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
Covid-19 Updates: Retreats, Online Sangha, and Events
Open Dates
Letter to the community June 4th During the past week, I have been stirred with emotions of grief and anger. In the midst of this, it’s important for me to make this commitment: I will re-call your names: George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Sean Reed, Tony McDade, and Manuel Ellis. I will re-call the names of black transpeople, women, and men whose names we don’t yet know, who have been brutalized and killed by police and white vigilantes. I will stand with your families and communities in our commitment to work to end systemic racism in our country, and white supremacy…
Feeding the Heart Good Food: Cultivating Inner Compassion
With Susan Morgan, CNS, Bill Morgan, PsyD, Ron Siegel, PsyD and Chris Germer, PhD
July 24 - 29, 2020
On-Line
A central habit of the mind is to focus on the negative, the one thing not done well, the not good enough, the disappointing interaction, the grievance. This contributes to low grade, chronic, self-created stress that the Buddha called dukkha. He recommended that we learn to steer away from unwholesome mind states and cultivate wholesome ones. This was an essential[…]
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Evening Dharma Talk, Sunday July 26th – 5pm Mountain / 7pm Eastern Copy
With Jennifer Berezan
July 26, 2020
Online
We are here. We are listening. Come be with us in the Dharma.
Affectionate Awareness as a Path to Liberation
With Michele McDonald and Jesse Maceo Vega-Frey
August 1 - 14, 2020
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 yogis with a depth of both technical rigor and spacious ease. Yogis will be supported by […]
Sacred Sound, Insight, and Silence: Meditation and Music in the Deep Woods
With Jennifer Berezan and Erin Treat
August 14 - 18, 2020
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 engage[…]
Waking up to Wisdom through the Foundations of Mindfulness
With Dave Smith and Cheryl Slean
August 19 - 26, 2020
During this 7-day Insight meditation retreat, we will learn to develop a greater sense of presence and ease through the revolutionary practices of the Dharma. Focusing on the practices of the Four Foundations of Mindfulness and Metta (Lovingkindness), we’ll discover emotional balance and begin to free ourselves into the heart of wisdom and compassion. […]
The Wisdom of No Technology: Beyond our screens, the natural world and our deepest nature await.
With Dyanna Taylor and Don Usner
August 26 - September 1, 2020
While trying to give the best to our work and personal lives, we often find ourselves facing a tangle of unrelenting demands compounded by the distraction of technological devices that hijack our attention. This retreat offers a pause—breathing space—and a chance to turn away from our computers, cameras, and not-so-smart phones, […]
At Home in Our Lives: A Meditation Retreat for People Who Identify as Men
With Brian Lesage, Vinny Ferraro and Yong Oh
September 1 - 6, 2020
Join us for this precious opportunity to wake up in a way that is transformative for ourselves, our communities and our world. It is indeed rare to be in a small group of men dedicated to exploring our cultural inheritance. What can we let go of? What will we pass on? Can we remember our birthright of living with an undefended heart? […]
Awake in the Wild: Meditation in Nature Retreat
With Mark Coleman and Susie Harrington
September 12 - 19, 2020
On this retreat we will meditate outdoors all day in the natural beauty and mystery here at Vallecitos. 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 the practice of Mindfulness […]
Sacred Mountain Sangha Dharmapala Training
With Thanissara and Kittisaro
September 20 - 26, 2020
**This is a closed retreat, available only for program participants.** We live in profoundly disruptive times where radical personal and collective solutions, rooted in transformation of consciousness, are needed to safely navigate perilous terrains, avoid a collapse of cohesive society, and mitigate the impact of ecocide. This Buddhist based two-year program of seven week-long module […]
Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC) 5-day Training
With Kristy Arbon and Megan Prager
September 27 - October 2, 2020
Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC) is an empirically-supported program designed to cultivate the skill of self-compassion. Based on pioneering research by Kristin Neff, PhD, and integrated with the clinical perspective of Chris Germer, PhD, MSC teaches core principles and practices that enable participants to respond to difficult emotions with kindness and understanding […]
Drinking from the Inner River: A Meditation Retreat for People Who Identify as Women
With Erin Treat and Anne Cushman
October 3 - 7, 2020
Nourish your wild spirit and reconnect with your own deepest nature in an embodied meditation retreat specifically designed to honor the unique needs and treasures of a woman’s journey. In the company of rushing rivers, clear ponds, abundant wildlife, and ancient ponderosa pines, we’ll reunite with our bodies, our hearts, and our own innate wholeness, compassion, and intuitive wisdom […]