Meditation Retreat Schedule
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.
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.
Loving the Self to Death
Retreat 3A program for advanced practitioners
May 24 – 27
Old La Sal, UT
Teacher: Susie Harrington
Registration for full program required; application period open through Sept. 10.
More info and application
Lost Coast Women's Retreat
May 31 – June 8, Northern California
Teachers: Susie Harrington and Erin Selover
Info and Registration
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.
Touching the Earth
July 26 – 30 Paradise, Utah
Teacher: Susie Harrington
Cost: 3-day option (7/26-7/28) $100-$140
5-day option (7/26-7/30) $140-$260
Info & Registration: Cache Valley Sangha
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.
Awakening in Love and Insight
A residential retreatAugust 18 – 25
Location: Pecos Monastery, Our Lady of Guadalupe Abbey, Pecos, New Mexico
Teacher: Susie Harrington
Cost: $750 – $550
Info & Registration at the Albuquerque Sangha website.
Insight Meditation is a simple and direct practice based on moment-to-moment awareness, a technique that opens the heart and clears the mind. In practicing mindfulness in silence throughout the day—in sitting and walking meditation–we learn to be aware of our experience from a place of stillness and equanimity. As we come to see more clearly, insight deepens, and compassion and wisdom can arise.
This retreat, designed for beginners and experienced practitioners alike, will include meditation instruction, dharma talks, individual practice discussions with the teacher and group discussion time. There is a beautiful meditation space at the Center, and we will also sit outside as conditions allow.
Gratitude & Generosity: Realizing the Abundant Heart
A weekend non-residential retreat
December 7 – 8 Spirit Rock, Woodacre, CA
Teacher: Susie Harrington
Info (and registration when open)
In this weekend retreat, we will practice and inquire, exploring the natural flow of giving and receiving that is the source of all connection, all life, and an expression of the fundamental truth of interconnection.
Journey to Bhutan
A Cultural & Walking Retreat
Nov. 23 – Dec. 6 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.
February Monthlong
February 1 – 29 Spirit Rock, Woodacre, CA
Co-Teachers: James Baraz, Kamala Masters, Tempel Smith, John Martin, Beth Sternlieb
Info (and lottery when open) at spiritrock.org.
Applications for the lottery will be accepted Tuesday, July 16, 2019, to midnight Saturday, August 31, 2019. You do not need to apply on the first day it opens.
An extended period of retreat offers the rare opportunity for sustained and dedicated practice. This retreat emphasizes quieting the mind, opening the heart, and developing profound clarity and depth of insight practice. Instruction will follow the traditional four foundations of mindfulness, combined with training in loving-kindness and compassion, through a daily schedule of silent sitting, walking, dharma talks and practice meetings with teachers.
Escalante Wilderness Backpacking Retreat
Full with a waitlistDates: April 12 – 18
Teacher: Susie Harrington
Info & Registration
This retreat is an opportunity to "return home" to our true, wild nature to deepen our practice. Immersed the extraordinary wilderness of Escalante in Utah and in the quiet of our meditation practice, we will open ourselves to the interconnectedness, preciousness, and beauty of our true nature. Sitting in the beauty of canyon country gives us ready access to rapture, that quality of delighted interest and awe, and one of the seven factors of enlightenment.
From Compassion to Action
An online daylong retreat of meditation and wise response
June 28, 9:00 - 4:00 MDT
8 - 3:00 PDT, 10 - 5:00 CDT, 11 - 6:00 EDT. Zoom familiarization for those who desire half hour before start.
Teachers: Susie Harrington and Kirsten Rudestam
Cost: $40 - $100 ($10 fee for admin costs, the remainder is offered in support to the teachers. For this retreat, 50% of teacher fees will be donated to organizations in support of Black Lives Matter) No one will be turned away for lack of funds.
Compassion is the wholesome expression of the open heart when it meets the suffering of our world. To know compassion is to care – to feel our connection with other people and with the more-than-human world. In these times we are asked to come to terms with the devastating effects of our racial history, our environmentally disastrous greed, and the immediate difficulties of Covid-19. It is in facing these challenges that our hearts can know both our tenderness and our strength. There is the natural desire to feel both compassion and to relieve the suffering.
