A new paradigm for senior living that we call "conscious aging"
The ZISL Model
The ZISL Model is built around four core concepts which are incorporated into everything we do: Spiritual Authenticity, Mindful Community Training, Co-Created Community, and Sustainable Living
Spiritual Authenticity is at the heart of our communities, deeply rooted in the Soto Zen tradition, and the Buddhist ideals of mindfulness, meditation, inquiry, and compassion. Our first community, Enso Village, was created with 10% of the housing available for retired Zen teachers who help provide a basis of Zen study and meditation to the programming on offer.
Each community has a full-time spiritual director who helps with Mindful Community training and assures the zen inspired authenticity and values integration. Each community also has a meditation hall and program director/meditation hall coordinator who helps program the space in terms of both educational and meditation offerings.
Mindful Community Training offers a way of approaching each other with compassion and mindfulness throughout all the ways we care for each other in our communities. Designed in partnership with the Zen Caregiving Project, our unique approach is provided in our training for staff but also available to all interested residents.
Co-created Community provides a constructive and participatory governance model for an intentional residential community. Our approach is inspired by over 50 years of community living in San Francisco Zen Center’s three campuses. We have developed a set of guiding principles that describe how we use interdisciplinary teams and consensus-building in the decision-making process to consider the people who will be affected by our choices. We recognize that our ability to live in accordance with our principles depends on the wellbeing of all of our resources— including people, land, buildings, finances and community agreements—and we collectively care for them with transparent, human-centered practices.
Enso Village opened in November of 2023.
