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
Sacred Mountain Sangha Dharmapala Training
With Thanissara and Kittisaro
May 24 - 30, 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 modules […]
Finding Freedom in Nature: A Retreat for People of Color
With Sebene Selassie, La Sarmiento and Yong Oh
May 31 - June 7, 2020
The teachings of the Buddha connect us to our own true nature which is freedom. We are nature wherever we go — whether we live in the heart of a large bustling city or in a rural environment — but many people of color in this country are often the most removed from land that is not ravaged by colonization. This retreat offers us an opportunity to experience the liberating power […]
Belonging, Connection, and Nature: Coming Home Together
With Sebene Selassie, Erin Treat and Solwazi Johnson
June 8 - 13, 2020
This retreat emerged from the relationship between its teachers as a result of many years of being together in dharma practice, teaching, and spiritual friendship. And this retreat invites the participants into relationship — with themselves, each other, the land, and all beings everywhere without exception. Awakening from the delusion of separation through practice and inquiry we will explore belonging […]
Awake in the Wild: Meditation in Nature Retreat
With Mark Coleman and Lin Gordon
June 14 - 21, 2020
This retreat will be spent meditating 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 the practice of Mindfulness […]
Awakening a Fierce Feminine Buddhism
With Pamela Weiss and To Be Announced
June 22 - 27, 2020
This silent meditation retreat will offer myths, stories and archetypes of Buddhist women, past and present. The teachings will illuminate the qualities of wisdom, compassion, courage, and the desire for freedom. We will explore feminine and transfeminine archetypes including: Prajnaparamita, the mother of all Buddhas; Kali, the divine protector; and Quan Yin and Avalokitesvara, the one who hears the cries of the world.[…]
Deepening the Natural Path to the Heart’s Liberation: A Vipassana Retreat for Experienced Practitioners
With Erin Treat, Brian LeSage and Victoria Cary (Assistant)
June 28 - July 5, 2020
Join us in practicing the timeless teachings of the Buddha as a pathway to inner peace, freedom, and the compassionate heart. This retreat is designed to offer support for experienced practitioners in insight meditation, known as Vipassana in the Buddhist tradition, which has been a foundation of Buddhist teachings for 2,500 years. Inspired by the early Buddhist tradition […]
Mindfulness in Education Retreat
With JoAnna Hardy and Erin Treat
July 12 - 17, 2020
Mindfulness meditation offers powerful antidotes to school-related stressors and is a support for compassionate engagement inside and outside the classroom. Retreat practice can cultivate practices of presence in body, heart, and mind in a way of responding to oneself and also to the larger suffering of our communities and our world. […]
Mindfulness and Depth Psychology: An Intensive Retreat for Mental Health Professionals
With Bill Morgan, PsyD, Susan Morgan, CNS and Ron Siegel, PsyD
July 17 - 24, 2020
Many in our field have been studying mindfulness, compassion, and their clinical applications for years but have not found time for more intensive meditation practice. Others appreciate the opportunity to refresh their practice with like-minded colleagues. By deliberately stepping out of everyday life and into a retreat environment, the subtle habit patterns of heart and mind are more easily accessed […]
Cultivating Compassionate Presence: An Intensive Retreat for Mental Health Professionals
With Bill Morgan, PsyD, Susan Morgan, CNS and Chris Germer
July 24 - 31, 2020
Many in our field have been studying mindfulness, compassion, and their clinical applications for years but have not found time for more intensive meditation practice. Others appreciate the opportunity to refresh their practice with like-minded colleagues. By deliberately stepping out of everyday life and into a retreat environment, the subtle habit patterns of heart and mind are more easily accessed […]
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 your screen, the natural world and your deepest nature awaits.
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 […]