Event Type: Day Retreats

Date & Time: Saturday, September 25, 2021; 10:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. US Pacific Time
Sliding Scale: $55-$275. Our sliding scale options for this program include financial support for our teachers. Code JK1B21.
Continuing Education (CE) credit available:
This program offers 5.5 CE credits for $55 for psychologists, health & wellness coaches, and California licensed MFTs, LCSWs, LEPs, LPCCs, nurses, and chiropractors, licensed by the APA, NBHWC, California BBS, BRN, or BCE.*

Please Note: This retreat is offered online only. We invite you to try this creative form of practice as we take care of one another and respond skillfully to COVID-19.

A BENEFIT FOR SPIRIT ROCK

Description:
Discover inner capacities for wakefulness, joy, dignity, and compassion – your Buddhanature. Join us for this day of mindful meditations and teachings on love, consciousness, healing, and the nature of mind. Our training will study the fundamental principles of Buddhist psychology, combining practical examples, teaching stories, visionary wisdom, and case studies. We will explore applications of these revolutionary perspectives in our healing work, our meditation, and our life.

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, September 26, 2021; 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. US Pacific Time
Sliding Scale: Dana (By Donation) $0-$108. Code NU1G21.

Please Note: This retreat is offered online only. We invite you to try this creative form of practice as we take care of one another and respond skillfully to COVID-19.

Description:
At the heart of the Buddha’s teaching are the qualities of clear seeing and compassion for all beings. Each quality supporting the development of the other. This day of practice will be dedicated to rediscovering and nurturing this natural wisdom and love so that we can bring it to all aspects of our lives.

Tentative General Schedule:
9:00 a.m. Welcome, intro & precepts
9:15 a.m. Guided still meditation
10:00 a.m. Guided movement meditation
10:30 a.m. Dhamma reflection
11:00 a.m. Still meditation
11:30 a.m. Movement meditation
12:00 p.m. Meal reflection & break
1:30 p.m. Qi Gong/Movement
2:30 p.m. Dhamma reflection & Q&A
3:30 p.m. Guided still meditation
4:15 p.m. Movement meditation
4:45 p.m. Last words and blessing
5:00 p.m. Close

Date & Time: Saturday, October 2, 2021; 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. US Pacific Time
Sliding Scale: Dāna: Pay What You Can: $0-$1008. Code TH1G21.

Please Note: This retreat is offered online only. We invite you to try this creative form of practice as we take care of one another and respond skillfully to COVID-19.

Climate Day 2021: Moving Beyond Business as Usual
Empowering Climate Action hosted by Thanissara, Konda Mason and Friends, with special input from Elders Joanna Macy and Baba Mandaza Kandemwa

Description:
The recent United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report states that it is “a code red for humanity,” which “must sound a death knell for fossil fuels before they destroy our planet.” While devastating, it clarifies what we already know – the urgent need to shift from “business as usual.”

As the Four Noble Truths point out, a mindful path is effective for deconstructing erroneous internalized conditioning. But we must stretch further. We need to connect the dots between our societal, spiritual, and environmental collapse by applying the same mindful inquiry to how we perpetuate allegiance to systems rooted in colonially based extractive capitalism, which enables climate destruction of our living world.

Informed by essential voices and movements focused on Climate Justice, we will explore radical shifts using inquiry questions to focalize our intention. We will engage guided meditations, practice periods, breakout groups, and conclude with a commitment ceremony. 

Date & Time: Sunday, October 3, 2021; 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. US Pacific Time
Sliding Scale: $25-$108. Our sliding scale options for this program include financial support for our teachers. Code TJ1H21.

Please Note: This retreat is offered online only. We invite you to try this creative form of practice as we take care of one another and respond skillfully to COVID-19.

Description:
Health is more than the wellness of the body. Health is also the wellness of the mind and spirit. In QigongDharma, we call this well-being – whole being wellness. A balanced mind contributes to a balanced body; a balanced body contributes to a balanced mind. Yet, ‘balance’ is a fluid state. Practicing adaptability for mental and emotional flexibility, particularly in changing conditions, helps us navigate the challenges, the plateaus, and the inevitable ups and downs of life.

QigongDharma is a skillful means for integrating essential dharma teachings with embodied mindfulness. These accessible, guided mindful movement practices help bring strength and tone to the body and nervous system as well as centeredness to our heart and mind through presence.

