Event Type: Day Retreats

Date & Time: Saturday, September 30, 2023; 10:30am – 3:00pm.
Sliding Scale: $90-$295 (per family). Our sliding scale options for this program include financial support for our teachers and Spirit Rock. Code FA2D23.

RETREAT TO BE HELD ON THE LAND ONLY! Community Meditation Center – Great Hall

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Description:
Family Days are a wonderful opportunity to spend the day connecting with your children, yourself, and a community of supportive peers. Come play, share, learn, and open your heart!

Family Practice Period:
We start our morning with a program for everyone, weaving the theme of the day into songs, skits, and family activities. We have plenty for your children, with mindfulness activities geared toward youth ages 4 – 10 as well as a new program for older youth, ages 11 – 14. 

Youth Program:
During the second half of the day, youth ages 4 – 14 will attend age-appropriate groups with our experienced Spirit Rock mindfulness leaders. They will play, make art, sing songs, and practice mindfulness together.

Parents’ Program:
Parents of children ages 4 and older will have an opportunity to meditate, hear a talk related to parenting as practice, and connect with each other through group discussions.
Pre-registration is required so we can plan ahead, especially for the kids’ activities.  This is a popular event that usually sells out, so register early!

Volunteers are needed to assist with the event and attend free of charge. Children are welcome to volunteer alongside an adult. Contact our Volunteer Coordinator for more information at: volunteering@spiritrock.org.

IMPORTANT – Details on our current COVID Safety Protocols for In-person Retreats.

Date & Time: Sunday, October 1, 2023; 9:00am – 4:30pm US Pacific Time
Please Note: This program will be offered as a hybrid: on-land (non-residential) and online (via Zoom).

On-Land (in-person) Sliding Scale: $0-$160. Our sliding scale options include financial support for our teachers. Code AK1G23.

Online Sliding Scale: $0-$108. Our sliding scale options include financial support for our teachers. Code AK1Z23.

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Description:
Stressing out trying to settle the mind and “get concentrated?” Tired of trying to force your attention onto a narrow point of breathing and getting frustrated? You’re not alone. In this daylong retreat, we’ll explore strategies for setting up the mind/heart, engaging with some contemplations that allow for natural and easeful settling into samādhi, rather than trying to force attention onto a tight location.

This retreat will include guided meditation, dharma reflections, and time for Q&A.

On-Land space is limited due to COVID protocols in place, please register for the In-person event only if you can join us on the land. If you can only join us remotely online, please register for the Online version and you can participate by Zoom or watch the program later.

Date & Time: Saturday, October 7, 2023; 10:00 am – 4:00 pm US Pacific Time
Sliding Scale: $95-$200. Our sliding scale options for this program include financial support for our teachers. Code SF1D23.
Continuing Education Credits: This program offers 5 CE credits for $50 for psychologists, and California licensed MFTs, LCSWs, LEPs, LPCCs, nurses, and chiropractors.

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Description:
Working with the breath is foundational to Buddhist meditation, and was the Buddha’s primary practice both before and after his awakening. How we breathe affects our physical and mental health, and is one of the only ways we can directly engage with the Autonomic Nervous System. The breath helps determine how we process stress, move through emotions, and balance energy in our body and mind.

Though we often hear the instruction to let the breath be natural, adjusting the breath in meditation and throughout daily life can give tremendous benefit. This daylong will focus on changing unhealthy patterns of breathing for better energy, rest, and focus. We will learn prāṇāyāma from Haṭha Yoga, explore the physiology of breath, and meditate using the Buddha’s instructions on ānāpānasati (mindfulness of breathing). You will be able to immediately change how you are breathing, with direct impact on your meditation and general well-being.

All are welcome! No one will be turned away for lack of funds as space allows. For more information, please email Registration@spiritrock.org.

Date & Time: Sunday, October 8, 2023; 10:00am – 1:00pm US Pacific Time
Sliding Scale: $50-$108. Our sliding scale options for this program include financial support for our teachers. Code NF1H23.

