1 week Insight Meditation Retreat
May 13 - May 20, 2026
This is a 7-night Insight meditation retreat organized by Insight Retreat Center (IRC) and hosted at Big Springs Garden Retreat Center.
Registration opens January 13, 2026. REGISTER through IRC.
Diana Clark, Kim Allen, David Lorey & Ying Chen
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A silent Insight meditation retreat with a daily schedule of alternating periods of sitting and walking meditation, instruction, dharma talks, work meditation, and practice discussions with teachers. Suitable for both beginners and experienced practitioners.
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Diana Clark, PhD, is a dedicated meditation teacher based in the San Francisco Bay Area, teaching primarily at the Insight Meditation Center and Insight Retreat Center. Her extensive meditation experience includes years of silent retreats at Spirit Rock, IMS, and the Insight Retreat Center, where she received training from esteemed teachers Gil Fronsdal and Andrea Fella. Inspired by the Buddha's teachings on peace and freedom, Diana's teaching approach aims to combine the profound and the practical, with a sincere commitment to cultivating an environment that nurtures both wisdom and compassion. Diana holds a PhD in biochemistry, and much like her scientific training facilitated her comprehension of the human body, her Buddhist practice deepens her insights into the workings of our precious minds and hearts. For more info you can visit dianaclarkdharma.org
Kim Allen began meditating in 2003, seeking both a path out of suffering and the deeper truths of life. She trains mainly under the guidance of Gil Fronsdal at the Insight Meditation Center, and has also practiced in Sri Lanka and, more recently, with a few Mahāyāna teachers. Kim was drawn early on to long retreat practice and has sat cumulative three years of retreat. Engagement with the Pāli Canon, and also texts from other Buddhist traditions, informs her practice and life. A teacher and author, Kim aims to bring classical Dharma to a modern context and to encourage lay practitioners in fully living a life of Dharma. Kim also serves on the board of the Sati Center. Her education includes a PhD in physics and a master’s degree in environmental sustainability, and her website is http://www.uncontrived.org.
David Lorey began meditating as a teenager in the 1970s, in college began an intensive training in transcendental meditation, and then came to practice in the Buddhadharma in the early 2000s. Integrating tranquility and insight practice forms the core of his current path; in addition, he explores the early teachings embedded in the textual tradition of the Pali canon for insights into practicing and living in accord with the Dharma. In sharing the Dharma, David is committed to helping others discover their own unique ways of using meditation and Dharma study to find relief from stress and release from suffering. Gil Fronsdal is David’s guiding teacher; IMC is his home sangha. David holds a PhD in history.
Ying Chen is a first generation Chinese immigrant. She took refuge to become a buddhist with Venerable Ji Ru in 1995 and was exposed to Chinese Mahayana Buddhism first. She has been practicing in Insight Meditation Center since 2005, and Dharma Ground since 2020. She currently facilitates the Insight Meditation Center support group for people living with health challenges and co-leads Asian Dharma Circle. As a wife, mother, and a lay practitioner, Ying is inspired by the possibilities of freedom and wellbeing in everyday life. She teaches in IMC/IRC and Dharma Ground.
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You will find detailed information under the heading Our Retreats: What to Expect, How to Prepare, and On Retreat. Thank you!
5-Night Insight Meditation Retreat
May 23 - May 28, 2026
This is a 5-night Insight meditation retreat organized by Insight Retreat Center (IRC) and hosted at Big Springs Garden Retreat Center.
Registration opens January 23, 2026. APPLY ONLINE through IRC.
Matthew Brensilver & Dana DePalma
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A silent Insight meditation retreat with a daily schedule of alternating periods of sitting and walking meditation, instruction, dharma talks, work meditation, and practice discussions. Suitable for both beginners and experienced practitioners.
