ZEN TO LIVE CITY SCORECARDS
Each scorecard applies the full Zen to Live framework to a specific French city — evaluated honestly, with trade-offs named directly alongside the strengths. These are not destination guides or promotional documents. They are structured assessments of whether a place can actually hold the life you want.
The seven Zen to Live pillars cover healthcare and rest, walkability and cycling, food and market culture, contemplative spaces, nature access, eco credentials, and community fabric. The Practical Foundation — visa, tax treaty, affordability, property, safety — tests whether the ground can hold the pillars. Every question is answered YES or NO. The NO answers are the most valuable part.
Every French city is evaluated using identical methodology, making them directly comparable. Compare directly against every city scored — more cities added as they're completed.
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62 questions. Seven Zen pillars. One Practical Foundation.
Paris — France (57/62 · 91.94%)
Every French city has a tourism office calling it the most liveable place in France and a forum thread saying the opposite. This is an instrument instead of an opinion.
62 questions. Seven Zen pillars. One Practical Foundation. The same yes/no questions asked of every city, in the same order, against the same thresholds — Restore, Move, Nourish, Sacred, Nature, Eco, and Community as the lens, with the Practical Foundation (visa, tax treaty, healthcare access, affordability, property, safety) checked before anything else.
Paris scores 57/62 — 91.94%. Five flagged items documented in full: rent, property prices, beach access, mountain access, and extreme heat risk. Every answer carries a factual sentence of rationale — no venue names, no softening — so you can hold Paris directly against Angers and Saumur, with more cities added as they're completed.
Built for people deciding where in France to retire or relocate.
Any city scoring 88% or higher also earns a Zen to Live Guide — the specific places, rituals, and rhythms worth building a scouting trip around. Paris has one.
Evaluated May 2026 by someone who lives in the 10th arrondissement.
Angers — France (60/62 · 96.77%)
Every French city has a tourism office calling it the most liveable place in France and a forum thread saying the opposite. This is an instrument instead of an opinion.
62 questions. Seven Zen pillars. One Practical Foundation. The same yes/no questions asked of every city, in the same order, against the same thresholds — Restore, Move, Nourish, Sacred, Nature, Eco, and Community as the lens, with the Practical Foundation (visa, tax treaty, healthcare access, affordability, property, safety) as the ground the pillars stand on.
Angers scores 60/62 — 96.77%. Two flagged items, both reflecting the gentle geography of western France rather than any failing of the city. Every question carries one sentence of factual rationale — no venue names, no softening — so you can hold Angers directly against Paris and Saumur, with more cities added as they're completed.
Built for people deciding where in France to retire or relocate.
The Scorecard decides. The Guide reveals. Any city scoring 88% or higher also earns a Zen to Live Guide — the specific places, rituals, and rhythms worth building a scouting trip around. Angers has one.
Evaluated May 2026 by someone who spends months here every year for exactly the reasons this scorecard documents.
Saumur — France (55/62 · 88.71%)
Every French city has a tourism office calling it the most liveable place in France and a forum thread saying the opposite. This is an instrument instead of an opinion.
62 questions. Seven Zen pillars. One Practical Foundation. The same yes/no questions asked of every city, in the same order, against the same thresholds — Restore, Move, Nourish, Sacred, Nature, Eco, and Community as the lens, with the Practical Foundation (visa, tax treaty, healthcare access, affordability, property, safety) as the ground the pillars stand on.
Saumur scores 55/62 — 88.71% — over two field sessions on the ground. Seven flagged items, and they divide cleanly. Four are geographic and permanent: no beach, mountains, waterfall, or hot springs within reach. Three are civic and worth reading closely before you commit: no green city certification, no alternative wellness culture, and no resident anglophone community. Every question carries one sentence of factual rationale — no venue names, no softening — so you can hold Saumur directly against Angers and Paris, with more cities added as they're completed.
Built for people deciding where in France to retire or relocate.
The Scorecard decides. The Guide reveals. Any city scoring 88% or higher also earns a Zen to Live Guide — the specific places, rituals, and rhythms worth building a scouting trip around. Saumur cleared that bar by 0.71 points, the narrowest pass in the catalog, and its Guide says so on the first page.
Evaluated July 2026 across two days on the ground — rents around €10/m², the simplest short-term rental rules of any city scored, and the best single meal I ate all summer.
Lille — France (49/62 · 79.03%)
Every French city has a tourism office calling it the most liveable place in France and a forum thread saying the opposite. This is an instrument instead of an opinion. Built for people deciding where in France to retire or relocate.
