Crestone Mountain Zen Center
A place for personal retreat, shared practice, and time in the mountains of Colorado.

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A Path for Seekers
"Zen Buddhist teachings and practices deepen our experience and can transform our life."
Zentatsu Baker Roshi
Founder of Dharma Sangha
What this place is
Welcome to Crestone Mountain Zen Center! Crestone Mountain Zen Center is the Dharma Sangha Center for Monastic Zen Practice and for Personal Retreats, led by Abbot Tatsudo Nicole Baden Roshi. It was founded by Zentatsu Baker Roshi, the Successor of Shunryu Suzuki Roshi. Suzuki Roshi founded the San Francisco Zen Center and the Tassajara Zen Monastery, and he is the author of 'Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind’.
Where we are?
Crestone Mountain Zen Center is located in Southern Colorado above the San Luis Valley on the western slope of Crestone Peak. This extraordinary high-mountain-rimmed valley is unique in the world.
What we do?
Zen Practice is the craft of mind and body realized through the experience of stillness and nonduality. Our effort is to make Zen Buddhist teachings conceptually, emotionally, and practically accessible to contemporary Western practitioners.
...and Why?
Personal and societal transformation is possible and necessary. We recognize and are incrementally and consciously engaged in this global transformation, which can only be consequentially engaged or else consequentially ignored.
Ways to Practice and Stay
We offer different ways to come into contact with Zen practice, depending on your situation and intention
Zen Practice Events

Join structured retreats and practice periods with guidance and a shared schedule.
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Residency & Work Practice
Live and practice within the sangha over a longer period of time.
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Personal Retreats

Stay on your own schedule in one of our cabins and shape your retreat individually.
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Start Where You Are
People come here for different reasons. You don’t have to fit a program — you can begin from your own situation.
Feeling overwhelmed
When you’ve simply had too much. No schedule, no pressure — just space to rest and reset.
Burnout Recovery
Looking for silence
The container you’ve been looking for. Structured silence and practice, with guidance if you need it.
Silent Retreat
In a time of transition
Somewhere to be while life rearranges itself. A quiet place to land, without needing to figure anything out.
Grief & Transition
Needing distance from everything digital
No signal. No Wi-Fi. A reset for the screen-saturated.
Digital Detox
Working on something
A desk, three meals, and everything else handled. For writers, artists, and anyone building something.
Artist Residency
Online Offerings
If you cannot come to Crestone, you can practice online through the Dharma Academy.
YOUR HOME, YOUR MONASTERY
A Free 16‒Day Journey to Bring Zen Practice Into Daily Life – Just 10‒20 Minutes a Day
Each day, receive a short video with a gentle teaching, reflection, or simple practice – guided by Nicole Baden Roshi, Abbot of the Crestone Mountain Zen Center.
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Craft of Zen
A Zen-Study Programm: Craft of Zen is a progressive path of Zen practice, unfolding across nine chapters — from understanding to embodiment to realization.
Chapter 1 will begin in Fall 2026. Join the waitlist to receive updates as soon as registration opens.
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Musings with Baker Roshi
A journey from culture & art through the use of language to the heart of Zen Buddhism.
Join Zentatsu Richard Baker Roshi in exploring the mind of meditation.
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How to Support Dharma Sangha
A monastic practice center cannot survive without vital support from the community. By becoming a member or making a donation, you are helping us to maintain the practice center, provide student financial support when necessary, give our residents a small stipend, and keep the lights on. Thank you for considering!
Support Dharma Sangha
Newsletter
Sign up for our newsletter, it's our most important tool for communication. We'll inform you about upcoming events, send links for online talks and keep you posted on what's going on at Crestone Mountain Zen Center.
Register
+1 (719) 256-0285
cmzc@dharmasangha.org