The Zoom link to participate in this event will be provided at least 24 hours before it begins. Please call 415-354-0360 if you have any questions.
Four Saturdays, February 21–March 14, 9–10:30 am PT
This online course with Kim Kōgen Hart (Zen priest & artist) and Tierney Powers (leadership & AANE partnership specialist) explores thriving in the dynamic ground of neurodiversity within manifold relationships.
Relationships are generative—they create energy, meaning, and growth—and they’re also where we get tested the most. Whether with a co-founder or colleague, friend or life partner, sibling or parent, our relationships can strengthen every part of our being, especially our creativity. For both neurodivergent and neurotypical people, the challenge is to stay connected, deepen trust, and light up each other’s best qualities.
Relationships may begin organically, but they don’t continue to thrive in that soil without intention. Neurodiverse relationships in particular grow stronger when supported with awareness, structure, and care.
This Zen-inspired course invites you to approach relationships as a practice: bringing intention, awareness, and care to how you connect. Whether you’re cultivating harmony in daily life or trying to find your way through repeating patterns, the course offers space to explore, learn, and grow together.
The definitions of neurodiverse, neurotypical, and neurodivergent are complex. For the purpose of this course, we are focusing on definitions consistent with current language in the neurodiversity field (AANE, Landmark College). We welcome anyone who self-identifies in these ways.
- Neurodiversity — the natural variation in human brain function and cognition across individuals.
- Neurodivergent — an individual whose thinking or processing differs from dominant social norms (for example, autistic, ADHD, dyslexic).
- Neurotypical — an individual whose cognitive functioning aligns with dominant societal expectations.
- Neurodiverse — a group or partnership that includes both neurodivergent and neurotypical individuals.
Across neurodivergent relationships, three themes often arise:
- “This person is exhausting, but they’re brilliant and I love them. What should I do?”
- “Can you give us a procedure for working together? I don’t think this is going to work—but I really want it to.”
- “It’s so hard for me to express myself. Help!”
Three core opportunities this course will focus on:
- Understanding and appreciating my own communication style: its patterns, style, and gifts.
- Understanding another person’s communication style: external or internal process of feelings and emotions.
- Using co-regulation, mindful non-attachment, and simple microtools to transform differences into fuel for creativity and resilience—rather than friction or patterns of overfunctioning and caretaking.
Each session explores one theme, weaving together Zen practice to steady the body-mind and consider its relation to our neurodivergence, while using practical examples and tools, as well as space to learn from one another.
The themes for each week are:
- Zen Practice as a support for Neurodivergent individuals
- Neurodiverse Interpersonal Dynamics—Beginning in Childhood
- Work Relationships & Appreciation
- Romantic Relationships & Navigating Conflict
Recordings:
All course sessions will be recorded, and registered participants will receive temporary access to the recordings for later viewing.
- Sustaining Level: $168
- Member (Become an SFZC Member): $151
- Sliding Scale 1: $101
- Sliding Scale 2: $42
- Current SFZC residents and qualified SFZC retirees may attend this course for free. To register, please email onlineprograms@sfzc.org at least 72 hours before the program begins.
Or call 415-354-0360.