Meditation Retreat Schedule
All listed retreats are either: open for registration, accepting wait list applications, registration is via another listed organization, or registration is not yet open. Closed retreats (retreat and wait list are full, or retreat is part of a closed series) descriptions are grey.
March 3 – 8 Crestone, CO
Awakening Wisdom & Love Through Insight MeditationTeachers: Susie Harrington, Brian Lesage
Registration: opens in September
This retreat offers the unique opportunity to practice Insight Meditation at Blazing Mountain Retreat Center. Blazing Mountain is situated on the sacred land of Crestone, Colorado. The surrounding environment and beautifully designed meditation hall provide a spacious setting for practice. The comfortable accommodations and healthy vegetarian meals will nurture your well-being. Sponsored by, and more information available from the Salida Sangha.
Advanced Practitioner Program Retreat
April 20 – 27 Spirit Rock, Woodacre, CA
Teachers: Sally Armstrong, Susie Harrington, Bhikku Analayo, Bhikku Bodhi, Kamala Masters and Guy Armstrong
A one year program – program and wait list are full.
Emptiness: Experienced students retreat
June 13 -21 Insight Meditation Society
Barre, Massachusetts
Teachers: Guy Armstrong, Sally Armstrong, Susie Harrington, Brian Lesage
Walking in the Buddha’s Footsteps
August 6 -13 Pecos, New Mexico
Teacher: Susie Harrington
Cost: : $695 - $495 (sliding scale)
Location: Tolemei Center, Our Lady of Guadalupe Abbey, Pecos NM
Info & Registration: Via this pdf form from the sponsors . For any
questions, please contact Jean Admire via JEAD or 505-901-9455
This retreat is co-sponsored by Albuquerque Insight Meditation Center, Santa Fe Vipassana Sangha, & Taos Mountain Sangha
The Buddha was a real person who lived 2600 years ago. True, he was exceptional, but still a traveler through the joys and challenges of life. In many ways, his life was his most profound teaching: the search for freedom from suffering and following the search, how to embody the awake heart in a full and meaningful life. For this retreat, we will investigate stories from the Buddha’s life, and explore how these can be of use to us in our lives. There will be an emphasis on not only the journey to awakening, but also on how to meet the everyday challenges and complications of our personal lives and in today’s world. During this silent retreat, there will be sitting and walking meditation, meditation instructions, dharma talks, and individual meetings with the teacher. Like the Buddha, we will practice outside as much as conditions allow. This retreat is open to all - those with experience and those new to practice.
Meditation and Poetry Retreat
September 21–23 Old La Sal, Utah
Teachers: Susie Harrington and Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer
Cost: $170 - $220 for room and 3 nourishing meals a day. Suggested donation to the teachers: $100 - $400.
Info & Registration
We live in a culture that wants to know—we chart and graph and test and outline. We codify and classify and name. But what do we really know? What is all this messiness and mystery that breeds underneath our longing for orderliness and certainty? What would happen if we could really rest in uncertainty? How deep might that relaxation go? How much more open might our lives be if we made friends with letting go?
We’ll read poems that don’t bring answers, poems that lead us deeper into paradox. We’ll sit in the midst of the not-knowing, sit with our joys, our challenges, the what is here of each moment. We’ll write our own explorations of what if and what else and see what even a small bit of wonder might do … if you’re willing to risk a little, meditation and writing can open doors where before you didn’t even realize a door existed. Spiritual doors. Healing doors. Doors where there used to be walls.
No previous writing experience required. No previous meditation experience required. This poetry and meditation weekend is for anyone who is curious about weaving spiritual awakening and the creative poetic impulse.
