FAQs
- What should the customer know about your pricing (e.g., discounts, fees)?
From experience on this site, I know that most people underestimate the time commitment for the whole wedding process. Each time someone reaches out to a professional on Thumbtack, the professional pays a fee for the contact, regardless of whether there is any follow-up or whether the professional gets hired, so that cost is a part of the overall estimate for each job. Travel time and expenses are a part of my overall fee; if your ceremony is going to be outside of San Francisco, that will add to the cost. If you check the boxes that you do not need my help writing vows (which to me means helping structure and word the ceremony), and you do not need me to attend the rehearsal, and then later ask me to do both of these things, that will add to the cost.
- What is your typical process for working with a new customer?
For weddings, meeting the couple ahead of time to get a sense of who they are and how they relate to each other is a valuable step. I am always happy to advise on how a ceremony can unfold, and helping to write vows that resonate for the couple, if that is needed. My guiding principle is that this is your day, and should reflect who you are as people; my role is to reduce your stress. For meditation, I will ascertain what style the person or group is most interested in, and will shape my instruction accordingly. I can accommodate for whatever setting is available, whether it be chairs around a conference table, traditional cushions, or taking a group outdoors to sit in the open air.
- What education and/or training do you have that relates to your work?
I have fifteen years of residential zen training at San Francisco Zen Center, including five years of intense monastic training at Tassajara, and many silent retreats. Important steps on the path have been ordaining as a priest in 2009, and training as head monk in 2012, marking my transition to becoming a teacher. ----- I have been leading groups and teaching for more than a dozen years. I co-led Zen Center's Coming of Age program for seventh grade boys; co-founded and led the thriving Young Urban Zen group at Zen Center. I have given talks to groups ranging from four people to more than a hundred, have taught workshops at Zen Center, Green Gulch, Tassajara, Santa Cruz, and in England on regular visits; I have met with many students individually as well as in ongoing groups. ----- More recently I have led regular groups and offering one-off sessions at large corporations, tech companies, start-up spaces, colleges, high schools and middle schools, yoga studios, retreat centers, and the county jail, where I volunteered to teach meditation a couple of times a month before the pandemic.