Discover a Deeper Way of Living
Vallecitos Mountain Retreat Center offers a retreat for almost everyone. Our schedule carries a generous offering of Insight Meditation Retreats, retreats that invite participants to consciously explore their experience of wild nature, and retreats that are designed for specific populations. On our schedule you will find retreats for educators, people of color, women, men, and mental health professionals, to name a few. We are here to help you find a retreat that is right for you.
“I am so much more aware of the path I want to be on and the power of the sacred in my life.”
– Cristina Mormorunni
Upcoming Offerings
Sacred Sound, Insight, and Silence (May): Meditation and Music in the Deep Woods
With Jennifer Berezan and Erin Treat
May 26 - 31, 2025
The retreat will combine two ancient spiritual practices — meditation and music — as a path to opening one’s heart and uncovering one’s true nature. There will be guided instruction in the fundamentals of mindfulness meditation and dharma practice, including periods of sitting and walking meditation in silence. Woven throughout the meditation practice, participants will […]
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Serenity in Surrender: Discovering the Power of Letting Go
With Carol Cano and Amana Brembry Johnson
June 1 - 7, 2025
In a world that constantly pushes us to do more, get more and be more, what if contentment lies in "doing" the opposite – slowing down, turning inward, and letting go? For some, the idea of letting go might feel abstract, confusing, or even overwhelming; however, thanks to the ancient and bountiful teachings of both nature and Buddhism, we can find the lessons to guide us. This retreat offers […]
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Awake in the Wild: Exploring Wisdom and Awakening in Nature
With Mark Coleman and Kirsten Rudestam
June 8 - 15, 2025
This retreat will be spent meditating entirely outdoors in the natural beauty and mystery here at Vallecitos Mountain Retreat Center. Whether it is during sunset meditations, listening to the soothing sounds of the river, or sitting graced in the stillness of the aspen trees, we will open to the profound serenity and wisdom of nature. This silent retreat is grounded in […]
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Land as Dharma Teacher (June)
With Erin Treat and Brian Lesage
June 16 - 22, 2025
Join us in an exploration of Dharma through connection with the land of Vallecitos. This retreat is designed to offer support for experienced practitioners in insight meditation (Vipassana). When we have an established foundation in Dharma practice, we can open to discovering new ways of perceiving. As the understanding of classical Dharma deepens even further, […]
Register NowApplication for Time on the Land: a Parallel Retreat for Independent Self-Retreat Practice at Vallecitos
June 23 - 27, 2025
We invite you to be our guest at Vallecitos this summer for a few slots intended for independent self-retreat practice on the land. During this parallel retreat, we are offering you the simple experience of being on the land and practicing on your own while safely using our facilities and receiving three nutritious meals a day. Unlike our spring and fall self-retreat sessions, […]
Teacher Retreat for Vallecitos Teachers (invite only)
With Erin Treat, Victoria Cary and Brian Lesage
June 23 - 27, 2025
We are proud to be hosting a retreat just for our treasured Vallecitos teachers. During the retreat we will have sessions with an ecologist, an archeologist, and a geologist to further deepen the ways we understand the presence of the more than human life that makes Vallecitos come alive. We hope to resource our practice of Land as Dharma Teacher […]
Maranasati: Contemplating Death / Awakening to Life
With Victoria Cary and Eugene Cash
June 28 - July 5, 2025
Buddha described Maransati – Mindfulness of Death – as an essential component of the instructions of Satipatthana (mindfulness). He encouraged Maranasati practice to cultivate the qualities needed to live an awakened life: Appreciating the preciousness of human birth/life, Insight into impermanence and change, Freedom from rigidity and clinging, Equanimity with […]
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Coming Home To Love: A BIPOC Insight Retreat in Nature
With Victoria Cary and Yong Oh
July 6 - 13, 2025
When we get still and make space to connect with ourselves, we can remember what supports our well being. Held by the land at Vallecitos, nature and by the Dhamma, we will listen deeply to our own internal knowing and wisdom. On this seven-night silent Insight Meditation BIPOC retreat, our sacred time be will be spent sitting and walking and being on the land […]
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Being Nature: Insight Meditation and the Four Elements
With Pamela Weiss and Amana Brembry Johnson
July 14 - 19, 2025
Nature moves within us, as us, and speaks through the body. In these times of ecological crisis and deep division we have become disconnected from our innate, living wholeness. This silent meditation retreat will be rooted in teachings on the Four Elements—earth, air, fire and water. Together we will cultivate a wise, tender awareness that listens to and […]
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Mindfulness, Compassion, and Depth Psychology: An Intensive Retreat for Mental Health Professionals
With Bill Morgan, PsyD, Susan Morgan, MSN, RN, CS and Ron Siegel, PsyD
July 20 - 29, 2025
Many psychotherapists have been studying mindfulness, compassion, and their clinical applications for years but have not found time for more intensive meditation practice. Others would like the opportunity to refresh their practice with like-minded colleagues. By deliberately stepping out of everyday life and into an intensive retreat environment, we can observe […]