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Description:
In this half-day retreat we’ll explore the art, practice, and cosmic significance of “just sitting,” or shikantaza, as described by Dōgen, the 13th Century Japanese founder of Soto Zen Buddhism, in his seminal essay “Continuous Practice.” During our time together we’ll explore this soaring and poetic text and contemplate through sitting and walking meditation and interactive discussion the ways insight and mindfulness can infuse all of our daily activities, including our relationships, transforming our lives into Dharma.

This half day of practice is appropriate for beginners in meditation and mindfulness as well as those with all levels of experience in Zen. Spirit Rock is delighted to welcome our friend, the former abbot of San Francisco Zen Center, and a renowned poet and Zen teacher to Spirit Rock online for this special morning of teaching and practice.

All are welcome! No one will be turned away for lack of funds as space allows. For more information, please email Registration@spiritrock.org.

Dates: Friday, October 13, 2023
Daily Schedule: 9:30am – 4:00pm
Sliding Scale: $140-$310. Our sliding scale options for this program include financial support for the teacher. Code MC1D23.
Continuing Education Credits: This program offers 5.5 CE credits for $55 for psychologists, and California licensed MFTs, LCSWs, LEPs, LPCCs, nurses, and chiropractors.*

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Single-Day Non-residential Retreat to be held on the land!

Description:
This daylong retreat is grounded in ancient traditions that value the transformative power of nature. In the spirit of the Buddha and his followers meditating in the forest, this day of guided silent meditation will be spent entirely outside in beautiful meadows nestled up in the hills of Spirit Rock.

Together, we will explore various sitting and walking mindfulness meditations and practices that help deepen our receptivity to the wisdom of nature. Practicing outdoors helps awaken our sensitivity to the natural world, opens our appreciation of nature as the ultimate Dharma teacher, and encourages an embracing wakefulness to all moments in our life. We will explore different Dharma themes that are illuminated in nature that make a direct impact in our lives.

Discover how meditative time outdoors leads to beautiful states of joy, peace, wonder, and love as well as connection with oneself, each other, and the larger web of life.

On-Land space is limited and pre-registration is required.

IMPORTANT – Details on our current COVID Safety Protocols for In-person Retreats.

Date & Time: Friday, October 20, 2023; 10:00am – 3:00pm US Pacific Time
Sliding Scale: Donation-Based (Dāna) $0-$108. Please support our Spirit Rock teachers, staff, and scholarships by giving as generously as you can. Code DW1G23.

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Open to: Active and retired first responders (law enforcement, firefighters, EMTs, and paramedics) of all backgrounds and experience.

Description:
First responders often face suffering and trauma on a regular basis, which can lead to overwhelming emotions, post-traumatic stress, decreased work performance, and a range of physical health problems. Meditation and mindfulness training can offer resources for developing the capacity to remain calm and focused even in chaotic situations. These practices can also promote a greater sense of grounding, well-being, and connectedness to the public they serve.

In this daylong retreat specifically designed and co-taught with first responders, participants will be introduced to core mindfulness and meditation practices through various guided exercises including walking and sitting meditation. Participants will also discuss the practical application of mindfulness in the first responder career field, develop self-care practices, and receive guidance for starting and maintaining a daily meditation practice.

All are welcome! No one will be turned away for lack of funds as space allows. For more information, please email Registration@spiritrock.org.

Date & Time: Saturday, October 28, 2023; 10:00am – 3:00pm US Pacific Time
Sliding Scale: $95-$200. Our sliding scale options for this program include financial support for our teachers. Code ST1D23.

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Description:
Within each of us is a heart that is longing. It is longing for connection, for truth, and to return home to our deepest nature. This longing is clouded by personality patterns and mistaken conceptual understanding.

In this daylong we will practice being with the longing directly, and open ourselves through the heart practices called “divine abodes” (brahmavihāras). Through equanimity, self-compassion, self-love, and forgiveness we reveal the longing more directly, and find methods to satisfy it to whatever extent is possible. 

