Ordinary Mind Umeå's sesshin
at Lyckebo, Tavelsjön
19/9-26/9 2026
With Zenmaster Karen Terzano
“When you are doing zazen you are in the complete calmness of your mind. You just sit. But the calmness of your sitting will encourage you in your everyday life. So actually you will find the value of Zen in your everyday life, rather than while you sit.
Shunryu Suzuki in “Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind
“All practice aims to increase our ability to be attentive, not just in zazen but in every moment of our life”
Joko Beck in “Everyday Zen”
Dates: Saturday, September 19th at 6:00 PM – Saturday, September 27th th at approximately 4:30 PM.
To go directly to aplication form: press this link
About sesshin
Sesshin is a retreat in the Zen Buddhist tradition where we get the opportunity to train ourselves to be present in what is, and is going on right now. In ourselves, in encounters with others, in our actions, thoughts and feelings. Sesshin provides training, in meeting ourselves and others with an open heart, without evaluative and judgmental filters, and also a training to be aware of our evaluative and judgmental filters. Sesshin can help us realize that we, all living beings, matter, and the universe belongs together, where each individual part affects the whole, and that everything “EVERYTHING BELONGS” as our teacher Karen Terzano often points out.
The main activities are zazen (seated meditation) and kinhin (walking meditation). In addition, the program includes dokusan (voluntary conversation with the teacher), dharma talk/teisho (talks given by the teacher), service (recitation of sutras), samu (work period one hour each day), optional body practice (for example yoga), metta practice (sending “loving kindness”), and rest periods. Sesshin is conducted in complete silence. If anything needs to be communicated, the teacher and the jikido (meditation leader) are available to answer questions. It is an advantage if you have some experience of meditating before coming to sesshin.
You can contact us if you want tips on where to go to try out meditation, or if you have other questions about sesshin. If you want to know more about meditation practice and Ordinary Mind, click here
Karen Terzano, Zenmaster
Read more about Karen here - Lärare — Vardagens Väg
Location and accommodation
The sesshin is held at Lyckebo Sommargård, located by the lake Tavelsjön, 25 km outside of Umeå. Accommodation is in shared rooms. Toilets and showers are located 100 meters from the dormitories in a separate building. For anyone traveling far, we will try to help arrange accommodation before and after the sesshin.
Diet
Vegetarian diet. Please notify any allergies/special diets in your registration.
Travel to Lyckebo
You are responsible for getting to and from the sesshin. You can get to Lyckebo either by bus or car. Buses leave from Vasaplan, which is located 500 meters from Umeå Central train station, respectively. From the bus stop where you get off, it is about 1.5 km to Lyckebo. Detailed information about the buses can be found in the welcome letter closer to the sesshin. If you are driving a car and have extra space in it, please write in the registration form when and where you are driving from and if you are also driving from Lyckebo after sesshin. We will provide a document with which cars are available, so that anyone who wants, can contact a driver for a ride to Lyckebo.
Participation fees
We offer our members a lower price. If you choose to become a member of Ordinary Mind Umeå, you will also become a member of Ordinary Mind Sweden. The membership fee is 150 SEK. Ansökan om Medlemskap i OM Umeå och OM Sverige
Full time: Friday evening - Saturday evening: Member 2400 SEK. Non-member 2700 SEK
Part time: Monday - Saturday evening: Member 2150 SEK. Non-member 2400 SEK
Part time: Wednesday - Saturday evening: Member 1900 SEK. Non-member 2100 SEK
If you are in need of a special payment arrangement or if we can otherwise facilitate your participation, please contact us (see contact at the bottom) Last day for payment and cancellation is September 7th. If you cancel later, SEK 500 will be charged.
Payment is made to:
Swish: 123 216 14 04, or to
Bank Account Swedbank: 8327-9, 734227890-5.
If the payment is made from abroad, the following payment information is also needed;
IBAN: SE35 8000 0832 7973 4227 8905, BIC: SWEDSESS.
Mark the payment with: sesshin + your name
Contact
If you have questions about the sesshin structure, payment, food, accommodation, transportation/carpooling, or anything else that may facilitate your participation, please contact us via email umea@ordinarymind.se We will then contact you via email or phone. We will contact you about 2 weeks before the sesshin with more detailed information and contact details for the organizers. YOU ARE WARMLY WELCOME