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

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

Land 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, […]

25th 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. […]

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 […]

Sacred 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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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, […]

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. […]

Application 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 […]

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Deep Dive Dharma: Essential Teachings on The Sure Heart’s Release

With Erin Treat, Pamela Weiss and Victoria Cary

October 25, 2025 - May 23, 2026

Vallecitos is pleased to announce a special eight-month online program for experienced practitioners during the off-season with Erin Treat, Pamela Weiss, and Victoria Cary. This deep dive into essential Buddhist teachings on liberation explores: The Three Characteristics, Emptiness and Suchness, Dependent Origination, The Two Truths, The Nature of Mind, Awareness and Awakening. Through meditation and interactive inquiry […]

Retreats