Longing for a return to our deepest nature drives many of us on the spiritual journey or path. As we work specifically with this longing and the resistance that often arises to it, we become more able to fully open to the universal heart qualities of the brahmavihāras.

All are welcome! No one will be turned away for lack of funds as space allows. For more information, please email Registration@spiritrock.org.

Dates: Sunday, October 29, 2023
Daily Schedule: 11:00am – 4:00pm
Sliding Scale: $65-$160. Our sliding scale options for this program include financial support for the teacher. Code VC1D23.

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Non-Residential Daylong Retreat to be held on the land!

Description:
Come together at Spirit Rock for an on-land daylong version of the Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) Saṅgha. Our weekly BIPOC Voices gathering of self-identified BIPOC practitioners provides a safe place to meditate and explore the Dharma. As a beloved community, this saṅgha supports exploration of the Dharma in light of our experiences. Together we cultivate an environment that welcomes diverse voices and builds community.

We will practice in silence, with walking, sitting, and lying down practice. At the end of the day, we will make room for community connection and reflection.

Special Opportunity! We invite you to extend this 11am – 4pm daylong by enjoying BIPOC Voices in the Great Hall from 9:00-10:30am PRIOR to regular programming. BIPOC Voices will be held as a hybrid on this particular Sunday. The daylong segment will only be held on the land and is not a hybrid. Separate registrations will be required for each program segment.

Come for one, or the other, or both! Please consider carpooling to this program.

On-Land space is limited and pre-registration is required.

IMPORTANT – Details on our current COVID Safety Protocols for In-person Retreats.

Date & Time: Saturday, November 4, 2023; 10:00am – 4:00pm US Pacific Time
Sliding Scale: $125-$275. Our sliding scale options for this program include financial support for our teachers. Code JK2B23.

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A Benefit for Spirit Rock Meditation Center

Description:
Practices of the heart offer beautiful ways to uplift us in these times. Join us in the sweetness of community to learn and remember how loving presence, compassion and joy can nourish our own lives and serve the wellbeing of those around us. Amidst uncertainty, we will explore and (re)discover how to steady and tend our hearts, be a force for courage and joy and honor the dignity of all. Our time together includes stories, guided and silent meditations, Dharma teachings, reflections, and Q&A. All practices levels are welcome!

Dates: Sunday, November 5, 2023
Daily Schedule: 10:00am – 3:00pm
Sliding Scale: $140-$310. Our sliding scale options for this program include financial support for the teacher. Code KM1D23.

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Daylong to be held on the land only!

Open to: Self-identified women

Description:
We’ll practice together and give homage to the lineage of awakened women going back to the time of the Buddha. This day will include times of stationary and moving meditation, sharing, and silence. There will be Dharma talks that weave together the stories of women through time on this spiritual path and the profound Dharma truths that they understood so well. The experience of this day will be specious, restorative, introspective, and connective. All those who identify as women are welcome on this day. We will be diverse in our womanhood and our practice experience levels.

On-Land space is limited and pre-registration is required.

IMPORTANT – Details on our current COVID Safety Protocols for In-person Retreats.

Date & Time: Friday, November 17, 2023; 10:00am – 4:00pm US Pacific Time
Sliding Scale: $95-$200. Our sliding scale options for this program include financial support for our teachers. Code JS1D23.
Continuing Education Credits: This program offers 5 CE credits for $50 for psychologists, and California licensed MFTs, LCSWs, LEPs, LPCCs, nurses, and chiropractors.*

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Description:
The heart/mind and body are always interacting. As facets of consciousness, they continually converse and respond to each other. Through meditation and investigation—sensing and understanding conditioned thought and emotions—we become aware of the patterns of distress that typically lead us to anxiety.

