Terms
Becoming Ordinary is a California limited liability company through which Roshi David Blackwell teaches. These are the terms on which the talks, the letter, private practice guidance, and support are offered. They are short on purpose.
The podcast, the writing on this site, and the monthly letter are offered without charge and without conditions. Listen to them, quote them, send them to a friend. What I ask is only that you not sell them, present them as your own, or use them to train a commercial system. They remain the work of their author.
One-to-one practice guidance is a teaching relationship — koan study, work with a text, or sitting practice, in conversation over time. Fees are published on a sliding scale, and the scale exists so that the fee is not the thing that decides whether you practice. If the lowest tier is still out of reach, say so.
Meditation instruction and practice guidance are not medical care, psychotherapy, or psychological treatment, and I am not a physician or a licensed mental health professional. Nothing offered here diagnoses or treats any condition, and none of it is a substitute for care from someone qualified to give it. If you are in crisis, or under the care of a doctor or a therapist, please stay with them — contemplative practice can sit alongside that care, and I am glad to work in step with it, but it does not replace it.
Payments are taken through Stripe. Monthly support and recurring fees continue until you stop them, and you can stop them at any time — write to me, or use the billing link on your receipt. Cancelling ends future payments; it does not claw back past ones. If something has gone wrong, tell me and I will refund it. I would rather return money than have anyone feel taken.
Retreats, sesshin, and events hosted with Long Beach Meditation, the Insight Community of the Desert, or another organization run on that organization’s own registration terms and cancellation policy, which will be given to you when you register. Where an event is offered directly through Becoming Ordinary, these terms apply.
Practice is not a service with a deliverable. I will teach as well as I am able and meet you honestly; what happens in your practice is not something I can guarantee, and anyone who tells you otherwise should be treated with suspicion. The site and its materials are offered as they are.
These terms are governed by the law of the State of California. If part of them turned out to be unenforceable, the rest would still hold. Becoming Ordinary, LLC is the party contracting with you, and its liability is limited to what you have paid it.
If these terms change, the date below changes with them, and the new version applies from that date onward.
Last updated 7 September 2026.
Questions
Ask, and I will answer plainly. See also the privacy notice.
david@becomingordinary.org