Sonoma Mountain Zen Center also offers a practice regimen for members of the surrounding area and elsewhere who are not residents.

According to the book Opening the Mountain, "Bill and Laura Kwong had moved to Mill Valley and began a little 'put away zendo.'

[2] Author Sarah Ban Breathnach described the center in her book A Man's Journey to Simple Abundance: "Near the top of the mountain, the road dips, bends, then snakes through a small grove of redwoods.

The dense tree canopy blocks all ambient light, so that when you emerge on the other side of the grove, you feel as though you've passed through a portal into another world.

It's a fitting way to approach Sonoma Mountain Zen Center, because people there view reality just a little bit differently from the way most of us do.