Programs
Integrated Dharma
David McKay
A thirty-minute meditation period followed by an hour-long discussion guided by local Buddhist teacher David McKay. Integrated Dharma offers teaching and tools from a variety of Buddhist traditions, as well as psychological and embodiment practices, to supporta full span freedom– relief from suffering, personal flourishing, and the means to translate that into a heart-centered response […]
Mindfulness and the Four Noble Truths
Dave Smith
Within the entire cosmos of Buddhist doctrine, across the many lineages and traditions, no single teaching carries as much weight as that of the Four Noble Truths. It is the most fundamental aspect of Dharma. As Buddhist practices continue to take root in American society and culture, much of the attention has been focused on […]
Another Meditation, Yoga, and Sensory Awareness Retreat: A Long Weekend of Gathering the Gaze of Awareness
Jeff Collins and Gisela Konrad
“What is Buddha’s Way?” “Great intimacy.” “What is Yoga’s Way?” “Great intimacy.” As our June 3-8 retreat quickly filled and now has a waiting list, Southern Dharma has kindly asked us to offer a similar three-day retreat the week before. The course description for the June retreat begins with the sentence, “Yoga and Buddhism both […]
Gathering the Gaze of Awareness: A Meditation, Yoga and Sensory Awareness Retreat
Jeff Collins and Gisela Konrad
What is Buddha’s Way? Great intimacy. What is Yoga’s Way? Great intimacy. Yoga and Buddhism both teach that in each moment this whole universe – including our living humanness - appears out of nowhere, and all that appears, including us, is the pure presence of the place. The great work of our lives is to […]
Compassionate Vipassana
Ronya Banks
The more your inner and outer worlds provide you with ongoing challenges, the more self-compassion is the best additive to your formal and informal Vipassana meditation practices. Whether your day is going great or tumultuous, self-compassion helps you get through difficulties with more ease, it provides a softening, accepting stance that allows you to relax […]
Courageous Heart: Meeting the Spirit of Our Times with Steadiness and Love
Rupert Marques and Dawn Scott
The vulnerability of living invites us to respond to the turbulence of our times with compassion and clarity. In this retreat, we will call on the four establishments of mindfulness as a refuge and guide, helping us to metabolize the collective violence and ecological wounding that moves through our hearts, bodies, and beloved planet. Through […]
Finding Peace where You Are: The Art of Unburdening the Heart
Lisa Ernst
The Buddha’s path to liberation is designed to help us face the full experience of embodied human life. Through deep practices of mindfulness, concentration, and emptiness, we can cultivate clear states of mind that naturally allow inner peace and insight to emerge. We will also learn to bring acceptance, patience and love for ourselves into […]
Opening the heart, freeing the mind: An Insight Dialogue Retreat
Phyllis Hicks and Joyce Curnan
“Come and see for yourself.” The Buddha Join us for this relational meditation retreat. When we open to the immediacy of our experience, we have supportive conditions for seeing clearly, for loosening identification, and for transforming tension and reactivity into understanding. As we cultivate meditative qualities together, the heart releases into connection. We discover suffering and the […]
[AT HOME] Dependent Origination and Emptiness: An Online Retreat for Experienced Students - Applications Open
Leigh Brasington and Heather Sundberg
In this retreat, Leigh will teach theory and guided practice on Dependent Origination, one of his favorite dharma topics, from his book “Dependent Origination and Emptiness: Streams of Dependently Arising Processes Interacting,” which is free to download at the above link. Heather will teach and guide Emptiness-Awareness practices informed by a lineage she teaches from the […]
Volunteer Week 2025
Volunteer weeks at Southern Dharma offer an opportunity to deepen practice, build Dharma community, and support the Center's operations and facilities through hands-on projects. Each day will include periods of group meditation instruction and practice, working meditation shifts, meals, free unstructured time, and optional socializing. We will observe partial silence (after 10pm through breakfast). No […]
Exploring the Self Through Jewish and Buddhist Contemplative Practice
Rabbi Jeff Roth and Rabbi Joanna Katz
