Ordinary Dharma is a Buddhist Community rooted in the meditation traditions of Vipassana and Zen and committed to the teachings of Deep Ecology, Nonviolence, Engaged Buddhism, and movements for social justice. Based in Southern California, Ordinary Dharma offers meditation instruction, workshops and trainings, retreats, tapes and CDs, Aikido and Iaido training, Hypnotherapy, and Counseling. Retreats and workshops are held at Ordinary Dharma’s rural retreat center, Manzanita Village, in Warner Springs, as well as in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and various other North American locations. Manzanita Village is located on nineteen acres of land west of the Anza Borrego desert in San Diego County. Surrounded by National forest and public land, Manzanita Village offers a remote and wild setting for retreats, and the resident teachers—Caitriona Reed and Michele Benzamin-Miki—consider the land itself to be a teacher. The teaching and practice at Manzanita Village are rooted in the belief that spiritual practice is inextricably related to issues of social, economic and environmental justice. Workshops and retreats integrate traditional Buddhist teachings and mindfulness practice with deep ecology, social justice, nonviolence, peace-making, and the creative arts. As well as traditional approaches to Buddhist Meditation, other practices geared towards awakening a sense of connectedness with the earth include: contemplative bowing called “touching the earth,” earth-centered Gathas (short poems to support mindfulness) for walking meditation, and deep ecology process work. The retreat center has a strawbale hermitage for personal retreats as well as room for approximately thirty-five formal retreat participants and serves organic, vegetarian, and non-genetically modified food.