About Retreat Life

About Our Retreat Center

Vallecitos is a stunning wilderness retreat center and wildlife refuge located on 135-acres within the Carson National Forest in the mountains of northern New Mexico, eleven miles from paved road. The landscape is meadows and mixed aspen, ponderosa pine and spruce forest. There are seven ponds (including a swimming pond) and the Río Vallecitos runs through the middle of the property. In addition to an extensive network of hiking trails, Vallecitos is a short hike away from the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail, which traverses over 3,000 miles between Canada and Mexico. We are a remote, off-the-grid retreat center offering rustic yet comfortable accommodations in a pristine and inspiring natural setting.

About Retreats

Meditation retreat practice invites you to connect with your embodied experience in the present moment. In the precious and rare setting of retreat, our usual daily distractions are removed to support you to in developing mindfulness, compassion, and wise understanding. Practicing within the natural beauty of this mountain retreat center creates a truly special opportunity for Vallecitos visitors. The power of practice in the wild gives rise to a more centered, mindful, and patient presence that supports you in your daily life.

Arrival and Departure Day Schedules

Arrival (The following may vary depending on the needs of the retreat.)

3:00 – 5:00 pm Arrival and Registration

5:30 – 6:30 pm Shuttle Arrives

6:30 – 7:30 pm Dinner

7:30 – 8:00 pm Orientation

8:00 pm Opening Sit

Departure (The following may vary depending on the needs of the retreat.)

7:00 – 7:30 am Final Sit

7:30 – 8:00 am Breakfast

8:15 am Shuttle Departs

8:30 – 9:30 am Deep Cleaning

9:30 – 10:00 am Pack up

10:00 am Depart

Daily Schedules vary for each retreat.

Noble Silence

Most of our meditation retreats are held in Noble Silence and your teachers will discuss the practice of Noble Silence. To support the development of a collected and settled mind, most retreats and meals are held without ordinary social conversation. Even while in Noble Silence, teachers will offer instruction and teachings as well as practice discussions or group dialogue. Time and again, at the end of retreats our participants tell us that the experience of Noble Silence was perhaps the most meaningful aspect of their retreat.

Sitting and Walking Meditation

All retreats will include sitting and walking meditation. Your teachers will offer instruction to guide you in the practice of mindfulness throughout your retreat experience.

Work Meditation

“Work meditation” jobs are an opportunity to engage in the maintenance and care of each other and the retreat space. A rewarding and meaningful part of your experience at Vallecitos, work meditation jobs link you to everyday life, both at Vallecitos and when we return home.

There is a short work period each day to help with the daily tasks of running the retreat, including food preparation, washing dishes, and cleaning. Light duty jobs ARE available. We honor your personal capacity and limitations in assigning work retreat jobs. Please don’t hesitate to let the manager know what your needs are. Otherwise, out of fairness for all retreat participants we will not take requests or make assignments for jobs prior to the start of your retreat.

Staying at Vallecitos Before or After Retreat

In general, Vallecitos does not have accommodations available before or after retreat.

Taos is the closest town and has many accommodation options. Santa Fe is another close by town and is also a pick up point for the retreat center shuttle.

Laundry

Other than for retreats of 3 weeks or more, Vallecitos does not offer laundry services. Retreatants are asked to bring enough clothes for the duration of the retreat. Small items may be hand washed and hung on outdoor clotheslines.

Hiking Trails

A network of trails winds through the ranch and the surrounding landscape, including a stunning section of the national Continental Divide Trail, offering extraordinary opportunities to explore diverse environments and reconnect with nature within a short distance of the comforts of the lodge at the ranch.

Emergency Contact Information

Participants are asked to “unplug” while on retreat at Vallecitos. However, if there is an emergency and you need to be contacted, your family and friends may either call (505) 469-9017 or email refuge@vallecitos.org

About Visiting Vallecitos

Vallecitos has a pre-planned seasonal meditation retreat schedule for the months of May-October. We are closed, due to our remote and mountainous location, for the months of November through April. The only way to visit Vallecitos is through one our scheduled retreats. Vallecitos Mountain Retreat Center is not open for public visits.

Debra Susan Abbot

...I had a tremendous experience at Vallecitos, which is one of the most rewarding and positive things I’ve done within my lifetime. I have incorporated many of the things I learned into my daily life, and it has been very healthy for me. I had to experience loving kindness, sympathetic joy and generosity to understand the full power and grace of these profound feelings and actions.

Swati Prakash

...The time and the space to reflect and cultivate inner calm were so valuable. This was a very healing experience for me. It also started me on the practice of meditating. I meditate every day now, just for 10 minutes, but it makes a huge difference in my everyday life and with work.

Jane Cronlund

...Since the retreat, my pace of personal breakthroughs has quickened and old dynamics seem to be changing in positive ways. I am better able to deal with previously tense situations and successfully resolve them. I have increased feelings of peace. Thank you!

...I came to Vallecitos for a retreat years ago and fell in love with it. Now as a volunteer and yogi I try to come back every summer to soak up the stunning landscapes as well as the rich dharma. This place truly calls me home.

Cristina Mormorunni

...I am so much more aware of the path I want to be on and the power of the sacred in my life.

...17 years ago, I received an invitation to sit for 10 days of silence at Vallecitos. I accepted the invitation with no idea of the lasting impact the retreat would have on me. Over the years, the annual pilgrimage has provided me with tools to sustain and deepen my ongoing mediation practice. Sweeping fields of wildflowers, star-dotted nights, and bubbling streams provide a unique opportunity to directly experience interconnectedness. This gentle, wild setting is a profound environment to recharge mind, spirit, and body.

Krys Kornmeier

...The view of the Aspen trees outside my casita, the cool silent mornings of meditation, the warmth of the lodge, and the exquisite majesty of the land created a gentle but powerful impression... in one short visit I have come to treasure Vallecitos.

Mushim Ikeda

...I was teaching at Vallecitos one year in August, during the meteor showers. Our sensitivity heightened by hours of silent meditation, we would stand outside at night and watch trails of light cross the vast dark sky, signs from what I call the Greater Reality. Unforgettable.

Katie Gall

...Vallecitos has truly become a home to me. Working with such great teachers and mentors is an honor and being able to absorb all the knowledge and blessings that flow through the gorgeous land has shaped my soul and nourished my mind. It really is a magical place that I am forever grateful for.

Mark Coleman

...Vallecitos has always been one of my spiritual homes. It is a place where I have learned so much about the refuge of wilderness. It is where I have discovered so much about my own nature, from the wildness of nature there. Not only is it exquisitely beautiful and pristine, it is also profoundly serene and a place of deep renewal. I feel so blessed to have been able to visit every year for the past twenty years. I am eternally grateful for that land.

Khalil Hassan

...I cannot express in words alone how important the retreat was for me. One of the most valuable lessons I learned is the importance of listening to my inner self. Vallecitos provided the necessary environment that makes it impossible not to go inward. When I returned home, I hit the ground running, but with a more focused direction. I attribute that to my stay at Vallecitos.

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