Spring Insight Retreat: Understand the Mechanisms of the Salutary Effects of Mindfulness (224R27) - On Land

Registration opens at 9:00am (Pacific Time) on July 15, 2026, and closes at 11:59pm (Pacific Time) on May 2, 2027. A waiting list will be created if the retreat fills early.

This program offers 15 CEs at $150. More Continuing Education (CE) details below.

Applying for a residential scholarship? – see our Financial Support FAQ’s.
Interested in Commuting to the retreat? – learn more below.

Description

All the time before you were born plus all the time after you die is almost exactly all the time there is. Yet we find ourselves here, alive, in time, with a question: how should I live? We begin by listening deeply. The Buddha suggested we have underestimated the capacity of our heart. Retreat helps us to remember. Together, we’ll sit in the refuge provided by a 2,600-year legacy of wisdom and kindness. In the silence, we come to know the preciousness of life and the poignancy of the human condition. We discover a way of opening to the intensity of the human condition such that our heart is softened rather than hardened. We will offer systematic instructions in mindfulness meditation, as well as in lovingkindness practice.

Throughout the retreat, there will be Dharma talks and meetings with teachers to support you in your practice. All are welcome.

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.

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.)

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 licensed and license-eligible mental health and health care professionals, including psychologists, social workers (LCSW, LSW), counselors (LPC, LCPC, LMHC), marriage and family therapists, nurses (RN, NP), chiropractors, and other health care professionals, seeking education in mindfulness meditation, lovingkindness practice, and their clinical applications for care providers.

Please review our Continuing Education information page to determine if your association or board will accept credits offered by Spirit Rock.***

Research consistently documents that mindfulness and lovingkindness practice develop the attentional and prosocial capacities that support effective clinical care.This retreat offers systematic instruction in mindfulness meditation and lovingkindness practice, two evidence-supported approaches that research associates with reduced stress, reduced rumination, and improved emotional regulation. Participants will explore the mechanisms by which these practices produce their salutary effects — including their influence on attentional regulation, prosocial emotion, and the autonomic stress response — developing the insight that allows personal practice to translate into professional presence. Deepening one’s own contemplative practice develops the attentional and prosocial capacities — therapeutic presence, empathic attunement, and equanimity — that directly support the therapeutic alliance, patient-provider communication, and the prevention of compassion fatigue and burnout.

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

• Define mindfulness and list at least three hypothesized benefits of mindfulness practice.
• Describe two practices that develop mindfulness.
• Describe how focused attention practices can reduce stress, emotional inflexibility, and rumination.
• Describe equanimity and its role in emotional balance.
• Describe how attention to bodily sensations can support clinical attunement and patient engagement.
• Describe how mindfulness relates to prosocial emotions such as kindness and compassion.
• Identify at least four hypothesized benefits of mindfulness meditation for care providers and improved patient care.
• Describe how practices of silence and attentive listening contribute to emotional resilience and empathy in clinical relationships.
• Describe at least two mechanisms by which mindfulness practice can cultivate compassion and reduce emotional reactivity in clinical interactions.
• Describe how the qualities of wisdom and kindness can be applied to therapeutic settings to improve patient care outcomes.

Attendance policy for CE participants:

• To ensure your attendance is recorded:
  • 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.
• Full attendance is required. Incomplete attendance nullifies CE eligibility, as board regulations do not permit partial credit for partial attendance.
• 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 one-week deadline to complete and submit this form to receive the Certificate of Attendance.

CE Session Schedule: (Times are listed in Pacific time.)

• Opening Day: No CE
• May 4-9
  • 9:30 – 9:30am: Practice Instructions, Q&A
  • 4:30 – 5:15pm: Guided Lovingkindness Practice Session
  • 7:30 – 8:15pm: Discourse/Dharma Talk
• Closing Day: No CE

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.
• Professionals with other license types or credentials may find our programs applicable for continuing education. Please confirm acceptance with your licensing board or certifying organization before registering for CE. Spirit Rock does not confirm CE applicability for license types beyond the scope of Mindful CECs’ provider approvals.
• Credit is awarded for instructional time only and does not include extended silent meditation, if offered.
• Continuing Education is sponsored 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 15 contact hours.
• Conflict of Interest Statement: This instructor 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.