62 questions. Seven Zen pillars. One Practical Foundation. The same yes/no questions asked of every city, in the same order, against the same thresholds — Restore, Move, Nourish, Sacred, Nature, Eco, and Community as the lens, with the Practical Foundation (visa, tax treaty, healthcare access, affordability, property, safety) as the ground the pillars stand on.
Lille scores 49/62 — 79.03%. Thirteen flagged items, concentrated in Nature and Restore, reflect a genuinely different kind of city: an elite transport and short-stay hub — the world's first automatic metro, Eurostar to London and Brussels in under two hours, a top-tier teaching hospital — built around a commercial, fashion-forward energy rather than a restorative one. Every question carries one sentence of factual rationale — no venue names, no softening — so you can hold Lille directly against Angers, Paris, and Saumur, with more cities added as they're completed.
The Scorecard decides. The Guide reveals. Any city scoring 88% or higher also earns a Zen to Live Guide. Lille does not — and that is the scorecard doing its job: telling you before a scouting trip that this is a city worth knowing, not a city worth a Guide.
Evaluated August 2026, field-verified in person.
The Scorecard decides. The Guide reveals.
Every city starts with a Scorecard — no venue names, no softening. Only when the scorecard says the life is possible does a city earn a Zen to Live Guide: the specific cafés, markets, studios, and rituals behind every YES.
Why cities, not villages? The Zen to Live lens demands walkability — daily needs within a 20-minute walk or a safe bike ride — plus real healthcare access and a community you can join on foot. Small, isolated villages, however charming, can't pass that test without a car. Every scorecard is a city scorecard by design.
ZEN TO LIVE GUIDES
For People Asking a Different Question.
Not where to eat and what to see. What does it actually feel like to live here? Zen to Live Guides go deeper than travel — they cover daily life rhythm, healthcare, community, cost of living, and the honest trade-offs of making a French city your actual home. Each guide pairs with the city's Zen to Live Scorecard.
Buy the Scorecard first. If the city passes your test, the Guide fills in the life.
$9.99 each · Instant digital download · PDF
The Scorecard decides. The Guide reveals. Paris scored 57/62 — 91.94% — and this Guide is the honest exception in the catalog: Paris could fill it ten times over, and this is a hand-picked few per pillar from a decade of living here, not a survey.
Same seven Zen pillars the Scorecard scores — Restore, Move, Nourish, Sacred, Nature, Eco, Community — filled in with the names left out of a comparison tool. But the real work of this Guide is Community, because in Paris the first decision isn't whether to move, it's which of twenty arrondissements to land in. Get that wrong and a city everyone loves feels cold. Get it right and you're connected to neighbours, not just other anglophones.
For deeper dives on a single theme — the gardens, the 9th, travelling as a senior — the separate Zen Traveler's Guides go further than this one tries to.
$9.99 · Instant digital download · PDF
A city of 160,000 that most people drive past on the way to somewhere else. That's the point.
Angers scored 96.77% on the Zen to Live City Scorecard — one of the highest scores in the catalog. The scorecard tells you Angers passes. This guide tells you where to go on a Tuesday morning once you're here.
This guide covers what daily life in Angers actually feels like — the markets where local chefs shop on Wednesday mornings, the rooftop greenhouse where you buy a plant and stay longer than planned, the hidden convent labyrinth most visitors never find, the cable ferry to an island with herons and apple orchards twenty-five minutes from the centre. Artisan chocolate at a density that shouldn't exist here. A cycling network that makes Paris look like it's still figuring things out. A social fabric that takes time to open and then doesn't close.
Personal picks from someone who has spent months here every year, across all seven Zen to Live pillars. France's greenest city. The most honest guide I've written.
$9.99 · Instant digital download · PDF
The Scorecard decides. The Guide reveals. Saumur scored 55/62 — 88.71% — the narrowest pass in the catalog, and this Guide says so on its first page rather than pretending otherwise.
Same seven Zen pillars the Scorecard scores — Restore, Move, Nourish, Sacred, Nature, Eco, Community — filled in with the names left out of a comparison tool: the osteopath I use, the market that opens at eight, the château path, the bike lane to the Loire à Vélo. What I use myself. What I found on foot. Where the town runs thin, this Guide says so, the same way the Scorecard did.
Built for a scouting trip, not a highlight reel — two days here with this in your pocket tells you more than three months of reading.
$9.99 · Instant digital download · PDF
ZEN TRAVELER'S GUIDES
For trips, not moves.
