Event Type: Multiday Retreats

Date & Time: 5 Thursdays; September 15, 22, 29, October 6, 13; 1:00 – 3:00 p.m. US Pacific Time
Sliding Scale: Dana Day (By Donation) $0-$108. Code SF2G22.

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 discourses of the Buddha, called suttas, are one of the world’s most majestic collections of spiritual teaching. They include inspiring poetry, psychological guidance, social theory, and philosophical masterpieces that address the deepest human fears, hopes, and potential.

In this class, part of our sutta study series, “The Refuge of Dhamma,” we’ll read discourses on the path to liberation.We’ll see him in conversation with both monastics and laypeople, feeling the skill and compassion he brought to every encounter. Texts include the Shorter Elephant’s Foot Simile (MN 27), the Mettā Sutta (Snp 1.8), and others, which teach us how the foundational training in generosity and ethics prepares the heart for meditation, insight, and liberation.

While beginners are welcome, this class may be most engaging for practitioners with some experience in meditation. With extensive supplementary material, this class aims to make the discourses of the Buddha an accessible, inspiring support for practice.

Please Note: Though the classes in the series will build on each other, attendance at all classes is not required.

Class Dates: 5 Sundays; September 18, 25, October 2, 9, 16, 2022
Time: 6:00pm – 8:00pm US Pacific Time; class time is the same for all 5 Sundays.
Sliding Scale: $80-$180. Our sliding scale options for this program include financial support for our teachers. Code TE6C22.

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:
Learn meditation, speak your truth, relax deeply, and develop your mind—all while hanging out with great people your age! In this five-week series, we will reconnect with ourselves in order to experience more peace, wisdom, and compassion through the practices of mindfulness and Insight Meditation.

Classes will include movement, community-building games, meditation instruction, and council—a practice of witnessing and contributing to the group’s collective wisdom. This series is offered to all tweens in middle school.

Important Note: Class size is limited to 23 students. All participants must attend the first class meeting. Students are expected to attend at least 4 sessions. Video participation is expected to support the container, with the exception of technical or health reasons.

Date & Time: 5 Thursdays; September 15, 22, 29, October 6, 13; 1:00 – 3:00 p.m. US Pacific Time
Sliding Scale: Dana Day (By Donation) $0-$108. Code SF2G22.

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 discourses of the Buddha, called suttas, are one of the world’s most majestic collections of spiritual teaching. They include inspiring poetry, psychological guidance, social theory, and philosophical masterpieces that address the deepest human fears, hopes, and potential.

In this class, part of our sutta study series, “The Refuge of Dhamma,” we’ll read discourses on the path to liberation.We’ll see him in conversation with both monastics and laypeople, feeling the skill and compassion he brought to every encounter. Texts include the Shorter Elephant’s Foot Simile (MN 27), the Mettā Sutta (Snp 1.8), and others, which teach us how the foundational training in generosity and ethics prepares the heart for meditation, insight, and liberation.

While beginners are welcome, this class may be most engaging for practitioners with some experience in meditation. With extensive supplementary material, this class aims to make the discourses of the Buddha an accessible, inspiring support for practice.

Please Note: Though the classes in the series will build on each other, attendance at all classes is not required.

Class Dates: 5 Sundays; September 18, 25, October 2, 9, 16, 2022
Time: 6:00pm – 8:00pm US Pacific Time; class time is the same for all 5 Sundays.
Sliding Scale: $80-$180. Our sliding scale options for this program include financial support for our teachers. Code TE6C22.

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:
Learn meditation, speak your truth, relax deeply, and develop your mind—all while hanging out with great people your age! In this five-week series, we will reconnect with ourselves in order to experience more peace, wisdom, and compassion through the practices of mindfulness and Insight Meditation.

Classes will include movement, community-building games, meditation instruction, and council—a practice of witnessing and contributing to the group’s collective wisdom. This series is offered to all tweens in middle school.

Important Note: Class size is limited to 23 students. All participants must attend the first class meeting. Students are expected to attend at least 4 sessions. Video participation is expected to support the container, with the exception of technical or health reasons.

Date & Time: 5 Saturdays; October 8, 15, 22, 29, November 5; 9:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. US Pacific Time
Sliding Scale: $75-$600 Code RV1C22.

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: Based on interviews in the 2022 book Black Buddhists and the Black Radical Tradition: The Practice of Stillness in the Movement for Liberation, this five-week class series will explore the themes of intergenerational trauma, non-self and relative reality, gender and sexuality, honoring ancestors and the land, and love in collective liberation. Author Dr. Rima Vesely-Flad leads conversations with Dharma teachers Devin Berry, Kate Johnson, Leslie Booker, Noliwe Alexander, and Konda Mason.

