The Ones Who Have Gathered Here: On Bearing Witness to Asylum Seekers at the Mexico/US Border

PLAYAS DE TIJUANA, MEXICO. Kineret Ando Yardena visited the border of Texas, USA and Tijuana Mexico on December 23rd, 2018. What follows is her personal reflection of the human chaos she witnessed among those who attempted to find asylum in the USA, and those who came to bear witness, support, or stop them. It is […]
The Way of Council

The Way of Council is a core practice with the Zen Peacemakers, along with meditation, the Three Tenets, and social action. It is a staple practice in our Bearing Witness retreats. The Circle invites individuals to come together in a dedicated and sacred space, to tune into one’s personal and collective truth, and to the land and nature taking part in the circle.
Hard Bed by the White House: reflection on a street retreat in Washington DC

WASHINGTON DC, USA. « On the street retreat, spending four days and three nights on the streets of Washington DC, USA, mere blocks from the White House, my mind often muses about giving… »
Karma Yoga: Ohio’s Interiority Wellness Sangha & Yoga Studio Takes to the Streets

OHIO, USA. Zen Peacemakers International hails all yoga practitioners who harness their attention, empathy and embodiment into social change, and sees them as an integral participants in our network. Such example is Interiority Wellness Sangha in Cincinnati, led by Janet Nash, who takes their practice to the streets. »
Bearing Witness to Land, Food and Race: Organizers review the 2017 retreat at Soul Fire Farm

PETERSBURG, NEW YORK, USA. In September 2017, Zen Peacemakers Roshi Paco Genkoji Lugoviña and Zen Peacemakers Minister Ariel Pliskin organized the retreat « Bearing Witness to Land, Food, and Race » with Soul Fire Farm in Petersburg, New York, US. The retreat will be offered again in September of 2018.
Great Doubt and Great Faith on Guard Towers and Trading Floors: Interview with Sensei Grant Couch

KEY WEST, FLORIDA, USA. Interview with Sensei Grant Couch. « Suddenly, I realized I was standing in the boots of the commandant … reading the camp (Auschwitz) just like I had “read” the operations of the big company I once managed. Had I been raised the way he was, I could have walked that same horrible path. »
The Territory is My Body: More on the Indigenous Leaders Workshop in Colombia, Interview with ZPI Executive Director Rami Efal

SIERRA NEVADA de SANTA MARTA, COLOMBIA. Interview with Rami Efal, executive director of ZPI on his experience in the First Workshop for Indigenous Leaders in December 2017, which saw leaders from indigenous communities of Africa, Asia and the Amazon come together to learn, train and bond.
Yoga Mat as Large as the World: Swiss Yogis’ Guerrilla Tactics Support Zen Peacemakers and Global Charities

BERN, SWITZERLAND. In recent years Guerrilla Yoga Bern has formed a connection with Peacemaker Gemeinschaft Schweiz, raising money for Zen Peacemakers efforts with the Lakota in the United States, refugees in Switzerland, Rohingya Muslims in Burma and the annual Auschwitz-Birkenau Bearing Witness Retreat. ZPI Staff Anthony Saracino conducted the following interview with Barbara Salaam Wegmüller and Roland Yakushi Wegmüller of Zen Peacemakers International, and Elisa Malinverni of Guerrilla Yoga Bern, on their friendship and partnership.
An Endless River: Roshi Genro On Returning to Auschwitz-Birkenau

OSWEICIM, POLAND. With more than two decades of bearing witness practice at Auschwitz, Roshi Gauntt offers a brief, potent reflection on this Bearing Witness Retreat.
This Food of Seventy Two Labors, an Invitation to a Bearing Witness Retreat to Food, Land and Racism in the USA

PETERSBURG, NEW YORK STATE, USA. Rev. Ariel Pliskin, ZPO Minister and founder of Unity Tables and community-based Stone Soup Café Greenfield MA has participated in several Bearing Witness Retreats on the streets, at Auschwitz, and the Black Hills. He now brings this rich experience to examine the interplay of food, land and race in the USA, in a new retreat he is organizing together with Sensei Francisco Lugovina from Hudson River Peacemaker Center-House of One People, and Leah Penniman from Soul Fire Farm. Read what led Ariel to co-develop this retreat, and join him in September 2017 on Soul Fire Farm.