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Matthew Brensilver, MSW, PhD teaches retreats at the Insight Retreat Center, Spirit Rock and other Buddhist centers. He was previously program director for Mindful Schools and for more than a decade, was a core teacher at Against the Stream Buddhist Meditation Society. Matthew worked as a clinical social worker, serving severely and persistently mentally ill adults and adolescents. He subsequently earned a PhD from the Dworak-Peck School of Social Work at USC where he was a Provost’s Fellow. His dissertation examined the mechanisms of risk and resilience in maltreated adolescents in a large, longitudinal study in South Los Angeles. Before committing to teach meditation full-time, he spent years doing research on addiction pharmacotherapy at the UCLA Center for Behavioral and Addiction Medicine.
Each summer, he lectures at UCLA’s Mindful Awareness Research Center on the intersections between mindfulness, science and psychotherapy. He serves on the Board of Directors at Spirit Rock. Matthew is the co-author of two books about meditation during adolescence and continues to be interested in the unfolding dialogue between Buddhism and science.
Website: https://www.matthewbrensilver.org/Dana DePalma, MA teaches regularly online through Dharma Ground, where she serves as the Founding Guiding Teacher, and also at Spirit Rock Meditation Center, where she serves as a Stewarding Teacher. Her approach emphasizes samādhi, ease, and the natural arising of understanding. Dana holds a Masters Degree in Counseling Psychology from California Institute of Integral Studies and has a relational teaching style. She is a Bay Area native, married, mom to an awesome teen, and grateful beyond words to be living a life focused on the Dharma.
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You will find detailed information under the heading Our Retreats: What to Expect, How to Prepare, and On Retreat. Thank you!
A Women’s Retreat in Pristine Nature
July 8 - July 12, 2026
This is a 4-night women’s retreat organized by Full Life and hosted at Big Springs Garden Retreat Center.
For more information and to register, email Tracy Lease at tracy@fulllifeyogastudio.com.
Tracy Lease & Miyu Tamamura
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To create this women’s circle we will breathe in the mountain air, listen to the flow of water, settle into our inner landscapes.
We will enjoy Qigong with a view of the Buttes, sitting and walking Meditation in the hall and forest, Restorative Yoga and special Sound Healing Meditation with Crystal Singing Bowls in Pristine Nature!
Beautiful walking trails, state of the art architecture, delicious vegetarian meals in a peaceful setting will nurture you.
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Tracy Lease, owner and director of Full Life Yoga Studio, a certified Yoga Therapist, Yoga, Pilates, Qigong and Meditation Teacher has spent 20 years guiding students in movement and mindfulness practices. Tracy loves to share meditative movement and empowers each unique individual to move towards optimal health and happiness. Tracy knows movement can help calm and revitalize body, mind and spirit and assist us in living fully in the present moment. She tunes into her students, wanting each client to feel welcome, safe and supported in classes, retreats and private sessions. Tracy has a passion for guiding groups, and has led retreats in the United States, Mexico, France and Japan.
About Miyu Tamamura: Miyu’s commitment to transformation and healing is the very energy that plays her orchestra of Alchemy Crystal Singing Bowls, returning us to the silence within. Miyu has been teaching the monthly program of Sound Healing Meditation at Mountain Stream Meditation Center in Nevada City, California since 2019, as well as collaborating with various yoga, Qigong and meditation teachers, musicians and artists holding retreats, workshops and concerts in the U.S. and Japan. Miyu was born and raised in Kyoto Japan, graduated from Kyoto University of Art with a bachelor degree in Modern Art before she moved to the U.S. in 2000. As a certified Shiatsu Therapist, Miyu’s practice is deep listening, holding a healing space for one to integrate and harmonize all aspects of self. Miyu established YU Healing Arts with her husband in Nevada City, California, the clinic has been dedicated to the healing arts including Sound Healing, Shiatsu Therapy, Acupuncture and Herbal Medicine since 2004. Miyu’s eclectic back ground and experiential approach to truth and Japanese heritage are infused in all her practices and artistic expressions. More information about Miyu: www.yuhealingarts.com
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You will find detailed information under the heading Our Retreats: What to Expect, How to Prepare, and On Retreat. Thank you!