Spirit Rock Meditation Center

Dharma friends, , Philip Moffett, James and Jane Baraz , DCTaylor and Teja are amazing, however other teachers are not. Proceed with caution and listen to the dharma talks before you apply.... Also I'm laughing at one of the other reviewers that said staff were rude to POC beings and would like to clarify some of the staff are rude to all beings and a true Dharma teaching and letting go and going to compassion... explore the monastic centers and other smaller centers. Might be a good experience for a first-time retreating however it is a big Institution 90 retreatments and they made the huge mistake of having double rooms meaning you're sleeping in a room with a stranger I'm still laughing....metta

I went to Spirit Rock Meditation Center some years ago and found it a truly racist institution. As a person of color, I found all staff white, stand-offish and downright rude. I once went to the director because I had feinted before breakfast and she blew me off—she did not even offer to set up an appointment to see a nurse. I would strongly recommend that if are a person of color—or an ally—you not bother going to this retreat site. It is a white enclave that claims to practice tantric Buddhism but instead acts completely like “appropriators” of an Asian-derived tradition who then go out and discriminate, ironically, against Asian American attendees.

"Silence Is Golden" no truer words have ever been spoken. If you want to up-level your personal best, go to a silent meditation retreat here at Spirit Rock Meditation Center or find one near you. I left this retreat a kinder, more compassionate, more patient human being with more love for myself than ever before. I actually feel different in my own skin, which is quite amazing and as I look through my eyes I feel that I'm looking through a different pair of lenses. I consider this place my Spiritual Home and I can't wait to go back. The simple daily rhythms could actually be difficult at times, but I never felt better. My body, spirit, heart/mind were nourished and filled up in a beautiful way. The combination of sitting, walking, working, eating on repeat, and going back to the absolute basics had me feeling alive and deeply connected to myself and the beautiful Coastal Miwok lands I was so honored to roam everyday. The phenomenal vegan/veg cuisine was probably the best gourmet food I've ever tasted in my life!!! I am so grateful to my company for paying for this and allowing me this professional development time to upgrade myself. Can't wait to do this again this new year! Thank you Rockwood Leadership Institute for this gift!!! p.s. I don't have any pictures of the gorgeous food (we ate the rainbow) cuz we had no cell phones during the retreat. If you really want to upgrade your life, ditch your cell phone (schedule time away from it) talk less and listen more Xoxo #meditation #spiritrockmeditationcenter IG: rumaten8r1nk

Spent a lovely New Year’s Day here on a retreat with Sylvia - a long term teacher at spirit rock. What a tranquil place with lovely hills. The retreat was absolutely amazing with kind teaching from Sylvia and classic Bach Cello and drum tunes from her friends. Surreal experience. I am grateful that I could spent the New Year’s Day here. I wish more people could experience Dhamma talks / retreats here - as the fees are high. But they do offer scholarships / volunteer opportunities to make it more accessible for everyone.

I had the honor of volunteering as a Parking Attendant for Ajahn Passano’s transformative 2023 Dhamma Talk, “Happiness on the Buddhist Path.” This Center is divine, orderly, and bursting with with radiant compassion. I especially recommend the quiet pagoda (apologies, I forget the name!) near the Meditation Center. This simple and humble wooden “gratitude” center contains a prayer wheel and walls filled with portraits of renown leaders, heroes, and devotees from so many loving traditions. Of particular interest to me are the handwritten dedications and offerings from people who guide my thoughts and actions so often they feel like (affordable) gurus and therapists who live in different rooms “inside” my head. The silence, peace, and compassion in the pagoda was so profound I felt firsthand what I can only term as the opposite of the Stendhal syndrome! My heartbeat slowed, my thoughts ceased, and even *I* had nothing left to say! I have no words that can convey the honor and grace of setting foot in a place of such deep restfulness and humility! My only thought upon reflection is — “These are all simply human beings, just like me! … Right?” If I could recommend a place of pilgrimage to anyone in the world, this place would have to make the shortest of the shortlists.