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Craft of Zen
A Zen Study Program
With Tatsudo Nicole Baden Roshi 
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.
“In Zen, it’s about aliveness — about what aliveness is, or what it could be. We take a step back from our identities and learn to know ourselves as living, sentient beings. We bring our full attention to the processes of aliveness: breathing, standing, walking, sitting, and the subtle details of our feeling, thinking, and acting.”
Tatsudo Nicole Baden Roshi
Abbot of the Dharma Sangha & Founder of the Dharma Academy
What Is
Craft of Zen
For Zen practice to work transformatively — to enable real, sustainable change — it requires a process that unfolds across multiple levels and is sustained over time. Historically, this has been the work of the monastic container.
Craft of Zen brings this practice into your daily life through four stages of transformative practice we call the four E’s: Examining (grasping ideas intellectually), Experiencing (feeling them in your body), Embodying (becoming them — when compassion or equanimity is no longer something you have but something you are), and Enacting (bringing the fruits of practice into your relationships, work, and the world).
The Four E's form a spiral path. With each chapter, you return to these same territories — but each time with more depth, moving gradually from intellectual understanding toward lived, embodied reality.
Here you can find a more in‒depth description of the educational framework behind the Craft of Zen.
The journey is organized into three series: Essentials, Embodiment, and Realization. Each series consists of three chapters — forming a path of nine chapters in total. Each chapter includes: • weekly lectures • guided practice • study materials • and connection with the online sangha
Who Participates in
Craft of Zen?
Craft of Zen brings together people from very different life contexts. What connects them is an interest in practice, embodiment, and a path that unfolds over time in lived experience.
A few examples:
Therapists & People in helping professions
People in leadership & decision-making roles
People with meditation experience
Artists & Designers
Parents & Caregivers
The Craft of Zen Series:
Essentials – Embodiment – Realization

In every step of Craft of Zen, you can find the four E stages of transformation, much like the flow of a spiral.
From thinking into feeling, becoming familiar with the subtlety of experience
Chapter 1: Essential Attitudes - Inhabiting Five Foundational Qualities
Chapter 2: Essentials of Meditation - Entering the Subtle Layers of Body and Mind
Chapter 3: Essential Experiential Shifts - Entering the Yogic World
From feeling to being – through repetition, deepening, and time
Chapter 4: The Why, What, How of Embodiment
Chapter 5: Gates of Embodiment - Grounding, Centering, Connecting
Chapter 6: Realization of Embodiment - Body, Speech, and Mind
From embodiment to concrete action in everyday life and in the world 
Chapter 7: Realization Within - The Inner World
Chapter 8: Mutual Realization - The Shared World
Chapter 9: Realization Everywhere - The Entire World
Entry & Registration
Craft of Zen Chapter 1 will be offered live, starting in the Fall of 2026.
Sign up here to join the waitlist and receive announcements as soon as they are available.
What awaits you?
As the foundational layer in the Craft of Zen training program, the “Essentials” series looks at how the fundamentals of Zen practice integrate within our everyday life.
It is a foundational teaching in Zen that the 'essentials' embody the very core of practice from the start. In this respect, this program is suitable both for beginners and as a way for experienced practitioners to deepen their practice.
Weekly Live Talks
➔ Inspiring talks with Baden Roshi ➔ Lifetime access to recorded talks so you can access them again at your own time and pace
Weekly Practice Inspirations for Everyday Life
➔ Weekly practice inspirations and tips, informed by the lectures ➔ Support your daily practice at home
Accompanying Study Material
➔ A structured guide to support your practice
Daily Online Meditation
➔ Online Zendos from the centers
Q&A Sessions with Tatsudo Roshi
Live, interactive sessions once a month on Wednesdays. 
Community Forum
Participants are warmly invited to connect, share experiences, and even initiate their own practice-deepening group activities, creating a supportive and inspiring space.
Access to the Dharma Academy Library
A digital library of Dharma talks and study materials
"When I first saw and heard Nicole speak, something about her resonated with me. I felt an immediate connection and innate trust in her wisdom and compassion. I was drawn in by this experience of what she later termed “shared aliveness.”
- Debra M.
“When I first heard Nicole speak, I felt an immediate sense of trust and connection. I was drawn into what she later called ‘shared aliveness.’”
— Debra M.
