Join us for a week-long silent meditation retreat in the Costa Rican rainforest and support our vision of making mindfulness as accessible as possible. Funds raised from tuition and your generous donations will be used to support our Accessibility Fund, a central component of our non-profit mission to make mindfulness as accessible as possible through scholarships and wide sliding scale pricing.
Spending our days mostly in silence, we’ll immerse into mindfulness and compassion practices, enjoy nature, and explore the Buddhist roots of these practices. Daily practices will include sitting and walking meditation, gentle yoga and movement practices, and sensory awareness practices as we open our hearts to the surrounding rainforest. Nature walks into the jungle by local guides will also be a part of the retreat experience.
This retreat will be held mostly in silence at Selva Verde Lodge – a peaceful eco-tourist inn interwoven into a beautiful 500 hectare primary forest reserve in central Costa Rica. We held a retreat here in 2018, and have wanted to return ever since! Raised walkways and lovely rooms are nestled in a rainforest garden adjacent to an old growth rainforest, with delicious fruits served at every meal and local cuisine that’s accommodating of a variety of dietary needs.
Teachings
Head teacher Tim Burnett will give daily talks highlighting both the biology of our natural surroundings at La Selva Verde and Buddhist teachings that support a full open awareness of the rich moments we’ll find ourselves in. In addition to his mindfulness and Buddhist training, Tim holds degrees in biology and environmental studies and formerly worked as a field botanist and environmental educator.
Assistant teacher Beth Glosten will lead practices and provide insights into the body mechanics of comfortable and engaged meditation with her background as a Mindfulness and Pilates teacher.
Supporting teacher Raizelah Bayen will provide daily gentle yoga sessions and also will be available for mindful massage (for an additional fee).
Location & Accomodations
This retreat will be held mostly in silence at Selva Verde Lodge – a peaceful eco-tourist inn interwoven into a beautiful 500 hectare primary forest reserve in central Costa Rica. We did a retreat here in 2018 and have wanted to return ever since! Raised walkways and lovely rooms are nestled in a rainforest garden adjacent to an old growth rainforest.
Double occupancy rooms are included; single occupancy can be chosen at registration for an additional fee. If you’d like to room with someone else who is registering, please specify this in the comments section of the registration below.
The buffet style Costa Rican cuisine is varied and accommodating of a variety of dietary preferences and needs.
THEME: Full Presence in Every Moment
Whether in circumstances that feel extraordinary to us, like spending a week in a tropical rainforest, or in circumstances that feel quite ordinary, we heal and grow when we are fully present. In the practices and teachings of this retreat we will explore ways of feeling, understanding, and experiencing full presence in every moment of our lives.
Base Tuition: $2,250 with optional fundraising tuition levels that include a donation to support our Mindfulness Accessibility Fund.
MINDFUL MASSAGE
Unwind and settle more deeply into yourself during the retreat with a Mindful Massage. This style of massage is gentle, yet firm, emphasizing body and breath awareness. By putting your attention on the contact and quality of touch, Mindful Massage encourages and supports your awareness of sensation and emotion. This is an opportunity to deepen your practice of mindfulness.
This optional enhancement to your retreat experience is $115 for 75 minutes, and can be added to your retreat during the registration process.
Tim Burnett, Lead Teacher: Executive Director and Guiding Instructor at Mindfulness Northwest, Tim has been leading multi-day retreats in both the mindfulness and Zen Buddhist styles for many years. For these retreats Tim loves offering a universal (“secular”) mindfulness retreat experience while also plumbing the depth of Buddhist texts and philosophy that form one of the deep roots of this work. You can explore an example of Tim’s teachings at a prior retreat.
Beth Glosten, M.D., Mindfulness Instructor: Beth attended the University of Washington School of Medicine and had an academic anesthesiology career, until physical issues prompted her to step back from that hectic life. She studied pilates, and through this system embraced moving mindfully. She was drawn to meditation several years ago and found it meshed naturally with her approach to teaching movement: turn focus inward to listen to, and befriend, one’s self. From this place, growth and healing are possible. Beth has been leading our 5-week Mindfulness for Healthcare Providers for several years, along with our 5 and 7 day retreats.
Raizelah Bayen, Registered Yoga Teacher and Nationally Approved Massage CE Teacher: Founder and Director of Open Pathways Institute for Integrative Massage, Raizelah has been teaching massage, yoga and wellness workshops for over 20 years. Her teaching style is grounded in Zen Buddhist breath meditation and body awareness practices. As a yoga teacher and bodyworker, Raizelah is most passionate about teaching embodiment as a path to presence. With a broad background in the healing arts, she brings to mindfulness workshops a variety of holistic self-care techniques that support your deepening connection to body, mind and heart.
We hope you’ll join us for this wonderful retreat experience!
While this retreat will explore the Buddhist roots of mindfulness, the retreat will mostly be in the style of MSC & MBSR classes and retreats.
This retreat meets prerequisite requirements of a 5-day silent, guided retreat for the following teacher training programs:
- Mindfulness Northwest – Mindfulness Teacher Training Program & MBSR Teacher Training Program
- Center for Mindful Self-Compassion – Mindful Self-Compassion Teacher Training
- UCSD Mindfulness Based Professional Training Institute (MBPTI) – MBSR 6-Day Teacher Training Intensive
- Brown Center for Mindfulness – MBSR Teacher Training Pathway
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