Michael McCord

Where I Come From

After careers in finance and technology, the 2008 financial crisis gave me an unexpected gift: the chance to stop and deepen my Zen practice, something I'd begun earlier at San Francisco Zen Center. In 2009 I stepped into Tassajara, the off-the-grid monastery near Big Sur, and lived there for many years.

It was there, talking with visiting practitioners from Mountain View Zen Sangha - in the heart of Silicon Valley, that something clicked. I realized how directly what I was learning in the monastery spoke to the real struggles people face at work and in their daily lives.

What I've come to offer is a bridge: translating the monastery into the world where people actually live. Through workshops and programs, I help people take those first steps—toward suffering less, breathing more freely, and beginning to thrive. The Zen path teaches us to suffer less so we can thrive more—and in doing that, help others do the same.

Whether it's exploring Zen ritual as practical scaffolding for navigating the modern world or wrestling with what it means to be human in the age of AI, the programs I've created, by distilling the wisdom of my teachers through my own lens, aim to address the real questions people carry today. They show how these ancient principles offer a genuine way forward.