Fortunately, we can neutralize and decondition these harmful patterns through kindness and skillful means. Practices geared at rebalancing the nervous system, stimulating the vagus nerve (which regulates emotion and connection to self and others), and softening areas of the body that become contracted in the process of becoming anxious all lead towards heading off potential harm. Relaxing, resting, and opening the heart/mind and body are all integral aspects of the path towards becoming more at ease with what is—whatever it is and whenever it arises. This ease is in turn the heart of the path.

All are welcome! No one will be turned away for lack of funds as space allows. For more information, please email Registration@spiritrock.org.

Date & Time: Saturday, November 18, 2023; 10:00am – 2:30pm US Pacific Time
Sliding Scale: $60-$108. Our sliding scale options for this program include financial support for our teachers. Code CC1D23.

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Open to: Self-identified BIPOC

Description:
This daylong retreat will provide a conceptual framework and practice guidelines for mindful “Indigenous inter-relationship” meditation—a way of coming into harmony with ourselves, each other, and the larger world.

We will focus on the cultivation of good relations. Balance that arises from Indigenous concepts of All My Relations will be woven with indigenous story and mindfulness practice.

This retreat will be instructional, experiential, and interactive. Together we will explore the techniques of mindfulness/insight meditation seated in indigenous stories as a foundation for practice.

All are welcome! No one will be turned away for lack of funds as space allows. For more information, please email Registration@spiritrock.org.

Date & Time: Sunday, November 19, 2023; 10:30am – 1:30pm US Pacific Time
Sliding Scale: Donation-Based (Dāna). Please support our Spirit Rock teachers, staff, and scholarships by giving as generously as you can. Code JD1G23.

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Open to: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Non-Binary, Two-Spirit, Queer, Intersex, and Same-Gender Loving communities+

Description:
Join in community to honor our grief and our joy. Engaging with what it means to be alive now, we acknowledge the enormity of the diverse impacts on the LGBTQIA+ communities. During our time together, we will turn towards our grief, learning ways to understand this powerful emotion. In addition, we will learn Buddhist practices that support opening to joy. Grounded in mindfulness and lovingkindness, we create a space to support healing from the challenges of daily life and to nurture a world that is grounded in inclusivity and freedom for all.

Our time together will include Dharma talks, meditations, guided movement, chants, and interactive sessions. All experience levels are warmly welcome. Movement will be offered in ways that are accessible for all types of bodies.

Date & Time: Friday, November 24, 2023; 10:00am – 1:00pm US Pacific Time
Sliding Scale: $50-$108. Our sliding scale options for this program include financial support for our teachers. Code AS1H23.

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Description:
This special holiday retreat integrates the power of somatic practices with the clarity and wisdom of the Buddhist teaching on interconnectedness. Join together in practice to rest in the bounty of the season, and enrich your sense of connection and intimacy with self, world, and others.

The yoga practices will be straightforward, accessible, and focused on the cultivation of mindfulness. Yogic breathing practices will be introduced. The day will be a blend of meditation, teachings, breathing practices, mudrās, and yoga poses, accessible for both beginners and experienced practitioners. Come together in community to explore the wisdom of interbeing.

All are welcome! No one will be turned away for lack of funds as space allows. For more information, please email Registration@spiritrock.org.

Date & Time: Friday, December 1, 2023; 10:00am – 4:00pm US Pacific Time
Sliding Scale: $95-$200. Our sliding scale options for this program include financial support for our teachers. Code GF1D23.

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Description:
To live our lives fully, with meaning and joy, we need a strong connection to a steady and open heart: the warrior heart that allows us to be brave, vulnerable and wise.

In these challenging times, this is not always easy. Our hearts can be broken, stressed, shut down; our hearts can become exhausted or weak. In this daylong, we will explore practices that allow us to tend and strengthen the heart. We will lean into the teachings of the brahma viharas, those divine abodes, that help open and balance the heart. We’ll investigate the forgiveness practices as a vehicle for liberating the heart. Our meditations will incorporate some somatic practices to best support the unfolding of our warrior heart.

This daylong will weave together time for teachings, meditation and somatic practices, group conversation and some walking/ movement practices.