The same seven-pillar lens, pointed at a visit — where to restore, move, eat, and slow down when you have days in a city rather than a life. Personal picks from someone who lives in France and moves through these cities slowly, on foot and by bike.
$9.99 each · Instant digital download · PDF
The Zen Traveler's Guide to Gardens in Paris (8 pages) One curated green space per arrondissement across all 20, written from daily life — not a tourist checklist. Includes heritage trees, urban forests, hidden squares, and practical notes on shade, benches, water fountains, and best hours. Green space as nervous-system regulation, not sightseeing.
Coffee, Croissants & Chocolate: The 9th Arrondissement (4 pages) A focused guide to the 9th's best specialty coffee shops, boulangeries, and chocolatiers — written by someone who has lived in the neighborhood and offered guided chocolate tastings here since 2017. Includes what to order, insider notes on each spot, and a brief education in reading a chocolate shop like a local.
The Zen Traveler's Guide to Paris for Seniors (8 pages) Built around Saint-Germain-des-Prés and the 6th arrondissement — flat terrain, wide sidewalks, benches everywhere, and a dense cluster of calm cultural and wellness experiences within short walking distance. Two flat morning routes, museum pacing, seated meditation prompts, spa options, and dining that doesn't require a reservation three weeks out.
A Mindful Wellness Escape: 3 Days in the 9th (6 pages) A day-by-day itinerary for the arrondissement locals love and visitors overlook — yoga studios, spas, specialty coffee, artisanal chocolate, wine bars, and farm-to-table dining, none of it on the tourist circuit. Anchored around three boutique hotels (La Fantaisie, HOY, Pulitzer) with the option to use the guide independently of where you're staying.
PARIS BUNDLE — Four Zen Traveler's Guides ($19.99)
Four themed guides to Paris, bundled: gardens by arrondissement, a senior-focused itinerary, a 3-day wellness escape in the 9th, and a coffee-croissants-chocolate deep dive into the 9th. This is the deep-dive companion to the Zen to Live Guide to Paris — that one gets you settled across all twenty arrondissements; these four take you further into the corners once you know where you're living. By a guide who lives here and walks these streets daily.
The Zen Traveler's Guide to Lisbon (9 pages) Lisbon rewards slow travelers and punishes those who try to do too much — hills, heat, and terrain demand a different rhythm. This guide organizes the city by Restore, Nature, Sacred, Move, and Nourish, with specific attention to mid-afternoon recovery, shaded green spaces, and the best float therapy, yoga studios, and plant-forward dining in the city.
The Zen Traveler's Guide to Amsterdam (9 pages) Amsterdam naturally supports a slower pace — flat streets, water everywhere, human scale. This guide covers nervous-system-focused wellness (float therapy, Art Deco saunas, cacao ceremonies), restorative green spaces, walking and cycling routes, and nourishing food, with personal picks across every category. One neighborhood per day is the explicit recommendation.
The Zen Traveler's Guide to Ubud (9 pages) Based around The Westin Resort & Spa Ubud as home base, this guide covers yoga (Yoga Barn and Alchemy in depth), the Heavenly Spa's Healing Journey ritual, forest walks, sacred temple etiquette, and the specialty coffee and plant-forward dining scene in central Ubud. Written from two decades of personal practice and return visits.
YOGA EBOOKS
Practice Anywhere. No Mat Required.
Office Yoga
Two practical guides for bringing mindful movement into the spaces where you spend the most time — the office chair and the airplane seat. Short sequences, clear instructions, no equipment needed.
Simple yoga sequences designed for desk workers — stretches, breathwork, and tension-release practices you can do without leaving your chair or attracting attention from colleagues. Designed for the 2pm slump, the tense shoulders, and the screen-glazed eyes.
Airplane Yoga
Simple yoga sequences for long-haul travelers — stretches and breathwork you can do in your seat at 35,000 feet. No mat, no space, no problem.
MEMOIR
Searching for Zinnias: An Adoptee's Quest for Home
A memoir about adoption, identity, and the long search for belonging — told across continents, decades, and one garden. For anyone who has ever questioned where home actually is.
Available in Kindle, Paperback, Apple Books, and Barnes & Noble
All purchases support an independent author directly.
FREE
Is France Right for You?
The Zen to Live France Scorecard walks you through the eight pillars that actually determine whether a life in France will work for your situation — visa options, healthcare access, cost of living, cycling infrastructure, food culture, and more. Takes about 10 minutes. Gives you a clear, honest picture before you book a consultation or make any decisions.
No fluff. No "France is magical" tourism copy. Just the real questions.
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