About This Project
Why this exists, where it came from, and what it is not.
What if presence is already here, with nothing to do?
What This Is
Small, monthly practice space for presence
Light guidance, kind boundaries
Quiet walk, brief sharing, no pressure
How This All Began
Effortlessly Aware didn’t start with a plan. It began as a shared need. After a year in a Zen temple in the Bay Area, the sense of community stayed with me. A space to simply be together. Silence welcome. Deep listening common. A place where someone could say, “This is what I’m going through,” and be met with quiet company.
Just space to reflect.
When I started this project, there was no agenda, no roadmap. Only the sense that another space like this needed to exist , for me and for anyone who longs for depth and ease.
(Inspired by, not affiliated.)
I spent a great amount of my time alone and thought deeply about how self-isolation has become the new normal.
I thought about the loss of our local communities.
How social media takes our attention and makes it a commodity.
I couldn’t keep contributing to all of it.
So after I blocked social media, I finally had the attention to build something. I felt a clear need for connection, and I knew it wasn’t just mine.
This began as a blank page. I wanted results right away. A year of writing and throwing pages out taught me to keep only what feels true. That is what is here.
The way I see the world was inspired by many of San Francisco Zen Center’s senior teachers as well as Meido Moore’s Hidden Zen.
Post temple life, Loch Kelly’s Effortless Mindfulness shaped my practice further. “Effortless awareness” echoed what I was hearing from other teachers too. The domain was available, the name felt right, and Effortlessly Aware began.
From that small beginning, the space keeps unfolding quietly and naturally with whoever shows up.
How It Took Shape
My friends are scattered across the country, and our calls were the closest thing I had to community.
We talked about everything: family wounds, relationships, work, mental health.
Especially the hard stuff.
We weren’t trying to fix each other.
We spoke from intention and clarity.
We listened from presence.
Often that was enough to bring us back to ease.
That’s what I wanted to create.
A space where people can be real, without needing to perform or pretend.
Where silence is respected.
Where no one has to be the expert.
Where simply being here is enough.
What's Different Here
We don’t teach.
We don’t fix.
We don’t follow a guru.
We gather with sincerity.
Sessions are gently structured to support presence.
Clear guidelines protect the quiet that makes this space possible.
We keep shares brief.
We stay with direct experience, not analysis or debate.
We make room for voices we haven’t heard.
You don’t need to be eloquent.
You don’t need to talk.
You’re welcome to arrive and just be.
In Zen, there’s a koan that ends like this:
“Not knowing is most intimate.”
Presence is here before our thoughts take hold of knowing.
As what we think we know softens,
proving and polishing fall away.
We feel what is here
and rest where nothing needs a name.
Who This Might Serve
For anyone tired of noise and performance.
For those who want real talk about life and meaning.
For those who have glimpsed the extraordinarily ordinary
and want to live from it more fully.
For quiet, sincere paths that want good company.
All backgrounds welcome.
One more thing
You do not need to qualify.
You do not need a quiet mind.
You do not need a polished life.
This space is not a test.
It is a soft place to notice what is already here.
Stay exactly as you are.
If this resonates, you’re in good company
Nothing to chase.
Nowhere to arrive.
Just this.