The daylong retreat includes periods of guided and silent meditation, qigong, and dharma teachings.

All abilities and levels of meditation and qigong experience are warmly welcomed!

Tentative General Schedule:
10:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. First session
11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Lunch break
12:30 to 2:00 p.m. Last session

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, October 8, 2021; 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. US Pacific Time
Sliding Scale: $45-$200. Our sliding scale options for this program include financial support for our teachers. Code GF1D21.
Continuing Education Credits: This program offers 6 CE credits for $60 for psychologists, health & wellness coaches, and California licensed MFTs, LCSWs, LEPs, LPCCs, and nurses, licensed by the APA, NBHWC, California BBS, or BRN.*

Please Note: This retreat is offered online only. We invite you to try this creative form of practice as we take care of one another and respond skillfully to COVID-19.

Open to Self-identified womxn

Description:
“The body knows it belongs, it’s the mind that makes us so homeless.”

These words of John O’Donohue so capture our lived experience of feeling disconnected and alone. As we emerge from the isolation of the pandemic, many of us are struggling with our place of belonging in the uncertainty of this new unfolding, and deeply divided world.

In this daylong retreat, we will explore our conditioning and the stories we tell ourselves about our lack of belonging. We’ll practice with cultivating concentration, as a means of providing a true refuge within ourselves, as well as equanimity and patience to strengthen our capacity to understand what prevents us from truly knowing our sense of belonging. We will also make space for emotions like anger, resentment, and grief that can hinder our ability to move in the world from a place of embodied belonging.

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

Tentative Schedule: (subject to change)
10:00 a.m. Intro
10:15 – 10:35 a.m. Sit
10:35 – 11:15 a.m. Talk, guided meditation, discussion
11:15 – 11:25 a.m. Break
11:25 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. Movement/walking meditation
12:00 – 1:00 p.m. Lunch
1:00 – 1:30 p.m. Sit
1:30 – 2:20 p.m. Talk, guided meditation, discussion
2:20 – 2:30 p.m. Break
2:30 – 2:50 p.m. Walking/movement meditation
2:55 – 3:40 p.m. Talk, guided meditation
3:40 – 4:00 p.m. Journaling, possibly small group break outs, depending on size
4:00 – 4:20 p.m. Sit
4:20 – 5:00 p.m. Closing talk and shared reflections

Date & Time: Saturday, October 9, 2021; 10:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. US Pacific Time
Sliding Scale: $45-$200. Our sliding scale options for this program include financial support for our teachers. Code MZ2D21.

Please Note: This retreat is offered online only. We invite you to try this creative form of practice as we take care of one another and respond skillfully to COVID-19.

Open to Everyone

Description:
At the core of our being is an openness and tenderness that allows us to fully appreciate the preciousness of our human embodiment. As we enter into a deeper intimacy with our direct experience, we are weaving ourselves back into the fabric of Life itself, and we’re able to receive the needed guidance to consciously participate in this moment of profound planetary transformation.

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

Tentative Schedule:
10:00 a.m. – 12:00 noon Meditation with stillness and movement, dharma talk.
12:00 p.m. – 1:00p.m. Lunch
1:00 p.m. – 3:00p.m. Meditation, Short talk, breakout groups, harvest, closing ritual.

Date & Time: Sunday, October 10, 2021; 1:00-5:00 p.m. US Pacific Time
Sliding Scale: Dana (By Donation) $0-$108. Code AK1G21.

Please Note: This retreat is offered online only. We invite you to try this creative form of practice as we take care of one another and respond skillfully to COVID-19.

Description:
Samatha (settling/stilling) and vipassana (insight) are often described as two separate meditation practices. However, meditation master Ajahn Chah referred to them as two ends of the same stick: you pick up one, and therefore pick up the other at the same time.

This half-day program will explore how these two qualities can be developed together in our meditation practice. The afternoon will include guided meditation, Dhamma reflections, and time for Q&A.

Date & Time: Friday, October 22, 2021; 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. US Pacific Time
Sliding Scale: $45-$200. Our sliding scale options for this program include financial support for our teachers. Code TR1D21.
Continuing Education Credits: This program offers 5 CE credits for $50 for licensed psychologists, health & wellness coaches, and California licensed MFTs, LCSWs, LEPs, LPCCs, nurses, and chiropractors.*

Please Note: This retreat is offered online only. We invite you to try this creative form of practice as we take care of one another and respond skillfully to COVID-19.

