Mettā Retreat: Teachings and Practices to Cultivate a Wise, Compassionate, and Resilient Heart (202R27) - On Land

Registration opens at 9:00am (Pacific Time) on July 15, 2026, and closes at 11:59pm (Pacific Time) on January 10, 2027. A waiting list will be created if the retreat fills early.

This program offers 12 CEs at $120. More Continuing Education (CE) details below.

Interested in Commuting to the retreat? – learn more below.
In need of a scholarship? – see “Scholarship offerings” section.

Description

This retreat focuses on the cultivation of mettā, or lovingkindness—the intentional development of a heart grounded in goodwill toward oneself and all beings. Unlike retreats that emphasize mindfulness primarily as a basis for insight, the core practice here is the systematic cultivation of mettā as a way of relating to experience and living with greater kindness, even in a fractured world marked by uncertainty and stress.

Drawing on our mindfulness practice, we learn to recognize and soften habitual patterns that limit the heart’s natural capacity for goodwill. While the primary emphasis is mettā, we also explore compassion, appreciative joy, and equanimity as supportive qualities.

This retreat is silent except for teacher-led Q&A, small groups, or other practice meetings.

Financial Details

Sliding Scale fees are for 7 nights including food and lodging. Please consider paying at the highest rate that you can afford: your generosity supports Spirit Rock’s efforts in offering lower sliding scale rates and supporting the large number of scholarship requests.

Registration fees DO NOT include teacher dana. At the end of the retreat, there will be an invitation to offer dana to the teachers and to Spirit Rock.

Supporter Rate w/guaranteed single room – $4375
Benefactor Rate – $3500
Sustainer Rate – $2625
Basic Rate – $1750
Scholarship Rate (BIPOC, Mudita/Karuna, or Young Adult [ages 18-26 yrs]) – $665

Important Note for CE participants: Continuing education credit (CE) fees are NOT included in the registration fees. If you are interested in receiving CEs, you must pay for CEs at the time of your registration and prior to the start of the retreat (no retroactive CECs will be given). Please review the detailed CE information below.

Scholarship offerings: Scholarships are limited to those with significant financial need. If you need a scholarship to attend, we encourage you to complete the Scholarship Request Form which will be available starting July 15, 2026 up until the retreat starts. Scholarship allocations generally occur 4-5 months prior to the start of the retreat, and will continue as space is available.

Pay in full or Payment plan: You can either pay in full or pay a minimum 30% deposit when you register. Payment plans are available to everyone! If you choose the deposit option, the remaining balance will be automatically set up and charged to your payment card in equal installments on a monthly basis. Full payment is due two weeks prior to the retreat start.

Cancellation Policy (Residential Retreats):*
Standard Cancellation Fees:

• $50: On or before 12 weeks
• $100: 8-12 weeks before
• $175: 4-8 weeks before
• $300: 2-4 weeks before
• No refunds as of 2 weeks before

Scholarship and Commuter Rate Cancellation Fees:

• Full refund: On or before 12 weeks
• $75: 8-12 weeks before
• $100: 4-8 weeks before
• $200: 2-4 weeks before
• No refunds as of 2 weeks before

*Fees reduced for serious illness or death in family

Retreat Commuter Option

The retreat commuter option will only become available once the retreat is FULL with a waitlist. However, if your personal circumstances preclude you from attending a residential retreat (e.g. staying overnight), please reach out to us as we may be able to offer you a commuter spot sooner and we would be happy to have a conversation with you. (“Personal circumstances” could be situations like if you are a sole caregiver, or parent w/young children where you need to be home each night, for example.)

Prerequisite for Commuters:
You must have attended at least one weeklong silent residential retreat (5-7 nights) in Insight (vipassanā) meditation PRIOR to attending this retreat.

What is a Retreat Commuter?
A retreat commuter is a practitioner who attends a full residential retreat, including all meals, but they are not provided with overnight accommodations. Instead practitioners stay in their own home or find local accommodations at their own expense. A communal resting area is provided during the day while on campus for the retreat. The retreat commuter is expected to attend the entire retreat just like residential retreatants. Special reduced rates are listed below for retreat commuters.