In this daylong retreat, we will explore through meditation, dharma talks, connection with others and engaged practice, how to know and allow the natural movement of our hearts. There will be periods of silent practice as well as invitations to take action, such as making a phone call, writing a letter, donating to a cause, and finding your own inspiration to act. Through mindfulness, we will explore the emotions, resistances, hindrances, and wholesome qualities that arise in considering and enacting compassionate response. What arises when we are moved to do something, to move off the cushion, out of silent meditation and take our practice into action?
Below are some race resources you can begin to look at. Prior to the retreat, we will send additional resources on other topics, and the zoom link. We ask that you spend 30 minutes prior to the retreat exploring responses in a topic that moves you.
75 Things White People Can Do for Racial Justice
Resources for Accountability and Actions for Black Lives
Anti-Racism Resources
All in-person retreats are currently held with current COVID protocols, including masking, social distancing and hygiene, and updated as requirements and recommendations evolve. More information is available for each retreat. With COVID, everything is in constant flux and change! If you would like to be informed when retreats are offered, we highly recommend you sign up for the newsletter (in the footer) which announces new retreats. We don’t always list all retreat on the website. Check back, we are still adding retreats as changing conditions continue to unfold.
PROGRAMS
Buddhist Eco-Chaplaincy
July 2022 – January 2024
Teachers: Gil Fronsdal, Susie Harrington, Kristen Rudestam, Ram Appalaraju, and guest teachers and facilitators skilled in specific areas of teaching and inquiry.
Location: This program includes two in-person one-week retreats in California, and 17 days/10 online sessions.
Applications for this round is closed
This program offers basic Buddhist training in the wisdom and skill needed to be a Buddhist Environmental Chaplain, i.e., those who work to support people in developing healthy, compassionate, and mutually supportive relationships with each other and with the natural world. It will offer experience-based activities and contemplative practices that deepen individuals’ own relationships with the natural world, as well as provide them with skills to be spiritual caregivers, helping others (re)connect with nature and face contemporary socio-environmental crises with wisdom and compassion.
More info
Liberation through Emptiness and Awareness Practices (LEAP)
May 2023 – May 2024
Teachers: Sally Armstrong, Susie Harrington, and Dawn Scott, and guest teachers including Guy Armstrong, Gil Fronsdal, Venerable Bhikkhu Anālayo, and Brian Lesage.
Location: This program includes three 8-day retreats at Spirit Rock.
Applications: accepted on a rolling basis until the program fills. More info and application
The purpose of this program is to bring to life the liberating teachings of the Buddha, both on retreat and in our daily practice. LEAP is intended for experienced students of the Dhamma who want to explore these teachings through practice, study, inquiry, and interactive exercises. It is a year-long program consisting of three retreats; regular meetings with small-groups, study/practice partners, and LEAP teachers; and monthly homework including readings, reflections, and meditation instructions.
RETREATS
2023
Spirit Rock February 2023
One Month RetreatJanuary 28 – February 25, 2023
Venue: Spirit Rock Meditation Center
Teachers: Susie Harrington, James Baraz, Sally Armstrong, Dawn Scott and Vance Pryor
Waitlist Application
An extended period of retreat offers the rare opportunity for sustained and dedicated deep practice. This retreat emphasizes quieting the mind, opening the heart, and developing profound clarity and depth of insight practice. Instruction will follow the traditional four foundations of mindfulness, combined with training in loving-kindness and compassion. The retreat will consist of a daily schedule of silent sitting, walking meditation, dharma talks, and practice meetings with teachers.