Weekend Retreat
Sept. 29 – Oct. 1 Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Teacher: Susie Harrington
Sponsered by Saskatoon Insight Meditation Community
Settling, Seeing, Spacious Awareness
October 2 – 9 Spirit Rock, Woodacre, CA
Teachers: Susie Harrington, Donald Rothberg
New Year's Retreat
Dec. 27, 2017 – Jan 1, 2018 Salt Spring Island, BC
Teacher: Susie Harrington
Cost: varies based on choice of lodging from $630 - $347, plus dana (donation) for the teacher
Location: Stowell Lake Farm, Salt Spring Island, British Columbia
Info & Registration
We will retreat into the deepness of winter to appreciate and release the Old Year and welcome and anticipate the vision and renewal of the New Year. We will sink into the deep quiet of these darkest days of the year and celebrate turning once more towards the increasing light and warmth. On New Year’s Eve, you are invited to stay up until Midnight with a slow, gentle evening of sharing blessings, chants, words and quiet, treats, and candles. It is a lovely way to celebrate together.
2018
Winter Non-residential Retreat
January 12-14 Logan, Utah
Teacher: Susie Harrington
Info and Registration (Cache Valley Sangha website)
Winter Retreat
Jan. 25 – 30 Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Teacher: Susie Harrington
Find more information at: http://saskatooninsight.com/wp/upcoming-events/
Baja Sea Kayaking Retreat
Feb. 11–17
Sea of Cortez, Baja, Mexico
A seven day, six night wilderness retreat in Baja California
Teacher: Susie Harrington
Cost: $1,495, plus dana (donation) for the teacher
Location: Trip begins and ends in Loreto, Baja California, Mexico. Direct flights available from L.A. 4-5 days a week.
Info & Registration
Paddling in the Sea of Cortez provides a unique opportunity to explore the power of a silent meditation retreat while immersed in the beauty and wildness of the Sea of Cortez. We will participate in an age-old tradition of going into the wilderness as a support for spiritual practice and inquiry. Immersed in this coastal wilderness, we will use meditation practices to increase our receptivity to the interconnectedness, preciousness and beauty that surround us. Through our enhanced openness and quiet, we have the opportunity to explore deeply the truth of our own nature. We will be in a supportive community as we explore this inner and outer journey. And our community will most likely be inter-species as we interact with the numerous other animals that live in and around the Sea of Cortez—fish, dolphins, whales, manta rays, birds, and the many other creatures of these remote islands.
March Monthlong
February 24 – March 24 Spirit Rock, Woodacre, CA
Teachers: Andrea Fella, Greg Scharf, Brian LeSage, Susie Harrington
Waitlist open
Escalante Wilderness Backpacking Retreat
Short hiatus due to scheduling conflict
Meditation and Poetry Retreat
April 27 – 29 Old La Sal, Utah
Teachers: Susie Harrington and Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer
Retreat and waitlist are full. This retreat will also be offered Sept. 21-23.
Awakening Love and Wisdom Through Insight Meditation
May 5 9:30 am - 4:00 pm
Park City Community Church, UT
Teacher: Susie Harrington
Cost: suggested donation $20-50 plus teacher support
Registration: check the retreats list at slcinsight.org/. Registration expected to open by March 28th.
In this daylong we will practice ease, relaxation, and connection, cultivating an open and joyful response to each moment of our lives. Our response in each moment ultimately creates our individual experience, as well as well as allowing for skillful participation in the challenges of our lives. In our meditation practice we can closely examine and wisely adjust our relationship to our experience. Through this practice, we move toward ease, joy, and responsiveness.
Settling, Seeing, and Spacious Awareness
May 13 – 20 Spirit Rock, Woodacre, CATeachers: Susie Harrington, Donald Rothberg
Prerequisite: Completion of at least two 5-night or longer silent Insight Meditation retreats or permission of the teachers.
Cost: $800 – $1,760 Special rate available ($35/night) on a first come basis for young adults 18-25
Registration at spiritrock.org
We will begin by settling our minds and bodies with sitting and moving forms of meditation. As we settle, we will begin to examine the different dimensions of experience in our bodies, thoughts, and emotions. As we continue, we can also tune in more to an increasingly unconfined and luminous awareness beyond reactivity, that is a source of freedom, wisdom, and compassion, both in retreat practice and daily life.
