Zen House is a social enterprise that started in the hearts and minds of its two founders, Enrico Moses and Sean Rimokh.
The Origins of Zen House
Although the launch and re-branding of Zen House has been ongoing for the past 6 months, this project has essentially been underway for the past 4 years.
Zen House began when Sean Rimokh and Enrico Moses met while working with the nonprofit The Mankind Project. The Mankind Project is an organization that focuses on bringing together men from all over the world to authentically express themselves and share their experiences. The ultimate goal of this collaboration between men is to help them become better men.
Enrico initially joined The Mankind Project to be part of a greater community while also learning about himself and what it means to be a man. The experiences of Enrico and Sean in this organization prompted them to question how they might push the limits of this organization even further. With this in mind, they started organizing circles with both men and women, which was the initial spark for the idea of Zen House.
Through this experience, they realized how important it was to bring greater diversity into these circles because even the simple observation of diversity creates greater empowerment. Over time, they started adding more flavor to the circles past just men by including more women, people with different ethnicities, and people from different socioeconomic backgrounds. This culminated in the creation of Zen House.
What is Zen House Essentially?
In its essence, Zen House is a physical space that people can go to where Zen Circles can be hosted for people to communicate, share, support, and grow together. This flagship physical space will be launching most likely in the spring of 2021.
But past its physical space, Zen House is a virtual and mental space as well. The mental space of Zen House is our ability to tap into our higher selves and investigate our true emotions to discover our ultimate reality. By letting go of any preconceived notions for our behavior and way of being in the world, it allows us to reevaluate the ideologies that we grew up with and step into a deeper place of self-reflection.
Every person constructs barriers over time that prevent them from connecting on a deeper level, and it is the goal of Zen House to help break these barriers down by creating a space that celebrates diversity while listening and appreciating each other’s stories. By letting go of our judgments, labels, and differences, it provides us with the opportunity to own our true experience and share our inner truth with no strings attached.
Zen House is ultimately a community specifically for creatives, leaders, entrepreneurs, and people who are generally dedicated to moving their life forward and achieving their goals. Entrepreneurs, leaders, and creatives face a unique struggle. But by coming together as a community, they can support and acknowledge each other’s shared experiences. The ability to share our story and listen to others as well allows us to connect with our core humanity.
Entrepreneurship, creativity, and leadership are all intimately connected. Our goal at Zen House is to investigate how these multidimensional aspects come together effectively. Being an entrepreneur, creative, or leader can be a powerful and fulfilling endeavor, but it can also lead to loneliness, burn out, and feelings of inferiority. Our aim at Zen House is to create a space for people to bring awareness to these obstacles and to ultimately push beyond them to become the leader, creative, and entrepreneur that we hope to become.
The Philosophy of Zen House
Our core principles At Zen House is to maintain integrity and accountability while having a spirit of fun and not taking ourselves too seriously. Building upon the organizations and teachings that we have been inspired by, we also emphasize the importance of authentic sharing, community, and connection.
Resting on the principles of nonviolent communication, we encourage our community to have a non-judgmental thought process and to listen neutrally without evaluating every situation in our Zen Circles. Zen House is a place of acceptance and the focus is not on judging others but rather to focus on yourself and build up to who you truly want to become. When we judge others, it moves our mental awareness outwards and prevents us from doing the real work of self-reflection and increasing our emotional intelligence.
The non-dualistic principle, or the belief that we are all connected and that we are all one, is very common these days, but it is difficult to translate that into real life. The non-dualistic principle is an ideal way to be, but it is such an abstract concept that many people struggle to step into this feeling in their everyday reality. At Zen House, we address this principle by helping people to realize their interconnectedness through authentic inner sharing in Zen Circles. Listening to the journey of other peoples’ lives helps us to realize our shared experience and interconnection.
At its essence, Zen House is a place that we go to as creatives, leaders, and entrepreneurs to push past our self-limiting beliefs and obstacles with the primary goal of moving into a better inner space and tapping into our dream life.
Zen House Podcast
Check Out this week’s Zen House Podcast’s interview with Damian Madray — Founder & CEO of Presence
Listen now @ Spotify or Anchor
Damian Madray has been researching and studying the design of experiences for human connection over the last six years while being in the heart of technology, that is, San Francisco. His research was funded by over a decade in the technology sector as a product designer (UI/UX). Damian is pulled to this topic because he experienced community created by experiences and that in those communities, Damian founded Presence to make connections accessible with curated experiences that share these values in how we gather. Damian has founded EXPDSN, a podcast that features pioneers in the Experiential Design, to discuss how we can use it as a tool to expand consciousness.
Digital Zen Circles™ Now Available!
Please join us each Wednesday from 5:30–7pm (PST) on ZOOM for our weekly Digital Zen Circles™.
Space is limited so reserve your space now.
Each Digital Zen Circle™ is a guided experience by a trained Zen Circle™ Leader.
:: CLICK HERE :: TO JOIN A DIGITAL ZEN CIRCLE
FOLLOW US ON INSTAGRAM @ZENHOUSE.LA
