Hybrid Meditation Retreat with Oren Jay Sofer, Cara Lai, Jessica Morey, Yong Oh & Gullu Singh
The Buddhist path includes practices to cultivate four powerful and transformative qualities—kindness, compassion, joy, and balance. These qualities are innate human capacities, and can also be developed into more reliable dwelling places for the heart. Known as the Brahma Viharas, or “sublime homes,” these states can serve as powerful supports for wellbeing, wholeness, concentration and the maturing of insight practice.
There will be both residential and online options to participate in this silent meditation retreat. We will explore techniques for developing each of the four sublime states, as well as ways to release the obstacles that often get in the way of living with more ease, happiness and peace. Our time together will include silent and guided sitting meditation, walking meditation, Dharma talks, instructions, Q&A and small group meetings with the teachers.
This retreat is appropriate for both beginning and more experienced meditators. Proof of full vaccination is required to attend this retreat.
Registration for this retreat is not yet open. Add your name to the list to be notified when registration opens.
Questions?
This event is being run by the Spirit Rock Meditation Center. For any questions related to registration or scholarships, please email Spirit Rock at srmc@spiritrock.org. For questions related to the content of this program or event, feel free to get in touch with us here instead. Please be sure to include the date and title of the event in your email!
Additional Information from Spirit Rock:
Scholarship offerings: In returning to the land, we will also be returning to our pre-pandemic scholarship options and policies. All scholarship rates require a minimum fee ($50/night). Scholarships are limited to TWO per calendar year for on-land retreats. And, while we are not able to offer “no one turned away”-type of scholarships for in-person retreats, they are still available for online offerings.
Hybrid Retreat: There will be residential and online options to participate in this silent retreat.
Room Occupancy Update: Most of our rooms are single occupancy (only 16 of 80 rooms are double occupancy). We will also return to offering a “guaranteed single room” rate and they will be limited. This rate guarantees you a single room while helping to support scholarships and all we do here at Spirit Rock. Single rooms are not exclusive to the top end of the sliding scale; everyone has a chance of being assigned a single room.
Cancellation Policy
To offer participants greater flexibility as we make our way out of the pandemic, we’ve changed our cancellation policy for residential retreats:
$100 fee* when you cancel two or more weeks before the retreat (*fees reduced to half for scholarship participants)
No refunds when you cancel less than two weeks prior to the retreat (applies to all participants)
About the Teachers
Oren Jay Sofer
Oren Jay Sofer, a CNVC Certified Nonviolent Communication Trainer, teaches workshops and retreats on meditation and communication internationally. His teaching emphasizes how awareness practice and communication training deepen one another in a synergistic manner. He holds a degree in Comparative Religion from Columbia University and is certified as a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner for healing trauma. Oren is a husband, a father, and the author of several books including Your Heart Was Made For This, and the best-selling title, Say What You Mean: A Mindful Approach to Nonviolent Communication.
Cara Lai
Cara has spent most of her life in pursuit of meaning and happiness, which landed her in the meditative arts for most of her adult life. Throughout many mind-body adventures, she has explored the concentrated mind, chronic illness, the value of pleasure, the power of maternal energy, and connection to the earth. In the past, Cara worked as an artist, wilderness guide, social worker and psychotherapist. Now, after emerging from a year of solitude, she finds herself practicing in unconventional ways and using her intuition as her guide. She tries her best to teach from the most authentic and vulnerable place she can muster, and is still learning about the contentment of simply existing.
Jessica Morey
Jessica Morey (she/her) is the head teacher and organizational systems architect at Ten Percent Happier. She leads meditation retreats across the US and offers one to one meditation and leadership coaching. She also cofounded and teaches with Inward Bound Mindfulness Education (iBme), a nonprofit organization bringing in-depth mindfulness training to youth.
Jessica began practicing meditation at age 14 on teen retreats offered by the Insight Meditation Society (IMS) and graduated from the IMS Teacher Training Program in 2021. Before founding iBme, Jessica worked in clean energy and climate policy. She is passionate about the potential of Buddhist practice to heal our relationship with the natural world. She loves dancing, yoga, and being outside. Jessica is based in Massachusetts.
Yong Oh
Yong is a Dharma Council teacher at the Durango Dharma Center and a core teacher for Sacred Mountain Sangha, and is also a visiting teacher for other community centers across North America. He teaches retreats at the Insight Meditation Society, Spirit Rock Meditation Center, Big Bear Retreat Center, and Vallecitos Mountain Retreat Center. He is a graduate of the 4-year Insight Meditation Society Retreat Teacher Training program, Spirit Rock Meditation Center’s 2-year Community Dharma Leaders program, and the Sacred Mountain Sangha 2-year Dharmapala training, taught by his primary teachers Kittisaro and Thanissara. Yong is also a retired acupuncturist, is passionate about Nature and Dharma, and has particular interests in devotional expression, supporting caregivers, and offering teachings to communities of color in the Dharma.
Gullu Singh (online teacher)
Gulwinder “Gullu” Singh is a corporate real estate attorney and dedicated Dharma practitioner. He teaches both secular and Buddhist classes, groups and retreats. He has taught mindfulness at universities, in law firms, bar associations and corporate settings. He is a graduate the 4-year Spirit Rock Teacher Training Program and qualified to teach Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction. He is core faculty of the Spirit Rock Dedicated Practitioner Program, core faculty of the Mindfulness in Law Teacher Training and a mentor in the Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program. Gullu is deeply inspired to share meditation in the legal and corporate community as an antidote to stress, a way to cope more effectively with the challenges of work and life and to inject more sanity, compassion and wisdom into this world.