Registration Deadline: April 2, 2025 (registration open until 5:00pm US Pacific Time). A waiting list will be created if the program fills early.
Sanctuaries of Heart: Integrating Mettā into Daily Life
Program Dates: April 6 – June 29, 2025
- Pre-course Orientation (Required): Friday, April 4; 11:00am-12:00pm Pacific Time
- 4 Sundays (single daylongs): April 6, May 4, June 1, June 29; 10:00am-5:30pm Pacific Time
- 12 Thursdays (2-hr weekday classes; held between the daylongs): April 10, April 17, April 24, May 1, May 8, May 15, May 22, May 29, June 5, June 12, June 19, June 26; 4:30pm-6:30pm Pacific Time
- All sessions are online via Zoom.
Prerequisites (Required):
- Completion of at least two (or more) 5-night silent residential Insight Meditation retreats with recognized Spirit Rock, IMS, or IRC teachers (online retreats are not eligible).
- At least 2 years of consistent meditation practice
- For white-identified participants, to have completed or be signed up to take a white awareness, antiracist, and/or racial equity training
Program Description
As you deepen in practice, especially when returning from silent retreat, you may wonder how to keep the momentum of practice alive in daily life. You may have questions, want to keep learning, and be dedicated to discovering how to be fully awake in every day of your life. In this 12-week practice period we will learn to make each day count as a sacred day on the path, and we will translate all we learned on retreat into our everyday lives.
This 12-week intensive practice series will focus on cultivating the four brahmavihāras (Sanctuaries of Heart) towards ourselves and others. These four sanctuaries are lovingkindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity (Pāli: mettā, karuṇā, muditā, and upekkhā). These aspects of the awakened heart strengthen our ability to relate to ourselves and others from the perspective of the path, and cultivate a balanced heart in all conditions so we can let go of old relational habits based on greed, hatred, and confusion.
These brahmavihāras directly strengthen all aspects of our Dharma practice, especially in daily life where we interact with many beings each day. They also support the growth of deeper insight, helping us to fully let go in healthy ways and find warmth within impermanence, suffering, and emptiness.
What we are often missing in daily life is the support of a mentor, practices we can build upon every day, and the capacity to learn together. This intensive program consists of four interactive day retreats, 12 weekday 2-hr classes, 1:1 meetings with a program mentor, guided meditations, simple weekly readings, reflections, and a community of 16-20 experienced peers in a facilitated small group.
Join us to take your practice of lovingkindness to a whole new level of stability and integration into your relationships and everything you do.
Participation Commitments
- Pre-course orientation, required
- First daylong and first class, both required
- Please notify teaching team if you will not be able to attend a session in advance, and review recordings of any missed sessions before the next class
Program Includes
- Four (4) interactive day retreats
- Twelve (12) 2-hr weekday classes
- Four (4) 1:1 meetings with one of the program mentors
- Guided meditations
- Weekly readings and reflections
- A facilitated small group in a community of 16-20 experienced peers (meets during the daylongs)
Program Fees
Please consider paying at the highest rate that you can afford: your generosity supports the teachers of this program as well as Spirit Rock’s efforts in offering lower sliding scale rates and supporting the large number of scholarship requests. Your generosity will enable the participation of others with lesser means.
Standard Sliding Scale:
Benefactor – $1300
Sustainer – $1008
Basic – $750
Scholarship Rates:
Mudita/Karuna Scholarship Rate – $500*
Black, Indigenous, and People of color (BIPOC) Scholarship Rate – $500*
*Mudita/Karuna Scholarship and BIPOC Scholarship rates are reserved for those truly experiencing financial hardship; both are limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis.
Financial Details
Participating in Sanctuaries of Heart (SOH) will require your commitment of both time and financial resources. ALL participants have the option of paying in full or a 25% deposit at the time of registration. Payment plans are available for everyone and must be paid by June 15, 2025. If you need a payment plan option other than what is stated here, please reach out to the Registration team for assistance. If you need to withdraw from the program, the following fee structure will apply. Important note: Installments can only be set up on a credit card.
Cancellation Policy*
$50 non-refundable, flat fee for all applicants on or before February 9, 2025 (> 8 weeks)
35% fee = Feb 10 – Mar 9 (4-8 weeks)
50% fee = Mar 10 – 23 (2-4 weeks)
NO REFUNDS = On or after March 24 (< 2 weeks)
*Cancellation fee is a percentage of the total amount agreed to pay. These fees apply to all participants. Late cancellations do not allow us time to fill a vacated spot in the program.