The Nature of the Self is naturally a prime phenomenon that is directly encountered through meditation practice. We can learn a lot about the experience of “selfing” by focused attention on each moment of experience. In addition, from certain Buddhist teachings we might learn that there is “no separate self”. A prime teaching from one […]
The Path of Recovery: Healing the Wounds of Addiction
Kevin Griffin and Greg Pergament
Join us for a unique meditation retreat combining traditional Buddhist practices with recovery work. Primarily conducted in silence, the retreat focuses on insight meditation and heart practices, along with interactive exercises, lectures, and meetings. We learn to practice mindfulness in all activities, whether formal meditation, movement, speaking, listening, or eating. Daily Qigong practice offered by […]
An Introduction to Mahāmudrā
Dr. Hun Lye
Mahamudra is considered the penultimate practice in Tibetan Buddhism and especially in the Kagyu Lineage that Dorlop Rinpoche Dr Lye is part of. In this retreat, Dr. Lye will draw primarily from the teachings of the early Kagyu masters to give participants a taste of this ancient tradition of practice. In these early Kagyu sources, […]
The Dharma of Harriet Tubman: Liberation as a Path to Awakening (BIPOC Retreat)
Spring Washam
In a world that feels increasingly heavy with fear, division, and uncertainty weighing on our hearts—it is more important than ever to remember the deeper truth: liberation is not just resistance, it is a frequency, a state of being, and a path we must walk together. Harriet Tubman was more than a historical figure; she […]
The Heart of Practice: Awakening and the End of Dukkha (or Reactivity)
Donald Rothberg
The Buddha famously said, “I teach dukkha [reactivity or a sense of unsatisfactoriness] and the end of dukkha.” The end of dukkha is often a synonym for awakening and Nirvana. In this retreat, we will explore this core aim of practice—to awaken—that is at the heart of the tradition. After a first day developing greater […]
Kwan Yin and Embodying Deep Wisdom and Compassion: A Retreat for Women
Lisa Ernst
During these increasingly uncertain and challenging times, it is vital to pause, replenish ourselves and find strength and connection in practice and community. By calling forth Kwan Yin, the bodhisattva of compassion, we access our own inherent capacity for compassion for self and others. This mostly silent retreat will offer a space for women to […]
Sashay Away From The Fray: Finding True Refuge Amongst the Defiantly Fabulous (LGBTQIA+ Retreat)
La Sarmiento and Em Morrison
In a time when hostility towards so many of our communities is on the rise, finding true refuge isn’t just about escape—it’s about cultivating unshakable inner strength and peace. This LGBTQIA+ Vipassana meditation retreat offers a space of radical acceptance where we can turn inward, reconnect with ourselves, and find solace in community. Through guided […]
Thai Forest Lineage Retreat
John Orr and Venerable Somasihi Bhikkhuni
There have been many Eastern teachers responsible for helping to bring the Dharma to the West. One of those is the Thai Buddhist master, Ajahn Chah, who lived in the 20th century and had a great influence on a generation of Western teachers and practitioners from around the world. Ajahn Chah practiced and taught in […]
Get Your Mind Right: A Young People’s Retreat on the Four Great Efforts
Mikey Livid and Rachael Tanner-Smith
“All that we are is the result of what we have thought: it is founded on our thoughts, it is made up of our thoughts. If one speaks or acts with pure thoughts, happiness follows like a shadow that never leaves.” — Dhammapada, Verse 2 In our daily lives, effort often looks like striving: pushing […]
Fall Work Weekend with SDRC Staff
Help the Southern Dharma staff care for our beautiful property while immersing yourself in self guided meditation practices. This program is structured as a partially silent retreat with daily scheduled work periods, group meditation sessions, and opportunities to share practice notes with other participants. There will be ample time to enjoy the natural beauty and […]
Be Who You Are, Live From the Heart
David McKay
It is sometimes said that the most essential question in life and spiritual practice is, "Who (or what) am I, truly?" We are taught to believe a great many things about who we are that are not at all true. We learn to assume that we are separate from the mysterious and harmonious unfolding of […]