 In 1967 she joined the Zen Studies Society in New York City, training under Eido Tai Shimano, Haku'un Yasutani and Soen Nakagawa—and was married to Lou Nordstrom by Shimano and Yasutani.She received the Dharma name Roko (meaning "sparkling dew").The couple moved to Syracuse and Sherry Chayat left Zen Studies Society in the middle seventies.