Description:
Concentration and serenity meditation (samatha) is one of three major practices of the Buddhist path, which also includes sīla and vipassanā. In concentration practice, we return awareness to one object of meditation to the exclusion of everything else, unifying the mind stream. The practice reveals, with heightened clarity, our habitual patterns that cause us to suffer on and off the cushion, a process called “purification of mind.”
 
As we build capacity to turn away from these patterns, a laser-like awareness can develop potentially leading to profound serenity, stillness, joy, and the meditative absorptions known as jhanas.
 
This daylong retreat offers an overview of samatha as taught in the lineage of Ven. Pa Auk Sayadaw of Burma. Topics include: the practice path, the relationship of samatha and vipassanā, purification of mind, and working with striving. There will be meditation periods and instruction, silence, and teaching including Q&As.

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 24, 2021; 10:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. US Pacific Time
Sliding Scale: $55-$275. Our sliding scale options for this program include financial support for our teachers. Code AY1B21.

Please Note: This retreat is offered online only. We invite you to try this creative form of practice as we take care of one another and respond skillfully to COVID-19.

A Benefit for Open Gate Sangha and Spirit Rock’s Scholarship Fund

Description:
We live in a world of ideas, assumptions, and ever-competing dogmas. To simply leap from one belief to another perpetuates the endless sorrow of humanity. There is no greater tool for conscious evolution than the art and spirit of inquiry.

Questioning our opinions, assumptions, beliefs, and ingrained identity is essential to all forms of spiritual transformation. To engage in the dynamic act of living with a questioning mind, grounded in the silence and stillness of meditation, is the doorway to transformation
of the heart and mind.

This daylong retreat will be an exploration of the art and spirit of inquiry and meditation, as we leap beyond the immense content of consciousness that humanity continues to accumulate. When we step out of this conglomeration of conditioning, we arrive at a freedom and love that is our own salvation, and the potential salvation of humanity.

As this is a benefit program, our “no one turned away” scholarships are not available for this specific program.

Date & Time: Friday, November 5, 2021; 10:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. US Pacific Time
Sliding Scale: $45-$200. Our sliding scale options for this program include financial support for our teachers. Code JS2D21.
Continuing Education (CE) credit available:
This program offers 4 CE credits for $40 for psychologists, health & wellness coaches, and California licensed MFTs, LCSWs, LEPs, LPCCs, nurses, and chiropractors, licensed by the APA, NBHWC, California BBS, BRN, or BCE.*

Please Note: This retreat is offered online only. We invite you to try this creative form of practice as we take care of one another and respond skillfully to COVID-19.

Description:
Anxiety has many root causes ranging from the psychological to the physiological to the historical. No matter the origin, the distress and discomfort are palpable and understandable.

This workshop will explore a variety of ways to approach, meet and be with anxiety as it presents in the body – along with a cultivation of kind understanding about the mental and emotional challenges it presents.

Along with meditation, we’ll soothe the nervous system, and learn to read the signals of anxiety in the body, before they take hold of the mind.

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

Tentative Schedule: (subject to change)
10:00 – 10:30 a.m. Welcome and settling
10:30 – 11:00 a.m. Seated and standing practice
11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. Context and didactic teaching, short practices interspersed
12:00 – 12:30 p.m. Q&A
12:30 – 1:00 p.m. Lunch and rest break
1:00 – 3:00 p.m. Practices, Q&A, short breaks and closing

Date & Time: Saturday, November 6, 2021; 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. US Pacific Time
Sliding Scale: $45-$200. Our sliding scale options for this program include financial support for our teachers. Code OS3D21.
Continuing Education Credits: This program offers 6 CE credits for $60 for psychologists, health & wellness coaches, and California licensed MFTs, LCSWs, LEPs, LPCCs, nurses, and chiropractors, licensed by the APA, NBHWC, California BBS, BRN, or BCE.*

Please Note: This retreat is offered online only. We invite you to try this creative form of practice as we take care of one another and respond skillfully to COVID-19.

Description:
We make decisions every day—from seemingly inconsequential choices to larger ones that can affect the course of our life. How can the Dharma guide our choices to support integrity and both individual and collective well-being?

In this daylong program, we’ll explore a range of practical tools for making decisions that incorporate meditation, reflection, intuition, and inquiry. You’ll learn how to navigate the choices in your life with more confidence, clarity and ease, as well as how to find more balance with the results of the decisions you make. Our day will include periods of silent meditation, movement, writing, and interactive exercises.

