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Retreat Dharma Talks

Concentration (Samādhi) Retreat: Cultivating Joy and Contentment

Concentration (samādhi)—the steady unification of the mind—is a powerful support for deepening meditation. The Buddha emphasized it as both a key part of the Eightfold Path and a factor leading to awakening. When cultivated, concentration brings joy, calm, and clarity, enriching both our Insight (vipassanā) practice and daily life.
This retreat offers practical techniques to strengthen your ability to stay present with your meditation object over time. Whether you're newer to practice or an experienced meditator, you'll learn how to develop stability and focus, explore the qualities that support deep states of absorption (jhanas), and receive guidance on how to integrate concentration into Insight Meditation. With consistent support from teachers, you'll build the foundation for more ease, depth, and transformation on the cushion and beyond.

2026-10-03 (10 days) Spirit Rock Meditation Center

  
2026-10-04 Metta in the Body (Retreat at Spirit Rock) 43:13
Devon Hase
Teachings on recognizing the metta that is already here in the body followed by a meditation.
2026-10-04 Opening to Samādhi (Retreat at Spirit Rock) 46:13
Kristina Bare
This talk offers overview of the Buddhas teachings on samādhi (concentration); the experience of a unified mind, the role of concentration on the path and supports for developing samādhi.
2026-10-05 Mindfulness of Breathing - Preliminaries (Retreat at Spirit Rock) 43:24
Devon Hase
Teachings on setting the conditions for anapanasati - having gone to the forest, or to the root of a tree, or an empty hut, one sets their body erect, and places mindfulness at the fore. Ever mindful one breathes in, ever mindful one breathes out. Guided meditation on the breath.
2026-10-05 Every Place the Wind Carries Me Is Home (Retreat at Spirit Rock) 43:56
Brian Lesage
2026-10-07 The Beauty of Samadhi (Retreat at Spirit Rock) 45:53
Brian Lesage
2026-10-08 Temporary Freedoms: The Third Tetrad of the Ānāpānasati Sutta (Retreat at Spirit Rock) 52:43
Devon Hase
This talk follows the breath into the mind itself: experiencing it, gladdening it, gathering it, and liberating it. Along the way we look at how samādhi and insight work together, and at the small, ordinary tastes of freedom that show a mind can feel light and unburdened. Drawing on long retreat stories, poems, and Pali, it asks what becomes possible once there is, for a moment, nothing to want.
2026-10-09 Third Tetrad: Guided Meditation on Experiencing, Gladdening, Gathering, and Liberating the Mind (Retreat at Spirit Rock) 43:15
Devon Hase
Teachings and practice on the third tetrad of Anapana sati.
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