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
Application for Affectionate Awareness as a Path to Liberation
With Michele McDonald and Jesse Maceo Vega-Frey
August 1 - 15, 2024
During this intensive silent retreat, participants will learn to develop their heart’s capacity for liberatory clarity and pervasive tenderness with a unique integration of Vipassana (insight) and Metta (lovingkindness) practices. Michele and Jesse are enthusiastic about supporting practitioners with a depth of both technical rigor and spacious ease. Guests will be supported by […]
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Land as Dharma Teacher (August)
With Erin Treat and Brian Lesage
August 16 - 23, 2024
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[…]
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Listening at Ease: Discovering Refuge in Nature
With Yong Oh and Devin Berry
August 24 - 31, 2024
Refuge supports trust, simplicity, rest, and connection. It is the ground for our awakening. Through meditative practice and inquiry, we will listen in and attune, intimately deepening relationship with ourselves, the land at Vallecitos and each other. Within the intimacy of that relationship, we can be held and supported in coming to know more profoundly […]
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Application for Hermitage Self-Retreat in September
September 1 - 22, 2024
We are delighted to open up the opportunity for self-retreat practice in the Hermitage Cabin in September. There are three week-long sessions available for one or two people. Enjoy this special secluded cabin, the majestic land, and delicious gourmet vegetarian meals while having your own retreat. […]
Application for Restoring Connection: A LGBTQIA2S+ Community Dhamma Retreat in Nature
With Victoria Cary, René Rivera and Kuan Luo (Trainee)
September 1 - 7, 2024
Join us for a six-night silent retreat in LGBTQIA2S+ community on the beautiful land of Vallecitos. Supported by the natural world, the Dhamma, practice and each other, we will reconnect with our belonging and essential goodness as LGBTQIA2S+ people. We will ground in the elements as a way to understand our nature and wholeness. […]
Recognizing Ourselves as Part of Nature: Buddhist Liberation Practices for the Deepest Healing
With JD Doyle and Shelly Graf
September 8 - 14, 2024
In this six-night retreat, we will explore mindfulness of the body through the four elements of earth, air, water and fire, reminding us that we are not separate from but always in relationship to the natural world. Our sensitive bodies and sensitive hearts always belong to nature. This retreat will be grounded in contemplative practices of mindfulness and compassion […]
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Cultivating Embodied Insight and Intuitive Wisdom
With JD Doyle and Leslie Booker
September 15 - 22, 2024
During this week-long silent mindfulness meditation retreat, we will learn to pay attention with an embodied knowing that leads to intuitive wisdom. We will practice loving embodiment as we cultivate attending to each moment with mindfulness. Being immersed in the natural world, we’ll attune to nature within ourselves and around us. This practice allows […]
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Awake in the Wild: Opening to Beauty, Joy, and Wisdom in Nature
With Mark Coleman and bruni dávila
September 23 - 30, 2024
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 is grounded in […]
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Sacred Sound, Insight, and Silence: Meditation and Music in the Deep Woods
With Jennifer Berezan and Erin Treat
October 2 - 6, 2024
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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Application for Being Blessed by the Land of Vallecitos: Gently Held Self-Retreat
With Anne Cushman and Carole Melkonian
October 6 - 13, 2024
We invite you to be our guest at Vallecitos this fall for self-retreat time on the land gently held by our beloved visiting teachers, Anne Cushman and Carole Melkonian. 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, using our facilities, receiving three nutritious meals a day along with […]