Clinicians will learn several conceptual frameworks to understand the decision-making process; how to identify and strengthen key mental qualities that support making decisions; as well as guided practices to share with clients for making clear decisions.

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 7, 2021; 10:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. US Pacific Time
Sliding Scale: $45-$200. Our sliding scale options for this program include financial support for our teachers. Code AC1D21.

Please Note: This retreat is offered online only. We invite you to try this creative form of practice as we take care of one another and respond skillfully to COVID-19.

Open to self-identified women

Description:
Inspire your imagination and unleash your stories in an immersive day of creative writing, meditation, mindful movement, and embodied energy practices. Like meditation, writing is a powerful way to wake up to the ordinary and extraordinary moments of our human lives. But for centuries, women’s stories have often been excluded from the spiritual canon—dismissed as too ordinary, too emotional, too wild, or too messy to convey awakening wisdom. We’ll use embodied meditation practices to settle our minds and open our hearts so we write from a deeper place. Mindful movement practices will cultivate inner listening and unclog pathways of creative energy. Writing prompts will awaken the river of memory and imagination. Through sharing our stories without judgement or critique, we will connect with ourselves, each other, and the heart of life.

All those who identify as women are welcome.

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, November 12, 2021; 10:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. US Pacific Time
Sliding Scale: $45-$200. Our sliding scale options for this program include financial support for our teachers. Code DA1D21.
Continuing Education (CE) credit available: This program offers 4 CE credits for $40 for psychologists, health & wellness coaches, and California licensed MFTs, LCSWs, LEPs, LPCCs, nurses, and chiropractors, licensed by the APA, NBHWC, California BBS, BRN, or BCE.*

Please Note: This retreat is offered online only. We invite you to try this creative form of practice as we take care of one another and respond skillfully to COVID-19.

Description:
By changing our habits of movement, we awaken the body; by changing our habits of thinking, we awaken the mind. We can then join in the dance of existence with more freedom and ease. This daylong combines mindfulness meditation with sessions of Feldenkrais Awareness Through Movement® lessons, the brilliant sensory-motor approach to re-educating the neuromuscular system. Meditation will alternate with guided Feldenkrais movement lessons, allowing the techniques to support each other and enhance mind-body connection and well-being. There will be time for discussion.

The workshop is appropriate for beginning and experienced students of either mindfulness meditation or The Feldenkrais Method®

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

Tentative Schedule: (subject to change)
10:00-10:10 am Introduction
10:10-10:40 am Feldenkrais movement lesson
10:40-11:00 am Discussion and meditation
11:00-11:30 am Feldenkrais movement lesson
11:30-11:40 am Break
11:40 am-12:00 pm Discussion and meditation
12:00-1:00 pm Lunch
1:00-1:15 pm Meditation
1:15-1:45 pm Feldenkrais movement lesson
1:45-1:55 pm Break
1:55-2:20 pm Discussion and meditation
2:20-2:45 pm Feldenkrais movement lesson
2:45-3:00 pm Discussion and closing meditation

Date & Time: Friday, November 19, 2021; 10:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. US Pacific Time
Sliding Scale: $45-$200. Our sliding scale options for this program include financial support for our teachers. Code MC3D21.
Continuing Education (CE) credit available: This program offers 5.5 CE credits for $55 for psychologists, health & wellness coaches, and California licensed MFTs, LCSWs, LEPs, LPCCs, nurses, and chiropractors, licensed by the APA, NBHWC, California BBS, BRN, or BCE.*

Please Note: This retreat is offered online only. We invite you to try this creative form of practice as we take care of one another and respond skillfully to COVID-19.

Description:
Have you noticed the negative effects of self-judgment. If you wish to be more free from the torment of the inner critic, this daylong is good medicine. During our day together, you will learn:

• How to recognize judging thoughts;
• Learn to deal effectively with inner critic attacks;
• How to distinguish between negative judgment and wise discernment and discrimination;
• The importance of self-acceptance, self-compassion and metta as an antidote to the critic;
• The need and role of humor in helping us with the critic;
• Cultivating forgiveness in response to judgment.

The day will be a combination of talks, and interactive exercises, mindfulness and loving kindness techniques and practices and is open to new and experienced students. This will be a practical and experiential course taught with lightness, compassion and humor and the need to not take ourselves too seriously.