“There was such depth in the topics and a genuine connection to the people participating. The program was fantastic, with inspiring speakers addressing these important questions and issues”
— A.A.
“A deep sense of gratitude for sharing so much guidance and wisdom. Thank you!”
— Ramiros
“I thank you so much for all the work you did. It is very impressing how such an event already can really change a life- path.”
— Denise
“The virtual experience and material organization provided by the Dharma Academy online platform made the learning experience smooth and straightforward. I appreciated the blend of participating in live virtual sessions and having the recordings accessible after the event. The written PDF summaries from each session were exceptionally well done.”
— B.N
“When Nicole spoke about impermanence, something shifted in how I understand my life — not as activities or interests, but as something living and changing, including my own body.”
— Fred, Toronto
“I began to see how my own way of relating to awareness was creating subtle suffering. That recognition alone changed something fundamental in my practice.”
— M.G.
“Over the course of a year, I learned to observe my everyday mind more finely and recalibrate how I live. I rediscovered an inner stillness I didn’t know was there.”
— Astrid
“Whenever I notice myself ‘doing meditation’ too much, this teaching helps me recognize intention and rest again. That has been precious for my practice.”
— Mona
“The opportunity to establish a steady practice in daily life has been invaluable. Even online, I felt part of a living group of practitioners.”
— A.
“Not only the talks, but especially the small group exchanges deeply supported my practice. The continuity of the group created trust and a space where I could speak freely.”
— Claudia
This course opened a deeper quality of practice for me. I began to understand what embodied practice really means — and how it feels.”
— Beate
“When I first heard Nicole speak, I felt an immediate sense of trust and connection. I was drawn into what she later called ‘shared aliveness.’”
— Debra M.
“There was such depth in the topics and a genuine connection to the people participating. The program was fantastic, with inspiring speakers addressing these important questions and issues”
— A.A.
“A deep sense of gratitude for sharing so much guidance and wisdom. Thank you!”
— Ramiros
“I thank you so much for all the work you did. It is very impressing how such an event already can really change a life- path.”
— Denise
“The virtual experience and material organization provided by the Dharma Academy online platform made the learning experience smooth and straightforward. I appreciated the blend of participating in live virtual sessions and having the recordings accessible after the event. The written PDF summaries from each session were exceptionally well done.”
— B.N
“When Nicole spoke about impermanence, something shifted in how I understand my life — not as activities or interests, but as something living and changing, including my own body.”
— Fred, Toronto
“I began to see how my own way of relating to awareness was creating subtle suffering. That recognition alone changed something fundamental in my practice.”
— M.G.
“Over the course of a year, I learned to observe my everyday mind more finely and recalibrate how I live. I rediscovered an inner stillness I didn’t know was there.”
— Astrid
“Whenever I notice myself ‘doing meditation’ too much, this teaching helps me recognize intention and rest again. That has been precious for my practice.”
— Mona
“The opportunity to establish a steady practice in daily life has been invaluable. Even online, I felt part of a living group of practitioners.”
— A.
“Not only the talks, but especially the small group exchanges deeply supported my practice. The continuity of the group created trust and a space where I could speak freely.”
— Claudia
This course opened a deeper quality of practice for me. I began to understand what embodied practice really means — and how it feels.”
— Beate

Tatsudo Nicole Baden Roshi
is the Dharma successor of Zentatsu Richard Baker Roshi. She has been practicing with the Dharma Sangha since 2001.
Nicole studied psychology at the University of Oldenburg and simultaneously completed training in the body-oriented therapy method Body Mind Centering©, completing her studies in 2009. She then lived for four years at the Crestone Mountain Zen Center in Colorado, USA, and has been at the Zen Buddhist Center Black Forest since 2013. In September 2024, Tatsudo Nicole Baden officially succeeded Zentatsu Baker Roshi and has since led the spiritual direction of the Dharma Sangha as abbess. She founded the Dharma Academy in 2025.
FAQs
Do I need prior knowledge of Zen to participate?
Are the Essentials only aimed at beginners?
Can I ask my questions in individual consultations?
When can I next join Craft of Zen?
Are there recordings of the lecture?
How much time should I set aside for participation?
Is attendance at all live events mandatory?
Are there any remaining questions? Or do you need help with the booking?
Zuzu Myers, Craft of Zen course support
Valerian Hauffe, Dharma Academy Support
Contact Support