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Retreat Dharma Talks

Insight Meditation Retreat: A Path to Clarity and the Cultivation of the Heart of Wisdom

Join us on this retreat dedicated to the deep practice of Insight Meditation (vipassanā)—a time-honored path of awakening highlighting the central teachings of the Buddha and their practical application to our lives. Grounded in mindfulness, investigation, and compassion, this retreat offers a supportive and contemplative space to gently turn inward, observe the nature of the mind and body, and deepen your understanding of impermanence, interconnection, and the possibility of inner freedom.

Through sustained periods of sitting and walking meditation, guided instruction, Dharma talks, and meetings with the teachers, we will engage with the cultivation of clear seeing and the development of the heart qualities—equanimity, lovingkindness, compassion, and empathetic joy.

The retreat is open to both beginners and experienced meditators, and is held in noble silence to encourage inward reflection and a deepening of presence.

2026-04-09 (8 days) Spirit Rock Meditation Center

  
2026-04-11 First Foundation of Mindfulness-Body & Breath (Retreat at Spirit Rock) 59:30
Shinmu Tamori Gibson, Noliwe Alexander
2026-04-12 Morning Instructions on Feeling Tone (Retreat at Spirit Rock) 56:52
Walt Opie
This talk is an introduction to practicing with feeling tone, or vedana in Pali, and includes a guided meditation.
2026-04-12 Embodying Metta-Karuna (Loving, Kind Compassion) (Retreat at Spirit Rock) 51:53
Shinmu Tamori Gibson
Cultivating an understanding of stuck energies; nourishing a curious interest to support the movement of stuck energies; to know capacity of a given moment; to release appropriately. begin again.
2026-04-12 Faith / Confidence ~ An Unfolding Path (Retreat at Spirit Rock) 58:33
Noliwe Alexander
Bright, Verified and Abiding Faith's journey towards reclamation.
2026-04-13 Equanimity ~ Falling in Love With What Is (Retreat at Spirit Rock) 43:27
Noliwe Alexander
2026-04-13 Ball of Honey Sutta and Cultivating True Connections, Clear Seeing (Retreat at Spirit Rock) 58:50
Shinmu Tamori Gibson
2026-04-14 Satipatthana: Fourth Foundation and Open Awareness (Retreat at Spirit Rock) 62:24
Noliwe Alexander, Shinmu Tamori Gibson
Flowing through the movements of the retreat so far and continuing through the offering of last night’s dharma talk, we open awareness to be with reality; to know reality.
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