Retreat Format & Schedule
The retreat format offers opportunities for retreatants to attend live, online teachings, throughout each day, led by highly qualified teachers in the Insight Tradition.
Retreatants may attend as many - or as few - as they would like in order to support their individual intention, with over 29 hours of live retreat practice and support available, including small cohort teacher meetings as you would experience at an in-person retreat.
The retreat format is designed to offer a progressive deepening into practice; with each days' teachings and practice building upon the previous and providing a foundation for further practice.
The Insight Meditation Tradition:
Insight meditation, also known as Vipassana meditation, is the oldest known Buddhist practice. Insight Meditation has been brought into many secular community and healthcare environments and is commonly referred to as 'mindfulness'. This practice is the cultivation of moment to moment awareness of experience as it arises at the sense doors (body and mind).
An Insight meditation retreat provides instruction and a container to cultivate the continuity of practice that allows 'clear seeing' resulting in insight into our own patterns, and into the nature of experience. Cultivated over time, and deepening through retreat practice, Insight meditation supports greater internal freedom, resilience and well-being. Insight practice usually incorporates Loving Kindness ("metta") practices to balance the heart and provide access to our own inner resources. Retreats typically include sitting meditation, walking meditation and other mindful movement practices.
View Daily Retreat Schedule Below
Flexibility: Practice a little or a lot!
Choose Your 'Track' for Practice:
With Four, Two-hour Modules of live, teacher-led and community supported practice each day, participants can create a full or flexible retreat experience in your own home.
Modules are offered at intervals throughout each day that will accommodate most time-zones around the world. (See schedule below, and use this Time-Zone Converter to find your times)
Participants will have access to a retreatant-only portal, with additional guidelines and resources to support a valuable at-home experience; including on-demand video practices, additional practice instructions, and personalizable retreat schedules available for download to support online and offline practice intention.
Your registration gives you access to as many modules as you want to participate in; however, we offer some suggested 'tracks' or levels of participation, and how they may support your intentions:
Intensive Retreat Track:
Create a full retreat schedule with 3-4 modules each day, and use the schedules provided to support maintaining a retreat schedule the rest of the day. Additional resources provide instruction and suggestions for holding a retreat-container at home, meal-time practice and movement practices, and to support your personal commitment during the course of the retreat.
Robust Retreat Schedule for Integrated Practice:
Accommodate your work and home-life responsibilities with 2-3 modules each day + plus daily-life practice suggestions and schedules to integrate a robust retreat schedule into your daily obligations and conditions.
Deepening Practice in Daily Life Context:
A supported commitment to integrate1 or 2 modules each day into your home life and work schedule to support a deepening of practice in the context of daily life.
MMTCP Pre-Requisite*/CE Credit** Track:
This retreat satisfies the retreat requirement for the Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program (MMTCP) and is eligible for CE hours for psychologists and other health care professionals with a full commitment to attending at least 3 modules each day modules and holding an intensive practice container at home. Attendance will be taken & other requirements must be met for those seeking credit for their participation. Please carefully review the attendance criteria. MMTCP students will utilize the 'Intensive Retreat Track' model.
*MMTCP students who wish to receive credit for this as their 'qualifying' retreat must meet certain criteria to fulfill the requirement. MMTCP students should not plan to work or participate in other activities during their retreat, but to follow an Intensive retreat schedule as they would on an in-person retreat. Additional practice obligations are included in this Track in order to create a full retreat experience. Please carefully review the schedule below and the MMTCP requirements for receiving credit.
**Continuing Education (CE) Hours for Health Professionals: Please see our info page on CE Hours. CE Hours are offered through SCA at an additional. Same participation requirements as MMTCP students.
Bringing the retreat experience online
Your Retreat Experience
Throughout each day, and in each live session ('Module') we will follow the classic Insight Meditation Retreat format, practicing Mindfulness with alternating periods of guided & silent sitting and walking meditation, and may include some periods of gentle movement, and opportunities for Q&A. These sessions will be held using Zoom, a live, online platform designed to create an online community; where participants can see and be seen by other retreatants just as they would in a physical retreat setting. This sense of community is a key ingredient supporting the retreat experience.
Each Module is two hours, which allows participants to settle in with periods of uninterrupted practice to support the continuity essential to deepening Mindfulness practice. Retreatants are encouraged to commit to the full two- hour session for each Module they attend. This not only enhances each individual's developing practice, it also fosters a stable retreat 'container', a powerful support for practice, in the online Zoom community.
Small Group Teacher Meetings
Each retreatant will be assigned to a small group cohort for the opportunity to receive
individualized guidance to support their practice and retreat experience.
Meetings may be scheduled at one of two times:
9:30am or 5:30pm Pacific Time
RETREAT SCHEDULE
Participants are not required to attend all modules for this retreat:
participation in modules may be based on participant time-zone & preferred retreat 'track'
All Times below are Pacific Time
Please use this Time Zone Converter to find your local time
Opening Day
Opening Session 5pm - 7pm (Pacific Time)
(This session will be recorded for those unable to attend live)
Daily Schedule Days 2- 4:
Teachers will offer two modules per day each, alternating times
Module I: 7am - 9am (Pacific Time)
Module II: 11am - 1pm (Pacific Time)
Module III: 3pm - 5pm (Pacific Time)
Module IV: 7pm - 9pm (Pacific Time)
Closing Day
Closing Session 9am - 11am (Pacific Time)
(This session will be recorded for those unable to attend live)