Non-residential Retreat
May 26 – 27 Victoria, BC
Teacher: Susie Harrington
Registration opens Apr 30 at sponsor Victoria Insight Meditation Society
Lost Coast Wilderness Retreat
June 3 – 16, Northern California
2 week, and limited 1 week spots, will be available
Teachers: Susie Harrington and Ayya Anandabhodi
More Info and Registration
Retreat and waitlist are full
Lost Coast Women's Retreat
July 6 – 14, Northern California
Teachers: Susie Harrington and Erin Selover
More Info and Registration
New women only version of the annual Lost Coast Retreat, a little later in the summer. The Lost Coast is the longest, wildest stretch of the northern California Coast. Carrying daypacks and lunch, we hike nine miles along the rocky shore, dropping into silence along the way, and arrive at a place that feels sacred and magical. Nestled between the ocean and the mountains, we will practice with the surf, the birds and the sea breezes as our supports. Camping and indoor sleeping arrangements are available.
Equanimity and Compassion
July 27 – Aug. 1 Paradise, Utah
Teacher: Susie Harrington
Cost: TBD
Info & Registration: Coming in 2018
This residential retreat will be an opportunity to sit and walk in silent meditation practice in a lush pastoral setting. Looking deeply into the heart of our experience, we will examine the habits of mind that cause us to suffer. When we bring our compassionate attention to moment to moment experience, our hearts and minds relax and we can access freedom, contentment and well -being.
This retreat will take place primarily outside, with camping or bunk house accommodations available. In addition to sitting and walking meditation, there will be dharma talks, meetings with the teachers, chanting and mindful movement. Those new to meditation and those with experience are welcome.
Concentration Retreat
August 19 - 28 Spirit Rock, Woodacre, CA
Teachers: Phillip Moffitt, Sally Armstrong, Susie Harrington,and Donald Rothberg
Prerequisite: Two 7-night or three 5-night insight retreats.
Registration opens on 4/19/2018. Limited special rates available for young (age 18–26) adults.
Concentration (samadhi), the collection and unification of the mind, was emphasized by the Buddha as one of the aspects of the Eightfold Path. It can bring joy to your practice and lead to the skillful use of pleasure in the meditative process. Whatever your level of practice, you can improve your Insight Meditation (Vipassana) by strengthening your concentration skills.
Green River Canoe Retreat
September 9 – 16 SE Utah
Teacher: Susie Harrington
More info and registration
A silent trip though the spectacular redrock of Canyonlands National Park on the calm waters of the Green River. Easy partial days on the river with layover days of mediation practice and exploring. All canoe equipment provided. No experience necessary.
Meditation and Poetry Retreat
Sept. 21 – 23 Old La Sal, Utah
Teachers: Susie Harrington and Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer
Cost: $170 - $220 for room and 3 nourishing meals a day. Suggested donation to the teachers: $100 - $400.
More information and registration
The Meditation and Poetry Retreat will be held in the container of a silent meditation retreat. There will be practice instructions, guided meditations, silent sitting and walking meditation. Poetry practice will be woven into our days, with periods of instruction, time to write, and time to share what we have written and discovered. This combination of silence and discovery can be a magical process that leads us deep into ourselves and into the world. No previous experience in meditation or poetry is required to participate.
2019
Journey to Bhutan
A Cultural & Walking Retreat
Feb. 15 – March 1 Bhutan
Teacher: Susie Harrington
Info & Registration
This trip is a rare opportunity to travel behind the scenes in the Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan, a country steeped in centuries of Buddhist life and practice. Monastic life is active and strong in Bhutan, and we will practice in many monasteries, listen to the chanting monks and nuns, and meet with local Rinpoches who guide monastic life. On most days we will walk – visiting remote temples, exploring villages, or hiking from town to town. We will support our journey and enrich our experience through meditation practice and personal reflection.