Rev. Teijo Munnich is a Soto Zen priest serving the Great Tree Zen Women’s Temple sangha based in Alexander, North Carolina, as well as the Zen Center of Asheville and Charlotte Zen Meditation Society. Rev. Teijo is a disciple and dharma heir of Rev Dainin Katagiri. She studied with him from 1975 until his death in 1990, receiving formal training at Hokyoji (Catching the Moon Zen Mountain Center) in Minnesota, Tassajara Zen Mountain Center in California and Hosshinji Sodo in Obama, Japan. Rev. Munnich was ordained as a Zen priest in 1981. In 1983, she began to envision a practice center and community, and at its heart a residential practice for women. This came to be Great Tree Zen Women’s Temple, incorporated in 2004. After a lengthy search, a location was found with suitable space, and Great Tree opened her doors in 2005 in Alexander, NC.

We discussed Rev. Teijo's path as a Catholic nun prior to Zen,the parallels among Catholic and Zen approaches to meditation, Zen training with Katagiri Roshi, The Alexander Technique and the dance of the full lotus posture, the experience of founding a Zen temple for women’s residential training in North Carolina, and the importance of finding a teacher to expand your practice and to dissolve walls.