about Sarah Dojin emerson, M.A.
I orient in the world primarily as a mother and priest and bring all that I have learned and am learning as a human being in these roles into my work with others. In my experience, when we are supported to truly meet one another, in honesty and vulnerability, our capacity for healing and for transformation increases exponentially. I approach working with others with humility, curiosity, compassion, humor and a deep appreciation for what brought us to where we are in any given moment. I believe in the possibility of working together to loosen the grip of old patterns, and to liberate ourselves into new possibilities for how to respond and how to understand the changes we are constantly being challenged to integrate into our lives as we develop as people. I have seen how, when we risk new possibilities, we transform systems we carry internally that no longer serve us and, in turn, grow our capacity to address and transform systems in our communities and society.
Get to know me by exploring some talks and writings
Dharma Talk audio: “This Distress is Worth Recounting” Brooklyn Zen Center,October 29,2022
Dharma Talk audio: “Life-affirming Practice,” Brooklyn Zen Center, September 19, 2022
Dharma Talk audio: “Don’t Go Back to Sleep”, Stone Creek Zen Center, June 7, 2020
Article in Lion’s Roar Magazine: “Calling on Jizo” July 25, 2019
Dharma Talk Video: “Skillful Action: Rooted in Connection” from The Dharma of Being Anti-racist Class series through Access to Zen, February 16, 2022
Professional biography:
Sarah is a mother and Zen Priest currently teaching at the Brooklyn Zen Center in New York. She ordained in the Soto Zen tradition in 2007, and received Dharma Transmission from her teacher Abbot Konjin Gaelyn Godwin of the Houston Zen Center in 2015. Sarah lived and trained for many years in monastic and residential settings at the San Francisco Zen Center. She completed a Masters in Counseling Psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies in 2015. From 2014-2022, alongside her partner Korin Charlie Pokorny, Sarah was a Head Priest at the Stone Creek Zen Center in Sebastopol. She has also taught at the San Francisco Zen Center, the Houston Zen Center, The East Bay Mediation Center and Spirit Rock. In her work as a priest Sarah specializes in several areas: grief ritual and pastoral grief care, the engagement of anti-racist practice particularly for white-identified people; and the intersection of contemporary family life with the traditions of monastic based Zen practice. She is the mother of three children ranging in age from 11-19, and considers her children to be her most profound ongoing teachers.