Meet Deep Blues
In Memphis:
Deep Blues Zen is a Memphis based Zen training center and community in the Zen Garland Order that provides a safe, and welcoming environment for spiritual development. The Spiritual Director is Sensei Yves Ensho Calderone, a Soto Zen Buddhist lineage-holding Dharma Successor of Roshi Paul Genki Kahn.
Sensei Ensho offers free instruction, on Zen meditation and an introductory series of classes for beginners, “Entering The Zen Garland Way.” He conducts regular meditation periods weekly and offers private, individual teaching called “dokusan.” He offers koan training as well as classes and workshops on Eihei Dogen Zenji and the 8 Core Practices of the Zen Garland Order.
Deep Blues Zen is open to motivated students with varying goals and at different stages of their spiritual journey. Our Teachers and community respect each practitioner as unique and worthy, helping them awaken and develop their individual character, talents, and personal direction. We are actively working to develop a multicultural and diverse Zen community here in Memphis.
Our Practice
At Deep Blues Zen we follow the 8 Core Practices training curriculum of The Zen Garland Order. This includes private, individual study with an empowered Zen Garland Teacher, study of Zen Sutras and texts, Zen meditation, somatic healing, and embodiment practices, restoring our connection with the natural world, and embracing service as a way of being. We offer classes, workshops, retreats, individual and group study, and all the resources from the Teachers and centers of The Zen Garland Order.
Deep Blues Teacher
Sensei Yves Ensho Calderone
Sensei Yves Ensho Calderone has been practicing Zen since 2005. In 2015 he was ordained as a full priest (Denkai) and he received Dharma Transmission (Denbo) in 2024 in the Japanese Soto Zen lineage of Roshi Paul Genki Kahn. Sensei Ensho emphasizes that the Zen training hall is our daily life, our way of being in the world with ourselves, our intimate circle, our work, and our communities.
Sensei Ensho holds a LMSW in clinical social work from Columbia University in New York and is a practicing psychotherapist licensed in Tennessee and New York. He is a candidate in the Inter-Regional Society of Jungian Analysts and Advanced Certified Compassionate Bereavement Care Counselor for the MISS Foundation and the Selah Carefarm, providing services and aid to traumatically bereaved families in their difficult grieving process. Sensei Ensho holds a second-degree black belt (Nidan) in Aikido.