Meditation in the Desert
Touching the Earth at Cochise StrongholdMarch 4 – 11, 2023
Location: Dharma Treasure Retreat Center which is located east of Tucson near Cochise Stronghold. dharmatreasure.org/
Teacher: Susie Harrington
Cook: Valerie Holze
Cost: $430 - $600
More info & registration
Again and again the Buddha recommended practicing out of doors. Immersed in nature, and in the quiet of our meditation practice, we will open ourselves to the interconnectedness, preciousness, and beauty of our true nature. In this retreat, we'll be encouraged to look around a lot and to delight in what we see. This is a simple camping retreat with 3 delicious meals a day and simple day to day outdoor living and practicing. If an outdoor retreat appeals to you, far from people, without the challenges of backpacking, this may be a retreat for you!
LEAP Retreat 1
The Nature of AwarenessMay 15 – 23, 2023
Venue: Spirit Rock Meditation Center
Teachers: Dawn Scott, Sally Armstrong, Susie Harrington, Guy Armstrong, and Jaya Rudgard, with Mei Elliot and Francisco Gable assisting
Open to participants in the full LEAP program
The Buddha said that he teaches just suffering and the end of suffering. The LEAP retreats will focus on the ending of suffering – Nibbana - and the practices and insights that lead to this ending. The first retreat of the program, on Awareness, is the heart of sentient life, the central faculty that reveals the phenomena of our experience. Usually, in both meditation and daily life, we pay most attention to phenomena and less to awareness itself. This retreat is an opportunity to focus on the nature of awareness and to explore this mysterious, innate capacity for knowing.
Concentration and Awareness
July 5 – 23, 2023
Venue: Spirit Rock Meditation Center
Teachers: Guy Armstrong, Sally Armstrong, Susie Harrington, Tuere Sala
More Info & Registration at the Spirit Rock retreat page
The first half of this retreat will focus on the development of concentration (samādhi), the collectedness of mind that gives mental strength and stability. Concentration comes from cultivating a relaxed attention and ease of mind. It can bring joy to our practice and lead to the skillful use of pleasure in the meditative process. For practitioners at all levels of experience, it is a key ingredient in the deepening of meditative insight.
The second half of the retreat will build on the foundation of concentration to explore the nature of awareness, or consciousness, which is the heart of sentient life. Awareness is always with us, revealing the phenomena of our experience, yet we may not have learned how to use it as a focus in meditation. As we deepen our connection to and understanding of this mysterious capacity for knowing, it becomes a powerful pathway to inner freedom and liberation.
Buddhist Eco-Chaplaincy
Residential Retreat #2August 6 – 12th, 2023
Teachers: Gil Fronsdal, Susie Harrington, Kristen Rudestam, Ram Appalaraju
Location: Northern California
Open to participants in the full BEC program
This program offers basic Buddhist training in the wisdom and skill needed to be a Buddhist Environmental Chaplain, i.e., those who work to support people in developing healthy, compassionate, and mutually supportive relationships with each other and with the natural world.
Teton Sangha Retreat
September 29 – Oct 6, 2023
Teacher: Susie Harrington
Location: Jackson, WY
Registration will manifest as conditions align
Teton Sangha hosts one 9 day residential retreat designed for experienced practitioners in the fall of each year with a chosen guiding teacher. Occasionally a weekend-only option is offered within the time period. The retreat begins mid-day on Friday and ends on Sunday morning.
LEAP Retreat 2
Emptiness & LiberationNovember 2 – 10, 2023
Venue: Spirit Rock Meditation Center
Teachers: Dawn Scott, Sally Armstrong, Susie Harrington, and Gil Fronsdal, with Mei Elliot and Francisco Gable assisting
Open to participants in the full LEAP program
The second retreat of the program is a further development of a senior students retreat on Emptiness previously held at Spirit Rock. While retaining the teachings on emptiness, this retreat will add more direct pointing to the steps toward liberation as described by the Buddha as well as ancient and contemporary meditation masters.
Baja Sea Kayaking Retreat
A seven day, six night wilderness retreat in Baja CaliforniaNovember 26 – December 2, 2023
Sea of Cortez, Baja, Mexico
Teacher: Susie Harrington
Cost: $1,950, plus dana (donation) for the teacher
Location: Trip begins and ends in Loreto, Baja California Sur, Mexico. Direct flights available from L.A., Phoenix, and Dallas or Tijuana 4-5 days a week.
More info and 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.
