TEACHERS
Darlene Cohen, M.A., and Tony Patchell, M.A., MFT, are Zen priests and Dharma heirs in the Suzuki-roshi lineage, trained at the San Francisco Zen Center. Both have been practicing meditation since 1970. They have been married to each other for many years. Darlene and Tony live in the little redwood cabin above the Russian River Zendo. They came to the San Francisco Zen Center together in 1970 and lived and worked at Tassajara, Zen Center’s mountain monastery, Green Gulch Farm in Marin County, and the San Francisco City Center, holding a variety of jobs in the organization and its outlying businesses. Their son, Ethan Patchell, works in the Development Office at the San Francisco Zen Center. Their grandson Anthony is a regular visitor to their home and temple.
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Background of Darlene CohenWhile living at Green Gulch Farm, Zen Center’s temple in Marin County in 1977, she developed rheumatoid arthritis. This painful and crippling disease led her to explore the potential of her meditation training to address chronic pain and catastrophic situations. In 1980 after regaining the functional use of her own body, she began instructing people with chronic illness in various meditation and concentration practices. Her approach to healing has focused on the synchronization of mind and body through attention to the minutiae of everyday life. She puts particular emphasis on the relationship between the experiences of suffering and delight and how they might become more fluid in our experience. Currently she gives pain seminars emphasizing mindfulness at medical facilities and meditation centers throughout the continental U.S. She has written three books on the relevance of meditation practice to particular difficulties in modern life: (illness) ARTHRITIS: Stop Suffering, Start Moving; (chronic suffering) Turning Suffering Inside Out; and (the frustration of task-orientation in today’s workplace) The One Who Is Not Busy: Connecting with Work in a Deeply Satisfying Way. Darlene also serves on the Elders Council at the San Francisco Zen Center. She is also a member of the SODO group, composed of dharma heirs in the Suzuki-roshi lineage who lead independent sanghas and meet regularly to discuss issues involved in Zen teaching.
Darlene leads 4 regular meditation groups: Crystal Springs Sangha in
Burlingame and the Wild Geese Sangha at the Hartford Street Zen Center; 2 of her
groups are engaged in the study of Suffering & Delight, her meditation groups
for people in pain.
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Background of Tony PatchellBefore he moved to the Russian River area in 2002, Tony worked for the San Francisco Public Health Department as a “street therapist,” counseling homeless people with psychological problems and guiding them to any available resources. Tony is legendary for the twelve years he spent on the street, ministering to the homeless, mentally ill, and to those with HIV, in a job for which the “burnout” rate is usually three years. For his response to the “cries of the world,” Tony, in 2003, was the first recipient of the Bodhisattva award from the San Francisco Zen Center, honoring members of the community who have made significant efforts to ease the suffering of other people. Tony’s writings have appeared in the Buddhist periodical, BuddhaDharma and in the recently published collection, Not Turning Away. |
Darlene
and Tony each offer dokusan upon request. This is an opportunity to meet
privately with either teacher for a one-on-one discussion of meditation practice
and the integration of one’s practice into daily life situations.
