Retreats

Discover a Deeper Way of Living Vallecitos Mountain Retreat Center offers a retreat for almost everyone. Our schedule carries a...
  • Casita Supporting Rate – $1,295.00
  • Casita Actual Rate – $1,015.00
  • Casita Base Rate – $910.00
  • Yurt Supporting Rate – $1,295.00
  • Yurt Actual Rate – $1,015.00
  • Yurt Base Rate – $910.00
  • Hermitage – $1,925.00

Date & Time Details: Check-in is from 3:00-5:00 on the first day of the retreat. The retreat will close mid-morning on the last day of the retreat. (Learn more)

PRICE: We offer a sliding scale structure. Scholarships are available, see below. Prices for this retreat range from $805-$1,435 (not including dana). (Learn more)

DANA: This is a dana based retreat. (Learn more)

SHUTTLE SERVICE: Shuttle Service is available for this retreat. (Learn more)

NOBLE SILENCE: This retreat will be held in noble silence. (Learn more)

SCHOLARSHIP / FELLOWSHIP AVAILABILITY: Scholarships are available on a limited basis for Hemera, BIPOC, and Needs Based. (Learn more)

SAFETY: We are committed to providing a safe environment for gathering. We have created multiple precautions to hold our time together. (Learn more)

Email us about program

Coming Home to Ourselves Finding Refuge in Nature: Vallecitos’ First LGBTQI Retreat

With Victoria Cary, Shelly Graf and René Rivera

August 20 - 27, 2022

During this 7-night silent retreat we will collectively create a supportive container for LQBTQI identified folks to explore the dhamma, practice meditation, and discover what finding refuge and coming home means for us. This retreat will be mostly outdoors, silent, and on the beautiful land of Vallecitos.

We will offer dhamma talks, meditation, mindful movement, group hikes, and heart-centered practices.  These practices will be offered in a container of silence and nurturing spaciousness, making the way for us to reconnect with ourselves, nature, as well as deepen our connection to community.

This retreat is appropriate to all practitioners new and experienced. We offer priority registration for BIPOC, Trans, Non-binary and Gender Non-conforming participants. Please join us for a week of silence and discovery at Vallecitos Mountain Retreat Center in the Carson National Forest.

Please note this retreat is full. This retreat has an application process to allow for diversity in practice experience, age, ethnicity, sexual orientation and gender identity. If you wish to join the waitlist, please complete this application  for your application to be reviewed.  If a space opens up and you are invited to attend, we will email you with a registration link to sign up for the retreat. If you are in need of financial assistance to attend, you will complete a scholarship application once you have been invited AND completed your registration.

We require all people who visit the land to be fully vaccinated. We will require a copy of your vaccination card prior to arrival. Vallecitos reserves the right to modify, cancel or close at any time.

Teachers

Victoria Cary
Victoria Cary has been practicing Insight Meditation and studying the Dharma since 2006. In 2017 she completed Spirit Rock’s Community Dharma Leader program and went on to become a fully empowered Dharma Teacher. In 2016 she co-founded the San Francisco People of Color Insight Sangha and continues as one of the core teachers. She is a San Francisco Bay Area Native. She left her workplace of 20 years in 2017 to deepen into the Dharma. Since then she has spent time in and out of intensive silent meditation practice, including a 3-month retreat at IMS, 6-week amd 3-month retreats at…
Learn more about Victoria Cary
Shelly Graf
Shelly Graf (they/them) has been practicing in the Insight Meditation tradition since 2003. They are a graduate of Insight Meditation Society’s four-year teacher training program and lead residential retreats nationally. Shelly is immensely grateful for all of the teachers and guides, including Mark Nunberg, Kamala Masters, and Steve Armstrong, who have so generously shared the Buddha’s teachings with them and others over the years. Shelly currently serves alongside Mark Nunberg as a Guiding Teacher for Common Ground Meditation Center in Minneapolis, MN. Shelly has an interest in integrating the teachings of the Buddha as deeply as possible into the fabric…
Learn more about Shelly Graf
René Rivera
René Rivera is a meditation teacher, restorative justice facilitator, and leader, working and learning in all the spaces in-between race, gender, and other perceived binaries, as a queer, latinx, trans man. René teaches heart-centered, trauma-informed meditation, at the East Bay Meditation Center and other meditation centers. He has co-led the first residential meditation retreats for transgender, nonbinary and gender expansive people. René is a restorative justice facilitator for the Ahimsa Collective, working to heal sexual and gender based violence.
Learn more about René Rivera