The Wellness Emporium has launched the White Willow Meditation and Sitting Center, offering free silent sitting meditation—aka “zazen”—every Sunday morning from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. At 10:45 a.m., a second session is offered, providing either online Buddhist talks or secular guided meditation sessions.

Some Sundays, the Center hosts livestream presentations that are scheduled in association with the Atlanta Soto Zen Center at the 10:45 session time. Local Zen Buddhist teachers facilitate interviews exploring lay and spiritual perspectives from around the country. On Sundays when Buddhist presentations are not scheduled, Wellness Emporium practitioners facilitate a secular guided meditation. As is their practice, The Wellness Emporium provides tea and cookies between sessions.

Val (Myojo) Hudgins, founder of White Willow and proprietress of The Wellness Emporium, says, “This is good news for the Zen community in the northwest metro Atlanta area because of the recent closure of a sitting center in a strip mall near Woodstock. I’m very excited to start White Willow Sitting Center and watch a harmonious community develop here.”

Participants are encouraged to bring their own sitting cushions.