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Cultivating Embodied Insight and Intuitive Wisdom through Mindfulness
With Dave Smith, JD Doyle and Chris Benitez (Assistant)
July 29 - August 5, 2025
During this week-long silent mindfulness retreat we will learn to pay attention with a direct and embodied knowing that leads to intuitive wisdom. As we practice the qualities of presence and ease, we learn to attend to each moment with kind awareness. Being immersed in the natural world, we’ll attune to nature within ourselves and around us […]
Register NowLand as Dharma Teacher (August)
With Erin Treat and Brian Lesage
August 6 - 13, 2025
Join us in an exploration of Dharma through connection with the land of Vallecitos. This retreat is designed to offer support for experienced practitioners in insight meditation (Vipassana). When we have an established foundation in Dharma practice, we can open to discovering new ways of perceiving. As the understanding of classical Dharma deepens even further, […]
Register Now25th Anniversary Benefit Retreat: Touching the Earth
With Erin Treat, Victoria Cary and Brian Lesage
August 15 - 19, 2025
We’re offering a unique practice opportunity to directly support one of our most essential initiatives- tending to and protecting the treasured ecosystem of Vallecitos. The retreat will blend silence, community and celebration with additional special features, offering participants the opportunity to deepen their practice, build community and steward care for this rare wetlands habitat that doubles as an off-grid retreat center. […]
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Heart Connection: A LGBTQIA+ Community Metta Retreat in Nature
With Victoria Cary and René Rivera
August 20 - 27, 2025
Join us for a seven-night silent retreat in LGBTQIA+ community on the beautiful land of Vallecitos. This year we will immerse ourselves in the heart practice of lovingkindness, or Metta, supported by the natural world, the Dhamma, and queer community. We will build a continuity of practice together cultivating this friendliness towards ourselves, others, and […]
Register NowSacred Sound, Insight, and Silence (August): Meditation and Music in the Deep Woods
With Jennifer Berezan and Erin Treat
August 27 - 31, 2025
The retreat will combine two ancient spiritual practices — meditation and music — as a path to opening one’s heart and uncovering one’s true nature. There will be guided instruction in the fundamentals of mindfulness meditation and dharma practice, including periods of sitting and walking meditation in silence. Woven throughout the meditation practice, participants will […]
Register Now
Embodying the Heart of Compassion: An Intensive Mindfulness Retreat
With Bill Morgan, PsyD, Susan Morgan, MSN, RN, CS and Chris Germer, PhD
September 1 - 10, 2025
The point of mindfulness meditation is not simply to train the mind, but to engage the heart in all of its heart tones; lovingkindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity. In this nine-day retreat we will explore the heart quality of compassion. Compassion is often talked about as a quality of heart that “quivers” or trembles in the face of suffering. Yet it is perhaps more accurate to say […]
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Natural Awareness and Wisdom: Exploring Mindfulness in Nature
With Dave Smith and Cheryl Slean
September 11 - 18, 2025
During this retreat we will explore the Four Foundations of Mindfulness with an emphasis on developing continuity of wise awareness as taught by Burmese master Sayadaw U Tejaniya. Instructions will emphasize the Buddha’s teachings on view, attitude and qualities of mind that support a relaxed and alert awareness throughout all activities. Through the development of […]
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The Quiet Earth: A Silent Meditation Retreat
With Yong Oh and Vance Pryor
September 19 - 26, 2025
Join us for a transformative week of communally shared silence, immersed in the serenity of Vallecitos' natural beauty. Together, we'll explore the depths of the Dharma and our human experience, cultivating intimacy with the inner and outer landscapes. Through gentle guidance, you will discover the intersection of nature's wisdom and your own; awakening to joy, […]
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Rooting in Interbeing; ReMembering into the Blessings with the Land
With Kristine Marie Hill, Sara Jolena Wolcott and René Rivera
September 27 - October 2, 2025
We are excited about this unique offering for Vallecitos, guided by teachers who interweave colonial and Indigenous perspectives. This offering is an opportunity to explore the significance of naming our personal connection to the land while honoring the inherited histories that shape the land. While there are periods of silent reflection, it is not held in noble silence and […]
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Monastic: Deepening into Wisdom and Love
With Anandabodhi Bhikkhuni and Sumedha
October 3 - 10, 2025
Deep listening and an embodied knowing of our interconnectedness are profound gifts in our being that we all too easily overlook. They are rich wells of both wisdom and love. In this retreat we will return to our body and breath, and to our listening heart, exploring the renewed vision that they gift to us and to this world. […]
Register NowApplication for Being Blessed by the Land of Vallecitos (Fall): Gently Held Self-Retreat
With René Rivera
October 10 - 15, 2025
We invite you to be our guest at Vallecitos this fall for self-retreat time on the land gently held by our treasured visiting teacher, René Rivera. Please join us to connect with your practice alongside the depth and magic of the land. We are offering you the simple experience of being on the land, safely using our facilities, receiving three nutritious meals a day […]