This retreat is open to all, including those new to retreat or to Cloud Mountain.

Often we talk about our everyday difficulties as the problems and limitations to awakening.  We wait until we are able to go on retreat to surrender and connect to a deeper stillness only to lose connection with it within days, or sometimes hours, after leaving the retreat center.   In reality, we do not awaken outside of our difficulties nor in spite of them.  We awaken within the difficulties and challenges of our everyday life experiences.  What if the difficulties you go through in life had a nobler purpose?  What would your practice look like if you knew you could only find liberation of the mind within the naturally arising causes and conditions of an ordinary life?  What if suffering truly was the key to freedom?

This is the gift of the Four Noble Truths.  They are more than intellectual truths.  They are the foundation of our practice.  The more we work with them, the more we can see them as the key, the map, the guideposts, to happiness and joy.  This retreat will explore the above questions and more around the Four Noble Truths.

The retreat will be held in Noble Silence with dharma talks and practice meetings with the teachers. We will practice both sitting and walking meditation with instructions each day.

All experience levels are welcome.

Attendance will be capped at 24 participants. Each participant will have a single room, and personal “safety bubbles” will be created in accordance with the current covid-19 conditions at the time to maximize individual and group health.

The following attendance prerequisites are currently in place as of this writing in order to provide the safest possible retreat environment under covid-19 conditions. In order for your registration to be accepted, we require that you:

1. Currently follow all covid-19 health and safety protocols recommended by the CDC, including mask-wearing, social distancing and hand hygiene.
2. Agree to abide by all covid-19 health and safety protocols in place at Cloud Mountain.

We reserve the right to amend these prerequisites and policies according to changing covid-19 conditions. PLEASE FOLLOW THIS LINK FOR UPDATED INFORMATION ABOUT OUR COVID-19 HEALTH AND SAFETY PROTOCOLS.

Scholarship funds are available on all retreats to assist those with financial challenges. For more information, read the Scholarship section of our overview information.