How a Retreat Works

Relevant Links:

Programs

Daylongs

Meditations

Registration Form

Since ancient times all wise cultures have known the value of retreat. Time in retreat allows us to step out of the complexity of our life, to listen deeply to our body, heart and mind. For 2,500 years, meditation retreats have been a central part of the Buddhist path of awakening. Meditation retreats offer practical instruction and group support for discovering inner understanding and freedom. Spirit Rock retreats combine the fertile atmosphere of silence with extensive time for meditation and walks in nature, supported by systematic Buddhist teachings. Careful guidance and training is offered in meditation. Most retreats are suitable for both new and more experienced students of meditation.

Since 1974, the insight meditation community has held hundreds of silent retreats throughout the United States. In 1998 we expanded our California schedule of residential retreats to Spirit Rock Meditation Center, offering practice periods lasting from three days to two months. At the same time, we continue to offer a wide-ranging program of day-long, non-residential retreats, classes and applied spiritual practices.

How Does a Retreat Work?

A retreat provides an opportunity and a caring container for undertaking intensive meditation, like an immersion course in a language. The central practice on retreats is mindfulness, which enables us to see the ways we create difficulties in our lives and to discover a freedom of heart in the midst of all things. The mindfulness practice on retreats is often accompanied and complemented by training in lovingkindness meditation.

Spirit Rock retreats involve a gathering of thirty to one hundred or more participants. Most of the retreat is held in silence--retreatants do not speak to one another. Writing and reading are also discouraged, so that retreatants can better stay with their own present experience as it unfolds, moment to moment. In this silent and mindful environment, awareness sharpens, the body quiets, the mind clears, and space opens for insight and understanding to develop.

Retreats are led by a team of experienced teachers from the Spirit Rock teachers collective, or by other well-known and beloved visiting teachers from our broader Buddhist community. The teachers offer instructions, Dharma talks and regularly scheduled interviews to provide guidance throughout the retreat.

Contact us at:

Spirit Rock Meditation Center

5000 Sir Francis Drake Blvd

Woodacre, CA.

Telephone: 415-488-0164

Fax: 415-488-0170

Mailing address: PO Box 169

Woodacre, CA 94973

"Look within. Be still, free from fear and attachment."

"May you be filled with loving kindness."