftermath of a Street Retreat

During September 22-25 2016, six individuals participated in a Street Retreat in New York City, a homelessness plunge based on Not-Knowing, Bearing Witness and Taking Action.  Below is an email exchange that followed the retreat, concerning a person they met on the streets.

Bernie’s Trainings: Street Retreats

Bernie’s Trainings: Street Retreats By Bernie Glassman I wish to talk about going on the streets during Holy Week, the week of Easter, the week of Passover, one of the saddest and most joyous times of the year. I go on the streets at other times of the year, too, and each occasion is special […]