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 20, 2021; 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. US Pacific Time
Sliding Scale: $20-$108. Our sliding scale options for this program include financial support for our teachers. Code FR2D21.

Please Note: This retreat is offered online only. We invite you to try this creative form of practice as we take care of one another and respond skillfully to COVID-19.

Open to Trans, GNC/GB, Two Spirit, and Gender Expansive Community who may invite close ones to attend. We ask that allies only attend as a guest of a trans or gender expansive identified person.

Description:
Please join us for our 5th Annual Transgender Day of Remembrance event at Spirit Rock. On this day, as we honor our ancestors and celebrate our own lives, we welcome members of the transgender, Two-Spirit, gender nonconforming, genderqueer, non-binary, and beyond-gender community to gather for silent meditation, mindful movement, and heart-centered practices.

These practices will be offered in silence, balanced with discussions and community-building group exercises that nurture radical connection, joy, and resilience.

This year, we will feature music by Amber Field Music, movement with Richelle Donigan, inspiring storytelling by Drïan Juarez, and dharma talks lead by teachers JD Doyle and Fresh “Lev” White.

No meditation experience is necessary. For this memorial event, we ask that any allies be accompanied by a community member.

Please note we will allow time for lunch and other breaks during the day.

You 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 21, 2021; 9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. US Pacific Time
Sliding Scale: $45-$200. Our sliding scale options for this program include financial support for our teachers. Code PM3D21.
Continuing Education Credits: This program offers 6 CE credits for $60 for psychologists, health & wellness coaches, and California licensed MFTs, LCSWs, LEPs, LPCCs, and nurses, licensed by the APA, NBHWC, California BBS, or BRN.*

Please Note: This retreat is offered online only. We invite you to try this creative form of practice as we take care of one another and respond skillfully to COVID-19.

Description:
The art of forgiveness begins with connecting to the heart. The practice involves learning skills such as metta, mindful acknowledgment, and compassion. Practicing these skills enables you to free yourself from painful identification with past events.

This is a day to bring remorse or grief about past actions and move beyond feelings of guilt and shame. Likewise, if someone has wronged you, you will be guided toward holding them accountable without closing your heart. Additionally, forgiveness practice will move you toward clarity and acceptance for the ways you have let yourself down.

Practicing forgiveness allows you to move from a heavy, remorseful heart and a reactive mind to a heart that’s light but still feels regret and a mind that is calm and clear.

The day will consist of sitting and walking meditation, instruction in the art and practice of forgiveness, a forgiveness ceremony, and include periods of guided silent 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: Friday, November 26, 2021; 10:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. US Pacific Time
Sliding Scale: $45-$200. Our sliding scale options for this program include financial support for our teachers. Code SP1D21.

Please Note: This retreat is offered online only. We invite you to try this creative form of practice as we take care of one another and respond skillfully to COVID-19.

Description:
Gratitude seats us into the fullness of the present moment and all that we have. Mindfulness, yoga asana, mudra, and meditation are techniques that support the embodiment of gratitude for everything that this beautiful world offers us. Through gratitude we can come into alignment with the dharma of interconnectivity and awe. Be prepared to do yoga asana designed to sustain mindfulness rather than athletic competencies. The day will weave together periods of silence, practice and teachings.

Tentative General Schedule:
The morning will have yoga asana, meditation and a dharma talk.
Lunch will be from 12:30 – 1:30 pm.
After lunch will be reclining meditation, slow stretching, meditation and a talk. There will be opportunities for Q&A.

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 11, 2021; 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. US Pacific Time
Sliding Scale: $55-$275. Our sliding scale options for this program include financial support for our teachers. Code JK2B21.

Please Note: This retreat is offered online only. We invite you to try this creative form of practice as we take care of one another and respond skillfully to COVID-19.

A BENEFIT FOR SPIRIT ROCK

Description:
Practices of the heart are critical in these times of difficulties.

Join us in virtual community to learn and remember how our presence and compassion can nourish our own lives and serve the wellbeing of those around us.

Amidst uncertainty, we will explore and (re)discover how to steady our hearts, be a force for love and courage, and honor the dignity of all beings.

Our time will include periods of guided and silent meditation, Dharma teachings and reflections, and time for Q&A.

Tentative Schedule:
10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. Morning Session
Lunch Break (2 hours)
2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. Afternoon Session

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