What if the future of humankind began with an intention to serve life––by sitting quietly together?

Sitting Lab is here to help you sit with others and rediscover the experience of awareness, stillness, and presence in your everyday life. Sitting together is about cultivating your natural wisdom and compassion, growing intimate relationships, and awakening a deeply felt sense of connection and belonging. With the safety, support, and encouragement of meaningful practice friends, having a regular, deepening sitting practice is easy – helping you become the fullest version of yourself and enabling you and a small group of others to change the world.

Sitting Lab is a radically simple space for sitting together quietly, transforming your life, and changing the world. Try it free!

Our approach isn't about rigid formulas or religious dogma — it's a simple, flexible way of practice that cultivates a direct experience of our true nature as human beings. It isn't a method to be followed but an invitation to show up and feel your way into an embodied and deeply nourishing sense of presence with others. — Robert Thomas

Our Inspiration:

My teaching is not a philosophy. It is the result of direct experience. My teaching is a means of practice, not something to hold onto or worship.  —  Buddha

Robert Thomas and Polly Ryan, Founding Spiritual Mentors

Sitting Lab is a different kind of practice community created for meditators by meditators.

Robert began practicing meditation as a monk in a Thai forest monastery over thirty years ago. He would go on to dedicate his life to sitting, spending six years in a remote Zen Buddhist monastery and two decades as a Zen priest in residence at the San Francisco Zen Center, Upaya Zen Center, and the Austin Zen Center. Robert attained the highest level of ordination in the Soto Zen lineage of Shunryu Suzuki Roshi, receiving Dharma Transmission from his teacher Norman Fischer in 2009. He has led meditation practice communities since 2003 and is the former CEO of the San Francisco Zen Center, Mindful Schools, and the Tara Mandala International Buddhist Community. Robert now lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he spends his time writing, making art, walking, and helping people deepen their sitting practice. 

Polly has been a devoted student of Tibetan Buddhism for over 35 years.  She has degrees in music performance, music therapy, and counseling psychology, and has been a licensed therapist for over 40 years. She has studied with Lama Tsultrim Allione for three decades in the lineage of Machig Labdrön and serves as a senior authorized teacher (Lopön) and Kaliyanamitra for Tara Mandala students. She has also studied extensively with Lama Alan Wallace and numerous other Tibetan and Bhutanese teachers. She has led and assisted many retreats in person and online and in 2023 she co-led a Rinchen Trengwa research pilgrimage to Druk Zangri Khamar, Bhutan. Her passion is to bring to life the stories and wisdom of the women in Buddhism. She has three grown children and a granddaughter, and lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

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What People Say About Their Sitting Lab Experience

Sitting Lab deepens my commitment to practice daily. I feel the support of others to be consistent when I might be feeling lazy.  

–– Ernest B. PhD, Educational Therapist

Before I joined Sitting Lab, I wanted to meditate more regularly but had a hard time prioritizing the time for it. I would also feel too antsy to sit still for much more than 5 minutes. I've now been able to meditate more regularly (at least three times a week), and I'm amazed at my ability to simply "be" for our entire sitting sessions. After each session, I feel more centered, calm, and connected in a deep way with my fellow meditators. 

  –– Karla P., Writer and Life Coach

Robert helped me get over the initial challenges of meditation. I'd tried in the past to meditate on a regular basis and was never able to. With this retreat, things started to click, and I began to relax into it instead of trying so hard and ultimately stopping. This made all the difference in me establishing a regular practice. I feel like I have a path forward now.

  — Edward P., retreat participant

Robert provided the group with an inspiring blend of yoga practice and meditation that was warm, non-judgmental, and fun. He took great care to address everyone's needs and encouraged each person to stretch their own comfort zone. I thank Robert for his mindful presence, good humor, commitment, and wisdom.

  — Barbara R., retreat participant

Become a Member and Start Sitting Together with Others

Become a member of the Sitting Lab community and get the support you need to grow and deepen your sitting practice. Sitting together with others in our Daily Open Sits is always free.

As a Sitting Lab Member, you get access to:

• All Daily Open Sittings.* 

• Community Practice Features (monthly themes, articles, daily quotes, and more).* 

• Member Profiles and Connections with Peers.* 

• Monthly Half or Full-day sittings** 

• Weekly Practice Talks.**

• Practice Accelerators (short micro-courses).**

• Deep Practice Groups.**

• One-on-One Practice Mentorship.**

* Free to all members ** Available to members at different levels

The Four Guiding Principles of a Sitting Practice

Sitting together provides the support and encouragement that makes a meditation practice more human, sustainable, and meaningful for today’s practitioners. Below are the four principles that define a sitting practice serve as the foundation for our practice offerings.

1. Deep Vitality: Sitting With Stillness and Presence.

Sitting still and quiet, together with others, creates a deep sense of vitality and aliveness through the power of your human presence. This presence embodies and expresses your capacity for connection, generosity, empathy, and compassion. Showing up to sit with others, you become bigger, part of a collective intention to be vividly present in each moment, open to new experiences and possibilities, and ready to dedicate yourself to being of benefit to others.

At Sitting Lab, we empower you to commit to daily practice by gathering as friends who support and encourage you with a sense of stillness and presence that deeply nourishes you. Our short, live sittings enable you to easily show up and be fully present, go deeper and become more consistent, and transform together in a safe environment of mutual support. 