Dates: Saturday to Sunday, October 8-9, 2022
Times: 10:00am-1:00pm US Pacific Time
Sliding Scale: $50-$216. Our sliding scale options for this program include financial support for our teachers. Code NM2M22.
Continuing Education Credits: This program offers 6 CE credits for $60 for psychologists, and California licensed MFTs, LCSWs, LEPs, LPCCs, and nurses.*

Description: Most people experience some fear or uncertainty when thinking about their own death, or avoid thinking about it at all. Whatever your relationship to death, it is a simple truth that we all die. Death is as natural as birth. Not drawing on the power of this contemplation is like discarding a precious jewel you have been freely given. The knowledge of mortality, which gives our limited time more import, is a key that can unlock the potential to live more fully, lovingly, and wakefully present amidst the miracle of our life.

These teachings also support us to die with peace, which is a gift to ourselves and especially our loved ones. Please join us for two half-days of Dharma talks, meditation, and small group guided practice for an introduction or refresher on the profound, liberating teachings on mindfulness of death.

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: Thursday – Sunday, October 20-23, 2022; 10:00 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. US Pacific Time
Please Note: This program will be offered as a hybrid: on-land (“commuter” retreat; non-residential) and online.

On-land (in-person) Sliding Scale: $220-$1500. Fees DO NOT include a donation to the teacher(s). Code TH1M22.

Online Sliding Scale: $108-$1200. Fees DO NOT include a donation to the teacher(s). Code TH1Z22.

Hosted in person by Thanissara and Ayya Santacitta, including online sessions with Noliwe Alexander and Pawan Bareja, a Dream Circle with Mandaza Kandemwa and Nobantu Mpotulo, and music from Jennifer Berezan.

Description:
Facing dangerous interconnected social, political, economic, and environmental crises, we often feel defeated, even while trying to make a difference. With reactive currents in our psyche running in different directions, we must first acknowledge how we’re doing before we clarify our innermost intention.

Taking the theme of ReLOVEution, we explore a heart-centered approach rooted in the practices of the Bodhisattva, connecting us with the innate drive of nature to restore herself in alliance with our own natural capacities as emissaries of transformation and as part of Earth’s immune system.

Grounded in Insight Meditation and Dharma reflections, we will include psycho-spiritual process work, embodied movement and breath practice, mantra, chanting, group sharing, and a Quan Yin Compassion Ceremony.

On-Land space is limited due to COVID protocols in place, please register here 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: 5 Saturdays; October 8, 15, 22, 29, November 5; 9:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. US Pacific Time
Sliding Scale: $75-$600 Code RV1C22.

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: Based on interviews in the 2022 book Black Buddhists and the Black Radical Tradition: The Practice of Stillness in the Movement for Liberation, this five-week class series will explore the themes of intergenerational trauma, non-self and relative reality, gender and sexuality, honoring ancestors and the land, and love in collective liberation. Author Dr. Rima Vesely-Flad leads conversations with Dharma teachers Devin Berry, Kate Johnson, Leslie Booker, Noliwe Alexander, and Konda Mason.

Date & Time: Saturday, November 5-6, 2022; 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, Hanuman Maui and Spirit Rock. Code DC1B22.

A Benefit for Spirit Rock and Hanuman Maui

Description:
Ram Dass was a spiritual guide to millions worldwide, known for his timeless wisdom and boundless heart. He joked that he was a “neurotic Westerner” just like the rest of us, modeling that awakening is available to all. He was also a mentor to many senior Dharma teachers and played a significant role in the development of our Insight Meditation community.

Join some of our most beloved teachers to offer teachings, practices, chanting, and meditations that were important to Ram Dass. These teachings support us in our relationships, service work, daily life, and when facing difficulty. Whether you’ve known of Ram Dass for decades or if you’re new to him, come open your heart and remember the power and joy of Being Here Now.

A Benefit for Spirit Rock and Hanuman Maui, a pilgrimage place where Ram Dass spent the last several years of his life.

Dates: Friday to Saturday, December 2-3, 2022
Times: 10:00am-5:00pm US Pacific Time
Sliding Scale: $50-$600. Our sliding scale options for this program include financial support for our teachers. Code DR2M22.
Continuing Education Credits: This program offers 12 CE credits for $120 for psychologists, and California licensed MFTs, LCSWs, LEPs, LPCCs, nurses, and chiropractors.

Description:
As we move toward the Winter Solstice, we will strengthen our orientation toward wisdom and compassion in all parts of our lives. We will remind ourselves of impermanence and the fragility of everything, of our tendencies at times to reactivity rather than being wise and responsive, and of our interdependence. Seeing clearly how things are and our vulnerability to confusion and delusion, how could we be other than kind? Developing our kindness is the great work of the purification of the heart. As we go back to the fundamentals of the wise heart at this special time, our insight and commitments can deepen, and we may also arrive at new understandings and directions that can guide us in this next cycle of our lives. In this two day retreat, in the context of community, we will support this process with sitting and walking meditation, short talks, and discussion.

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