Valley Insight Retreats

Sharing Refuge in Stillness and Community

Doreen Schweizer and Subha Srinivasan

Fri., Dec. 8, 7-8:30 pm; Sat., Dec. 9, 9:30 am – 4:30 pm

In Valley Insight’s Online Dharma Hall and In Person (Lebanon NH)

Registration required: register here

Information: valleyinsightretreat@gmail.com

“Refuge is a shelter that you never have to leave.” — Stephen Fulder, Israeli Dharma Teacher

In this year’s Annual Valley Insight end-of-year retreat, offered via Zoom and in person in Lebanon, NH, we will rest our hearts together and find moments of peace and balance. As a community, we will explore the Buddha’s teachings on kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity. In these difficult times of rapid change, upheaval, war, political chaos, and climate crisis, these practices can help soothe the trembling heart’s tendency towards reactivity and cultivate a stillness from which wise action can continually emerge. Participating in the retreat is in and of itself a wise action — one of the many compassionate and wholesome answers to the very immediate question of “What can I do to help?”

The structure of the retreat will include meditation instruction and reflections with time for questions and responses along with periods of silent sitting and walking practice. Participants are encouraged to join the optional, introductory Friday evening session to become familiar with the structure of the retreat, the teachers, and one another. This retreat is suitable for all levels of meditation experience, including new beginners. It will be carefully guided by Valley Insight Teachers Subha Srinivasan and Doreen Schweizer.

This retreat is freely offered: there is no registration fee. Dana may be offered  to the teachers online or in person.

Please register here.

Meditation becomes both a refuge and a training: a refuge into being, and a training into doing. — Martine Batchelor

Past Retreats

2023

September 23: Ajahn Jayanto, Reflections on the Buddha’s Teaching

May 20: Marsha Lawson and Jan Surrey, Awakening Together, Part 2:
Practice in Insight Dialogue Meditation and Dharma Contemplation (in person)

2022

December 9-10: Doreen Schweizer and Subha Srinivasan, Finding Refuge in Stillness and Community (in person and on Zoom)

September 17: Ajahn Jayanto, Reflections on the Buddha’s Teaching (in person)

April 9: Jacoby Ballard, Forgiveness Retreat: Giving Up All Hope of a Better Past (on Zoom)

2021

December 11: Doreen Schweizer, Cultivating Inner Peace (in person and on Zoom)

October 23: Jan Surrey and Marsha Lawson, Awakening Together:  An Introduction to Insight Dialogue Meditation (on Zoom)

Feb 27: Manny Mansbach,  Faith, Trust and Confidence: Discovering Ease, Empowerment and Fidelity with Practice On and Off the Cushion (on Zoom)

2020

December 4-6: Doreen Schweizer, Changing our Relationship to the Known World (on Zoom)

April 25: Oren Jay Sofer, Holistic Spirituality: How to Speak to Anyone with Truth and Kindness (half-day retreat) (on Zoom)

February 29: Judson Brewer, The Factors of Awakening and Reward-Based Learning (Dharma talk; listen to a recording)

January 20: Shaila Catherine, The Art of Not Clinging

2019

December 14: Doreen Schweizer, Calming Down and Seeing Clearly

September 28: Peg Meyer and Lee Steppacher, Taking Your Practice Outside

August 10: Ajahn Jayanto, Finding Our Real Home

June 29: A Day of Silent Reflection

May 11: Manny Mansbach, Mindful and Brave: Discovering Courage and Fearlessness in an Age of Heightened Anxiety

March 10: Alexis Santos, When Awareness Becomes Natural: Lessons I Learned from Sayadaw U Tejaniya and Beyond

2018

December 8: Doreen Schweizer, Tis the Season: Joy . . . Its Place in the Ethical and Meditation Practices of the Early Buddhist Insight Tradition

October 14: Lee Steppacher, Awake in the Wild

September 22: Ajahn Jayanto

May 19: A Day of Silent Reflection

March 10: Rae Hausman, Learning the Skills of Resiliency

January 13: Manny Mansbach, What Would the Buddha Say?: Developing Skillful Speech for Life’s Challenging Conversations

2017

December 9: Doreen Schweizer, Gladdening the Heart

October 14: Lee Steppacher, Awake in Nature: A Daylong Retreat with Lee Steppacher

September 9: Ajahn Jayanto, Buddhism as an Ethical Path

March 26: Shaila Catherine, Developing Right Concentration

January 28: Manny Mansbach,  Five Spiritual Powers

2016

November 19: Andrew Olendzki, Untangling Self: A Buddhist Investigation of Who We Really Are

September 10: Ajahn Jayanto

January 24: Shaila Catherine, Liberating Attitudes

2015

December 5: Doreen Schweizer, Practicing Tranquility in a Busy Season

September 26: Ajahn Jayanto, So this is how it is, right here.

June 14: Peg Meyer and Landon Hall, Everyday Mindfulness

March 13-15: Doreen Schweizer, Who Are We? Softening the Edges of Self with Mindfulness and Kindness [Weekend retreat at Wonderwell, Springfield, NH]

2014

December 13: Ajahn Jayanto, Transforming Our Relationship to Difficulty

October 3-5: Leigh Brasington, The Beautiful Mind: Deepening Concentration Through Jhana Practice [Weekend retreat at Wonderwell, Springfield, NH]

February 28-March 2: Doreen Schweizer, Sustaining Mindfulness: Establishing Clear Awareness and Compassion as the Foundation of Our Lives [Weekend retreat at Wonderwell, Springfield, NH]

2013

April: Winnie Nazarko, The Cultivation of Kindness and Wisdom

2012

March: Chas DiCapua, Awakening Within Your Relationships