March 20-23, 2025
Queer Retreat: The Paramis as a Revolutionary Act
Leslie Booker
Assisted by Coral Short
New Year’s Insight Meditation Retreat
Teacher
Jill Davey
When
December 29, 2024 - January 2, 2025
Where
Loyola House
Guelph, ON
Welcome the New Year with reflection and intention, silence and community, surrounded by the beauty and warmth of Loyola House in Guelph. We will be supported by the meditation practice, dharma talks, and an old year/new year ritual. This year we have an additional full day of practice on the first day of 2025 to really settle in. Please leave your electronics at home and open to the magic of silence and stillness on retreat, open to the intimacy of the present moment. Discover a different kind of connection! There are beautiful nature trails at Loyola House, so bring your cross-country skis, snowshoes or hiking boots, depending on the weather!
Teacher
Jill Davey (she/they) Since their first meditation retreat in 2008, Jill has been devoted to the study and practice of Vipassana (Insight Meditation) and sharing this understanding with others. Having been mentored and invited to teach by Molly Swan and Norman Feldman, Jill is a teacher with True North Insight. Jill is particularly interested in connecting the relevance of these ancient teachings of awareness, wisdom and kindness to daily life experience. They are also an End-of-Life Doula and brings this sensitivity to their teachings. Jill brings years of previous experience as a community worker to their teaching and is actively committed to the ongoing dismantling of internalized and systemic privilege.
Registration
LOCATION: Loyola House, 5420 Highway 6 North, Guelph, Ontario.
Loyola House is an Ignatian Spirituality Centre that welcomes retreats accomodating the needs of a wide audience, including Dharma organizations. Please note there are Christian symbols on the site.
All of the rooms at Loyola House are single rooms with a sink. Washrooms are shared.
ARRIVAL TIME: 3:30-5:00 pm, Sunday, December 29. The retreat will conclude by lunch on Thursday, January 2. Everyone is welcome to stay for lunch. The teacher requests that you plan to attend the entire retreat – please arrive on time and stay through the closing talk.
COST: TNI is dedicated to offering affordable rates to all. TNI retreat fees are on a sliding scale basis that allows participants to pay according to individual means. Fees do not include compensation for the teachings, and teachers rely on the generosity of retreatants for a sustainable income. There is an opportunity to offer dana (donations) to the teachers at the end of each retreat.
A deposit of 50% of the base rate is required to register to the retreat. The deposit is included in all of our fees.
Sliding Scale:
- Benefactor: $1 560
- Sustaining: $1 000
- Base: $800
- Reduced: $700
- Scholarship: upon request (limited number of scholarships are granted)
◆ Deposit : $400
Benefactor
The Benefactor rate provides the opportunity to offer more substantial support for TNI.
Sustaining
The Sustaining rate represents the actual cost to TNI to operate our programs. If you can afford this level or higher, you assist our efforts to offer lower sliding-scale rates and ongoing financial subsidies.
Base
The Base rate covers 82 % of what is needed to run our organization. To balance our budget and to wisely steward our resources, donations must supplement our registration income.
Reduced
Payment at the Reduced rate covers only 71 % of what is needed to run our organization. To balance our budget and to wisely steward our resources, donations must supplement our registration income.
Scholarship
TNI offers scholarships of up to a 50% reduction of the base rate on our sliding scale to those who request it. Limited number of scholarships are granted.
Opening to Our Lives with the Heart of the Dharma
Teacher
Jean Esther
When
May 2-5, 2024
Where
Villa St-Martin
Pierrefonds, QC
So often we can be flooded by our emotions and overwhelmed by our own personal circumstances as well as to the world around us. This retreat will focus on the Buddha’s teachings on Wisdom and Compassion in service of deepening our capacity to meet our lives with a wise, loving and embodied presence.
Held in noble silence this retreat will consist of meditation instruction, alternating sitting and walking meditation, guided compassion and equanimity practices, talks on the Buddha’s teachings, group inquiry and small group discussions with the teacher. Open to beginning and experienced practitioners.
Teacher
Beginning her formal training in meditation in 1975, Jean Esther has trained in the Buddhist Theravadan tradition with renowned senior lay teachers as well as Burmese and Western Monastics since 1982. Over a number of years, Jean has engaged in intensive teacher training in both Vipassana practice and non-dual awareness. Her teaching is also informed by over 43 years of practice as a psychotherapist, focusing on the healing of trauma through an embodied somatic approach. She trained for over 20 years in Jungian psychology with Jungian analyst Marion Woodman. Respecting all of life through a social justice understanding informs her life and her teaching. Jean teaches at Insight Meditation Society in Barre, MA, USA, Insight Meditation Community of Western MA, USA as well as various other locations across the US and Canada. Jean has served on the Guiding Teachers Council of True North Insight since 2015.
