Sasanna Yee speaks during the sign unveiling ceremony of Yik Oi Huang Peace and Friendship Park in 2024. The San Francisco park was renamed in memory of Yee’s grandmother, who was found beaten there in 2019 and died a year later.

A photograph of Yik Oi Huang on display at the renaming ceremony for Yik Oi Huang Peace and Friendship Park in the Visitacion Valley neighborhood of San Francisco in 2024.

A meditation retreat can be a great way to clear the mind. But there are times when that pursuit is more difficult than others.

In December, Sasanna Yee started her annual sojourn of 10 days in silence and isolation a week after the man convicted of murdering her grandmother had his sentencing hearing.

“It helps with all the chatter, the mind, all the noise in the head, and really helps reset me,” Yee told me. “So, it was a great thing to do.”

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On Jan. 8, 2019, Yee’s grandmother, Yik Oi Huang, 88, was found bludgeoned and unconscious in the sandbox of the Visitacion Valley Playground in San Francisco. Huang died the next year on Jan. 4 from her injuries.

In November, a jury found Keonte Gathron, 25, guilty of murdering Huang. He was also convicted of a string of other violent incidents with Asian American victims. Gathron’s final sentencing has been delayed; he has another hearing on Monday and likely faces life in prison.

The six years it took for the case to go to trial and the two months of deliberations took a toll on Yee and her family.

© San Francisco Chronicle