The Way of Release: Practicing Peace in Every Moment

The Way of Release: Practicing Peace in Every Moment is a seven-night silent meditation retreat led by Nikki Mirghafori, PhD, at Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Woodacre, California. It is a residential Insight (vipassana) retreat in the Theravada Buddhist tradition, suited to people who already have some experience with silent practice and want a week to explore how peace can be present along the path, not only at its end.

What to Expect

The retreat takes release as its theme: the gentle dropping away of unseen assumptions and unhelpful patterns, which the teaching describes as the heart of awakening. Through embodied awareness, participants train the heart-mind in friendliness and well-being. The questions at the center of the week are practical ones. Can practice avoid becoming a struggle or a grim duty? Can each moment of awareness carry the qualities of goodwill and freedom that practice points toward?

Arrival is on a Sunday, between 2:30 and 4:30 in the afternoon, followed by check-in, room assignment, an orientation to the schedule and guidelines, and a first group sitting. The days in between are given to silent meditation, with walking meditation and individual practice, meals taken in silence, and evening instruction with guided practice. Teacher-led Q&A sessions and small group meetings with the teachers are the main times when speaking is part of the schedule. The retreat closes the following Sunday with a final morning practice, a closing teaching, and departure at 11:00 AM.

This retreat runs at the same time as another, and all sessions take place in the Upper Meditation Hall on the upper campus. Spirit Rock describes this as a smaller, more intimate retreat setting.

About Nikki Mirghafori

Nikki Mirghafori, PhD, is a Buddhist teacher and Artificial Intelligence scientist. She was empowered by the Burmese meditation master Venerable Pa Auk Sayadaw, with whom she practiced the jhanas and detailed analytical vipassana. She is a Stewarding Teacher at Spirit Rock and serves on its Board of Directors.

The Setting

Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Woodacre, California, hosts this retreat on its silent retreat campus. Practice happens in the Upper Meditation Hall, a ritually consecrated space. Accommodation is residential, with up to 80 participants. Of the center's 80 rooms, 16 are doubles and the rest are singles. A limited number of guaranteed single rooms are offered at the two highest sliding-scale rates, and other single rooms are first prioritized for people with serious medical needs. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are provided.

Retreat commuters, who attend the full retreat and meals but sleep elsewhere, may be accommodated in some circumstances. They need prior experience of at least one weeklong silent residential Insight retreat, and online retreats do not count toward this.

Before You Go

Participants should have prior experience with silent meditation. Spirit Rock recommends two or three daylong programs before a weeklong retreat, and anyone new to meditation is encouraged to speak with the Registration Department before enrolling. The retreat is taught in English.

The fee includes seven nights of lodging, all meals, teacher-led instruction and Q&A, and small group meetings. It does not include transportation to Spirit Rock, personal items, or dana, the voluntary offering to the teachers and to Spirit Rock that is invited at the end of the retreat.

Pricing is on a sliding scale, and payment plans are available. Scholarships are offered for people with significant financial need, including elders on fixed incomes, people facing serious illness, Black, Indigenous and People of Color participants, and young adults aged 18 to 26. Participants live closely together, so anyone who is unwell is asked to stay home.