Registration Information
LOCATION: 21269 Boul Gouin O, Pierrefonds, QC H9K 1C1, Canada.
Villa Saint-Martin is an Ignatian Spirituality Centre that welcomes retreats accomodating the needs of a wide audience, including Dharma organizations. Please note there are Christian symbols on the site.
All of the rooms at Villa St-Martin are single rooms with a sink. Washrooms are shared.
ARRIVAL TIME: 3:30-5:00 pm, Thursday, May 2. The retreat will conclude by lunch on Sunday, May 5. Everyone is welcome to stay for lunch. The teacher requests that you plan to attend the entire retreat – please arrive on time and stay through the closing talk.
COST: TNI is dedicated to offering affordable rates to all. TNI retreat fees are on a sliding scale basis that allows participants to pay according to individual means. Fees do not include compensation for the teachings, and teachers rely on the generosity of retreatants for a sustainable income. There is an opportunity to offer dana (donations) to the teachers at the end of each retreat.
A deposit of 50% of the base rate is required to register to the retreat. The deposit is included in all of our fees.
Sliding Scale:
- Benefactor: $1 170
- Sustaining: $750
- Base: $600
- Reduced: $525
- Scholarship: upon request (limited number of scholarships are granted)
◆ Deposit : $300
Benefactor
The Benefactor rate provides the opportunity to offer more substantial support for TNI.
Sustaining
The Sustaining rate represents the actual cost to TNI to operate our programs. If you can afford this level or higher, you assist our efforts to offer lower sliding-scale rates and ongoing financial subsidies.
Base
The Base rate covers 82 % of what is needed to run our organization. To balance our budget and to wisely steward our resources, donations must supplement our registration income.
Reduced
Payment at the Reduced rate covers only 71 % of what is needed to run our organization. To balance our budget and to wisely steward our resources, donations must supplement our registration income.
Scholarship
TNI offers scholarships of up to a 50% reduction of the base rate on our sliding scale to those who request it. Limited number of scholarships are granted.
Abiding Mindfully in the Body: Meditation and Yoga Retreat
Teachers
Daryl Lynn Ross & David Schouela
When
November 6 - 10, 2024
Where
Villa St-Martin
Pierrefonds, QC
The Buddha said, "There is one thing that, when cultivated and regularly practiced, leads to deep spiritual intention, to peace, to mindfulness and clear comprehension, to vision and knowledge, to a happy life here and now, and to the culmination of wisdom and awakening. And what is that one thing? It is mindfulness centered on the body." The first mindfulness practices that the Buddha taught were attending to the body— coming to our senses. Mindfulness of the body is an invitation to open to the awareness which is already present in the body. The retreat practices and teachings will support continuity of mindfulness in the body throughout all activities. A wholesome sense of being calm, grounded, embodied and present will be nourished. The practices of loving-kindness and compassion will also be woven through the days. Yoga practice will be an integral part of this silent meditation retreat as a form of meditation in motion - there will be two or three sessions of yoga each day. .
Teachers
Daryl Lynn Ross lives and transmits the Buddhist teachings from the heart with a sensitivity to the unique path of each person. She has been teaching meditation for over 30 years and is grateful to have teachers and mentors from several Buddhist and other traditions, including mystical Christian. For 22 years as a University Chaplain at Concordia University in Montreal she offered meditation practices and spiritual leadership. Co-founder and guiding teacher for TNI since 2003, Daryl teaches local groups and intensive courses, mentors and counsels in personal meetings and enjoys offering a wide range of retreats. She is known for her clear, gentle, compassionate approach which is both accessible and profound.
David Schouela has been practicing meditation and yoga since 1996 and has been teaching yoga since 2001. David brings to his teaching the integration of Buddhist mindfulness and insight meditation with classical yoga practice.
Registration Information
LOCATION: 21269 Boul Gouin O, Pierrefonds, QC H9K 1C1, Canada.
Villa Saint-Martin is an Ignatian Spirituality Centre that welcomes retreats accomodating the needs of a wide audience, including Dharma organizations. Please note there are Christian symbols on the site.
All of the rooms at Villa St-Martin are single rooms with a sink. Washrooms are shared.
ARRIVAL TIME: 3:30-5 pm, Wednesday, November 6. The retreat will conclude by lunch on Sunday, November 10. Everyone is welcome to stay for lunch. The teacher requests that you plan to attend the entire retreat – please arrive on time and stay through the closing talk.