If you have additional questions about being a retreat commuter, please email Registration@spiritrock.org

Commuter Sliding Scale:
Sustainer-Commuter – $1330
Basic-Commuter – $875

Current Covid-19 Safety Protocols for residential retreats

This program is applicable for mental health and healthcare professionals, including psychologists, social workers (LCSW, LSW), counselors (LPC, LCPC, LMHC), marriage and family therapists, nurses (RN, NP), chiropractors, and other healthcare professionals seeking education to develop practical skills in lovingkindness and compassion-based practices to support emotional resilience, sustainable caregiving, and well-being in both personal and professional contexts. Please review our Continuing Education information page to determine if your association or board will accept credits offered by Spirit Rock.***

Teachings are appropriate for health care professionals as well as the general public. The cultivation of lovingkindness and the companion practices of compassion, appreciative joy, and equanimity offer healthcare professionals a sustainable inner resource for the demands of clinical and caregiving work. Research on lovingkindness meditation and compassion-based training supports measurable benefits relevant to professional practice, including reduced empathic distress, decreased burnout risk, and enhanced capacity for emotional regulation. Care givers will find these practices supportive for maintaining relational presence, softening self-critical responses, and bringing greater steadiness to the emotional weight of patient and client care. These practices translate directly to clinical environments, where the ability to remain open without becoming overwhelmed is both an ethical and a practical necessity.
Grounded in contemplative practice and supported by a growing body of research on compassion-based interventions, this program offers mental health and healthcare professionals practical skills for sustaining compassionate presence in both personal and professional life.

Learning Objectives for participating health care professionals-
At the end of the program, participants will be better able to:

• Describe a lovingkindness practice and its application to caregiving relationships and clinical presence.
• Describe the interrelationship among lovingkindness, compassion, appreciative joy, and equanimity — and their collective role in supporting emotional balance.
• Identify how sustained contemplative practice supports stress regulation and psychological resilience.
• Apply lovingkindness and compassion practices to reduce self-critical responses in the context of ongoing client and patient care.
• Apply mindfulness-based reflection to maintain grounded, regulated presence during emotionally demanding clinical encounters.
• Utilize equanimity practices to support emotional stability when working with patient suffering and clinical stress.
• Utilize compassion practices to sustain caregiving capacity and reduce risk of empathic distress and professional burnout.
• Differentiate among lovingkindness, compassion, appreciative joy, and equanimity as distinct yet interrelated skills, and identify conditions under which each is most applicable in professional practice.

Continuing Education content level: Introductory

Continuing Education Schedule: (Full attendance is required. Times are listed in Pacific time.)

• January 11: No CE
• January 12-17
• 3:45 – 4:30pm: Practice Instructions, Q&A
• 7:30 – 8:30pm: Discourse/Dharma Talk
• January 18: No CE

Attendance policy for CE participants:

• Complete attendance is required. Incomplete attendance nullifies CE eligibility; board regulations prohibit partial credit for partial attendance.
• Check in for CE instructions in the Council House at the beginning of the retreat, during the regular check-in period.
• Sign in at the CE table, in the retreat hall foyer, within 5 minutes of the start of each required session. A list of required sessions will be posted with the retreat schedule and available at retreat check-in in the Council House.
• Certificates are issued only to those who meet the attendance requirements—without exception—to maintain compliance with our provider licenses and ensure the continuation of future CE programs.
• After the program, participants who meet the attendance requirements will be emailed a form to submit their professional information. There is a 1 week deadline to complete and submit this form in order to receive the Certificate of Attendance.
• In accordance with board regulations, partial credit is not permitted. Incomplete attendance voids CE eligibility. Participants must attend the program live, in full. Certificates of attendance are issued only to participants who meet the full attendance requirements, without exception, to maintain compliance with provider regulations and to ensure continued authorization to offer CE programs. See CE info page for full attendance requirements.

***Please note:

• Please visit our Continuing Education information page for complete provider details and additional CE information, including attendance requirements and our cancellation and grievance policies.
• If you hold a professional license that is not listed on our CE Information page, or if your license is issued by a board or professional association other than those listed, you are responsible for contacting your licensing board or association directly to request pre-approval or confirmation of acceptance of CE earned at Spirit Rock. Spirit Rock does not determine or guarantee CE applicability for licenses outside those listed.
• Continuing Education is awarded for instructional time only and does not include extended silent meditation, if offered.
• Continuing Education is awarded by Mindful CECs.
• Mindful CECs is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Mindful CECs maintains responsibility for this program and its content.
• Mindful CECs is a provider approved by the California Board of Registered Nursing, Provider Number CEP17985 for 12 contact hours.
• Conflict of Interest Statement: These instructors may have authored publications relevant to the subjects covered in this course, and may teach additional programs. The instructor might reference these publications and programs during the course, and the instructor may receive financial compensation if participants choose to purchase them.