Greater Portland, Maine
Join the waitlist ↓The sangha
The full encounter with the reality in front of you. Vow, clarity, care. Beginners welcome.
Mind Training & Spiritual Disciplines — Fighters and Athletes
The mind of training. The mind of competition. Breath, awareness, self-regulation, visualization, ethics, and more. Grounded in Zen and spiritual practice, competitive athletics, science, and combat training. Clarity, responsiveness, care.
More to come. Join the waitlist below.
A figure in an old sutra bowed to everyone he met, including those throwing stones. When they drove him off, he kept bowing from a distance. We train to see like this — and bow like this.
I’m Jonas. I lived for several years in Zen monasteries and took vows in the Japanese Sōtō Zen tradition. I’m a vowed novice, and I train with Joshin Byrnes of Bread Loaf Mountain Zen Community. I started life as an atheist and still live in doubt and questions.
I was a national-class competitive cyclist and rower, and spent my 30s in boxing gyms in San Francisco and Oakland. I’m 50 now and just started training BJJ. I’ve also trained in CQB and defensive techniques with former PD.
I’ve done this work in prisons, in recovery rooms, and with the dying and the homeless. I’m the host, and I train with you.
I live in Freeport with my wife and our dog.
Put your name down and I’ll write to you with the day, the time, and the place.