COST: TNI is dedicated to offering affordable rates to all. TNI retreat fees are on a sliding scale basis that allows participants to pay according to individual means. Fees do not include compensation for the teachings, and teachers rely on the generosity of retreatants for a sustainable income. There is an opportunity to offer dana (donations) to the teachers at the end of each retreat.
A deposit of 50% of the base rate is required to register to the retreat. The deposit is included in all of our fees.
Sliding Scale:
- Benefactor: $1 560
- Sustaining: $1 000
- Base: $800
- Reduced: $700
- Scholarship: upon request (limited number of scholarships are granted)
◆ Deposit : $400
Benefactor
The Benefactor rate provides the opportunity to offer more substantial support for TNI.
Sustaining
The Sustaining rate represents the actual cost to TNI to operate our programs. If you can afford this level or higher, you assist our efforts to offer lower sliding-scale rates and ongoing financial subsidies.
Base
The Base rate covers 82 % of what is needed to run our organization. To balance our budget and to wisely steward our resources, donations must supplement our registration income.
Reduced
Payment at the Reduced rate covers only 71 % of what is needed to run our organization. To balance our budget and to wisely steward our resources, donations must supplement our registration income.
Scholarship
TNI offers scholarships of up to a 50% reduction of the base rate on our sliding scale to those who request it. Limited number of scholarships are granted.
Cœur vaste, esprit libre
Teachers
Pascal Auclair
When
November 25 - 29, 2024
Where
Kio-o Centre
Sainte-Lucie des Laurentides, QC
To be free-spirited, to have a clear heart, to have the senses awake no matter what the circumstances - this is what the Buddhist path proposes. Is it possible? Let's find out. During this retreat, this friendly, silent gathering, this intensive meditation course, the search for happiness will involve pacifying the mind, developing clarity, receptivity and inner stability.
This retreat is taught in French.
Teacher
Pascal Auclair has been immersed in Buddhist practice and study since 1997, sitting retreats in Asia and America with revered monastics and lay teachers. He has been mentored by Joseph Goldstein and Jack Kornfield at the Insight Meditation Society (IMS) in Massachusetts and Spirit Rock Meditation Center in California, where he is enjoying teaching retreats. Pascal also teaches internationally. His depth of insight, classical training, and creative expression all combine in a wise and compassionate presence. In addition, his warmth and humour make Pascal a much appreciated teacher.
Registration Information
LOCATION: Kio-o, 1905 Chemin 6e Rang, Sainte-Lucie-des-Laurentides, QC J0T 2J0.
Most of the rooms are double rooms, with shared washrooms. Single rooms are filled on a first come, first served basis.
ARRIVAL TIME: 10:30-11:30 am, Monday, November 25. The retreat will conclude by lunch on Friday, November 29. Everyone is welcome to stay for lunch. The teacher requests that you plan to attend the entire retreat – please arrive on time and stay through the closing talk.
COST: TNI is dedicated to offering affordable rates to all. TNI retreat fees are on a sliding scale basis that allows participants to pay according to individual means. Fees do not include compensation for the teachings, and teachers rely on the generosity of retreatants for a sustainable income. There is an opportunity to offer dana (donations) to the teachers at the end of each retreat.
A deposit of 50% of the base rate is required to register to the retreat. The deposit is included in all of our fees.
Sliding Scale:
- Benefactor: $1 590
- Sustaining: $1 030
- Base: $830
- Reduced: $730
- Scholarship: upon request (limited number of scholarships are granted)
◆ Deposit : $415
Benefactor
The Benefactor rate provides the opportunity to offer more substantial support for TNI.
Sustaining
The Sustaining rate represents the actual cost to TNI to operate our programs. If you can afford this level or higher, you assist our efforts to offer lower sliding-scale rates and ongoing financial subsidies.
Base
The Base rate covers 82 % of what is needed to run our organization. To balance our budget and to wisely steward our resources, donations must supplement our registration income.
Reduced
Payment at the Reduced rate covers only 71 % of what is needed to run our organization. To balance our budget and to wisely steward our resources, donations must supplement our registration income.
Scholarship
TNI offers scholarships of up to a 50% reduction of the base rate on our sliding scale to those who request it. Limited number of scholarships are granted.
The Universe is My True Body:
A Five Elements Retreat for BIPOC Practitioners
Teachers
Kate Johnson & Dawn Mauricio
When
August 29 - September 1, 2024
Where
Villa St-Martin
Pierrefonds, QC
Mindfulness of the body is a core practice on the Buddha’s path to liberation. One of the ways we can work with this practice is through contemplations on the five elements – earth, water, fire, air, and space/ether. These elements exist both within and beyond our bodies, and they can be known directly through our loving awareness. Being with the elemental nature of our bodies and of the world around us is a way to connect deeply to our physical experience in the present moment, and can help us tap into a felt sense of interconnection with all things.
