In Day two of the Fall Practice Period Sesshin, Sensei Kathie Fischer likens sesshin to an artist’s colony where each practitioner’s work unfolds through the act of doing itself. “Each of us is unique,” she says, “and therefore we express ourselves in this practice uniquely,” yet we also “fiercely protect the quiet space and resources we share.” She speaks of forms—silence, stillness, attention—not as restrictions but as supports for our genuine expression. When restlessness or pain arises, the instruction is simple: stay with it, breathe, and trust the process. Fischer weaves this with Dogen’s teaching that realization isn’t elsewhere or later: “Practice of the present moment is practice-realization.” What appears ordinary—this sitting, this breath—is the full expression of awakening itself.
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