It’s Alive! is not your granddaddy’s Zen. You will not find many of the traditional Japanese or Chinese forms here and there are no complicated rituals or foreign words to learn. What you will find is a community that values awakening and Zen practice as it shows up in your life—yes!, the life you have right now.

Zen isn’t about improving yourself or becoming more kind or calm or productive at work, although these common side effects may occur. Zen is not a religion and it offers nothing to believe in. It’s not about bullying yourself into being someone you’re not, but rather the vibrant process of discovering and appreciating who you already are.

We are a branch of Pacific Zen Institute, and as such our primary modes of practice are meditation with koans and conversation with each other. Koans are stories that erode our ideas about how things are. They often get the reputation of being difficult or scary, but really koans just invite us to be friends with the whole of life. You won’t find anything in a koan that isn’t already in your own heart. Conversation is itself a practice and a way of entering deeper into the mystery of who we are. Enlightenment is a team sport.

We currently offer a weekly meditation and discussion group and individual work with a teacher, and hope to offer additional programs soon.

(Please note that the address listed is for the First Unitarian Universalist Church of San Antonio, where we rent a room for events. It is not the physical address of It’s Alive! Zen.)