As practitioners who are Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (including Asian, Middle Eastern, Pacific Islander, and/or Latinx people of color), practicing with the elements can be deeply restorative and healing. It can feel like coming home. Colonization, enslavement, imperialism, and patriarchy have all used violence to try to separate us from the natural world, because our connection with nature makes us too powerful to dominate. Let us reconnect with the elements, in affinity space, and tap into the wisdom nature holds about how to liberate ourselves and live together in a beloved community.
Teachers
Kate Johnson is a meditation teacher, facilitator, writer and mother. She has practiced Buddhist meditation in the Insight lineage since her early 20’s, and was authorized as an independent dharma teacher through Spirit Rock Meditation Center’s four-year retreat teacher training. Kate began facilitating organizational training and retreats after co-founding the Meditation Working Group at Occupy Wall Street. She later joined the faculty of MIT’s Presencing Institute, and went on to work at Buddhist Peace Fellowship, where she designed online programs integrating spiritual and political education and practice. She is the author of the book Radical Friendship: Seven Ways to Love Yourself and Find Your People in an Unjust World.
As a consultant, Kate works with leaders and organizations committed to equity, sustainability, and wise relationships, using awareness-based and embodied practices to support communication, strategy, and culture. As a meditation teacher, she offers courses and retreats integrating relational spirituality, social justice, somatics and creativity. Kate also coaches a handful of dedicated meditation practitioners in private study to deepen their formal and daily life practices of liberation. In her off hours, she can be found exploring Philly with her kid, sipping tea with friends, and looking for all manner of good trouble. Website: https://www.katejohnson.com/
Dawn Mauricio (she, her) has been practicing and studying Insight Meditation since 2005, and has graduated from the first teacher development group of True North Insight, and Spirit Rock's Mindfulness Yoga and Meditation Training, Dedicated Practitioners' Program, and 4-year Retreat Teacher Training. She is known to teach with a playful, dynamic, and heartfelt approach, and leads daylongs, retreats, yearlong programs, and mindfulness workshops in Canada and the US for Spirit Rock, True North Insight, and for teens with Inward Bound Mindfulness Education. Dawn is also the author of “Mindfulness Meditation for Beginners.” For more information, visit dawnmauricio.com.
Registration Information
LOCATION: 21269 Boul Gouin O, Pierrefonds, QC H9K 1C1, Canada.
Villa Saint-Martin is an Ignatian Spirituality Centre that welcomes retreats accomodating the needs of a wide audience, including Dharma organizations. Please note there are Christian symbols on the site.
All of the rooms at Villa St-Martin are single rooms with a sink. Washrooms are shared.
ARRIVAL TIME: 3:30-5 pm, Thursday, August 29. The retreat will conclude by lunch on Sunday, September 1. Everyone is welcome to stay for lunch. The teacher requests that you plan to attend the entire retreat – please arrive on time and stay through the closing talk.
COST: TNI is dedicated to offering affordable rates to all. TNI retreat fees are on a sliding scale basis that allows participants to pay according to individual means. Fees do not include compensation for the teachings, and teachers rely on the generosity of retreatants for a sustainable income. There is an opportunity to offer dana (donations) to the teachers at the end of each retreat.
A deposit of 50% of the base rate is required to register to the retreat. The deposit is included in all of our fees.
Sliding Scale:
- Benefactor: $1 170
- Sustaining: $750
- Base: $600
- Reduced: $525
- Scholarship: upon request (limited number of scholarships are granted)
- You Choose Rate: at or above $55 per night ($165 minimum total).
So that TNI can offer this form of financial assistance to as many as possible, please be as generous as you can when choosing your rate.
◆ Deposit : $300
Benefactor
The Benefactor rate provides the opportunity to offer more substantial support for TNI.
Sustaining
The Sustaining rate represents the actual cost to TNI to operate our programs. If you can afford this level or higher, you assist our efforts to offer lower sliding-scale rates and ongoing financial subsidies.
Base
The Base rate covers 82 % of what is needed to run our organization. To balance our budget and to wisely steward our resources, donations must supplement our registration income.
Reduced
Payment at the Reduced rate covers only 71 % of what is needed to run our organization. To balance our budget and to wisely steward our resources, donations must supplement our registration income.
Scholarship
TNI offers scholarships of up to a 50% reduction of the base rate on our sliding scale to those who request it. Limited number of scholarships are granted.