Having a sitting practice is challenging. But a practice system of purpose, people, place, and path supports you to take the small steps to show up. Showing up to sit together with others is how we gain consistency and deepen our practice. Being still and fully present for each moment is how we cultivate the wisdom that transforms our lives. — Robert Thomas

Our Inspiration:

The most radical thing any of us can do at this time is to be fully present to what is happening in the world. — Joanna Macy, Buddhist teacher

The past is past. The future is important. You in the West should be creative in adapting the timeless essence of the Dharma to your own cultural times and circumstances. –– His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, Buddhist teacher

2. Deep Understanding: Feeling Your Way Into Wisdom. 

Having a regular sitting practice is hard, but a practice system enables the most essential step: showing up. You gain consistency, confidence, and continuity by simply showing up to sit with others. Sitting together helps you to directly experience and deeply understand who you are and how things are. Feeling your way deepens your capacity to embody and express your innate human capacity for wisdom. 

At Sitting Lab, practice is not a 'habit' to learn but an unfolding, intuitive process of understanding ourselves and our world. We create conditions that reveal and strengthen our innate human capacity for wisdom, enabling us to serve the world in deeply beneficial ways.

If we want to flourish within the always-changing interconnectedness of life, we must learn to feel our way toward a deeper understanding and embodiment of who we really are. This requires us to embrace new ways to learn, unlearn, and re-learn. It asks us to 'not know' and feel our way to wisdom. –– Robert Thomas

Our Inspiration:

The you that goes in one side of the meditation experience is not the same you that comes out the other side. –– Bhante Henepola Gunaratana, Buddhist teacher.

It's very important that we re-learn the art of resting and relaxing. It allows us to clear our minds, focus, and find creative solutions to problems. — Thich Nhat Hanh, Buddhist teacher

3. Deep Connection: Nurturing Friendship and Belonging.

Many of today's meditation approaches focus on individual effort. We believe it's much better to grow and deepen your practice together with friends. Practice friends' caring support and encouragement is the best way for you to overcome challenges and deepen your practice.

At Sitting Lab, we're creating a new kind of meditation environment built on peer friendship rather than top-down hierarchy. Together, we create a connecting space that is kind and welcoming. When you get stuck or lose motivation, real friends are there to help you.

A deepening practice doesn't happen in isolation. It thrives in the rich soil of caring support, shared experience, and kind encouragement. At Sitting Lab, we emphasize the intimacy of practice connections because safety and trust are essential preconditions for our deep growth and transformation. — Robert Thomas

Our Inspiration:

Friendship is the most important element in the spiritual path. Everything else naturally flows from it. –– Norman Fischer, Buddhist teacher

Meditation practice in the 21st Century should become a collective practice. Without a community of friends, we cannot achieve much. — Thich Nhat Hanh, Buddhist teacher

4. Deep Adaptivity: Creating Conditions to Transform.

Instead of chasing after special states, sitting practice is a process that goes slow and steady. Our sitting system creates conditions for continuous adaptation through small steps and micro-adjustments, resulting in a natural, gradual unfolding and deepening of your practice.

At Sitting Lab, we go beyond mindfulness or stress relief. We open the doors to profound personal and collective transformation. Embracing slow and lasting change, your unique practice path evolves at the speed of trust. This is an adaptive, co-emergent process of awakening.

When we sit, we see that everything is moving and changing, and boundlessly interconnected. When we see each moment like this, we see everything as co-operation––as the simultaneity of our 'inter-being' and 'inter-becoming.' This is what enables us to awaken to the adaptive possibilities of our life. — Robert Thomas

Our Inspiration:

(When we sit) we see that nothing is stagnant, and nothing is fully separate, that who we are, what we are is intimately woven into the nature of life itself. Out of this sense of connection, love and compassion arise.” — Sharon Salzberg, Buddhist teacher

It's very important that we re-learn the art of resting and relaxing. It allows us to clear our minds, focus, and find creative solutions to problems. — Thich Nhat Hanh, Buddhist teacher

The Old Ways of Meditating Don't Work Anymore.

Having a regular, deepening practice was always difficult, but the usual obstacles—lack of time, confusion about methods, access to support, a trustworthy community, religious dogma, and sustaining motivation—have become even harder to navigate in today's world. 

That's why we offer a new approach:

• Authentic human connection instead of AI and algorithms

• Subtle simplicity, not complicated religious philosophies

• Community support rather than isolated solitary effort

• Openness, flexibility, and experimentation instead of rules

• A slow, intuitive, deepening path, not quick-fix programs

Sitting Lab is here so that you can:

• Easily show up from the safety and comfort of your space

• Establish a consistent and sustainable sitting practice 

• Build real, human, trustworthy practice relationships

• Feel your way to a sense of inner calm, stillness, and clarity

• Develop your capacity for wisdom, adaptivity, and resilience

• Deepen your practice and help others do the same

The Sitting Lab Manifesto

The Future of Meditation Is...

Beyond-thinking. Systems-embracing. Meaning-making. Intention-clarifying. Slow-going. Wellbeing-centering. Wonder-seeking. Commitment-making. Simplicity-striving. Connection-cultivating. View-expanding. Friendship-powered. Inclusivity-emphasizing. Belonging-actualizing. Presence-generating. Community-building. Relationship-nurturing. Practice-nourishing. Experiment-inviting. Creativity-inspiring. Possibility-seeing. Safety-prioritizing. Feeling-optimizing. Authentic-being. Emergence-enabling. Curiosity-orienting. Science-recognizing. Path-finding. Not-knowing. Beauty-seeing. Perspective-shifting. Experience-deepening. Compassion-encouraging. Kindness-caring. Empathy-feeling. Wisdom-awakening. And Benefit-creating.