All are welcome! No one will be turned away for lack of funds as space allows. For more information, please email Registration@spiritrock.org.

Date & Time: Saturday, December 9, 2023; 10:00am – 3:00pm US Pacific Time
Sliding Scale: $95-$200. Our sliding scale options for this program include financial support for our teachers. Code KW1D23.

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Description:
In a world grappling with multiple crises and an uncertain future, it can feel overwhelming to navigate such challenges with an open heart. However, it is precisely during such times that we must tap into our inner spaciousness and discover our purpose for these times. This daylong will invite participants into a felt sense of contemplative practice that leads to action and allows us to engage with the world wholeheartedly. We will draw inspiration from contemporary Buddhist and Christian saints and bodhisattvas such as Thich Nhat Hanh, bell hooks, Desmond Tutu, Dorothy Day, Howard Thurman, and Mahagosananda. Their wisdom offers valuable insights into cultivating fearlessness and compassion.

Through meditation, prayer, and intimate conversations, we will connect with the “mystic heart,” where the teachings of Buddha and Christ converge. In this sacred space, we will explore our unique callings and discern how to meet these times with compassion, resilience, and purpose.

All are welcome! No one will be turned away for lack of funds as space allows. For more information, please email Registration@spiritrock.org.

Date & Time: Saturday, December 16, 2023; 10:00am – 4:00pm US Pacific Time
Sliding Scale: $95-$200. Our sliding scale options for this program include financial support for our teachers. Code ES1D23.

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Description:
Winter Solstice invites reflecting on the past year and seeding vision for the year to come.

During this daylong retreat, we will spend the morning in meditation deepening our alignment with the earth energies as we approach the still point of Winter Solstice. In the afternoon, we will call forth the light in the form of vision.

This retreat will weave together dharma wisdom from the Nonviolent Global Liberation Community, which Erin has been studying intensively for the last five years.

All are welcome! No one will be turned away for lack of funds as space allows. For more information, please email Registration@spiritrock.org.

Date & Time: Saturday, December 30, 2023; 10:00 am – 5:00 pm US Pacific Time
Sliding Scale: $95-$200. Our sliding scale options for this program include financial support for our teachers. Code KG2D23.
Continuing Education Credits: Pending

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Description:
Our Dharma practice and our recovery program each rest on the foundation of intention and commitment. One day at a time and one breath at a time, we keep coming back to the present moment, and to our wish to be free.

This daylong retreat will focus on beginning the year with a clear vision of our path, whether we are just establishing our recovery, renewing our commitment, or maintaining our program and practice. Through mindfulness meditations, lectures, interactive exercises, and personal reflection, we will seek fresh inspiration for a year of growth and happiness.

All are welcome! No one will be turned away for lack of funds as space allows. For more information, please email Registration@spiritrock.org.

Date & Time: Sunday, January 7, 2024; 10:00am – 4:00pm US Pacific Time
Sliding Scale: $30-$108. Our sliding scale options for this program include financial support for our teachers. Code PS1G24.

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Description:
Using neuroscience and Buddhist psychology, this program will help you uncover the hindrances and pathways to your own financial well-being. Since we often bring less mindfulness to financial matters than we do to other areas of our life, it is an arena in which we can find tremendous opportunities for transformation. Through interactive exercises and the power of a supportive community, we’ll explore topics such as resilience, sympathetic joy, generosity, and cultivating a mindset of “enough.”

Regardless of your financial advantages or challenges, it’s possible to shift from fear, confusion, and avoidance, to clarity, confidence, and engagement. Together, we will loosen our inherited beliefs, gain new perspectives, and experience the paradox of how letting go offers a path toward abundance. This daylong retreat invites you to explore your authentic relationship to money, independent of cultural and familial conditioning, and to use the day to make real-life decisions within a spacious, non-judgmental container.

All are welcome! No one will be turned away for lack of funds as space allows. For more information, please email Registration@spiritrock.org.