HAND-PICKED EXPERIENCES

Editor's Picks

Curated events selected by the BrightStar team — transformational gatherings worth your time.

143 events curated

meditation retreat

Natural Abiding: Meditation as a Pathway to Peace

This three-day meditation intensive at Satchidananda Ashram–Yogaville offers both newcomers and experienced practitioners a structured exploration of contemplative practice. Led by Ram Wiener and Ranjani Bayne, the program draws from Integral Yoga principles developed by Sri Swami Satchidananda, weaving together daily guided meditation, Hatha Yoga, pranayama, and vegetarian meals in support of deepened inner work. Participants encounter a range of techniques, including walking meditation, mantra meditation, breath awareness, and loving-kindness practice. The ashram's woodland setting and 50-year history as a retreat sanctuary provide the conditions for genuine quiet. The program is grounded in the premise that meditation allows the mind to settle into its natural state rather than construct one. Integral Yoga treats every aspect of daily life—how one moves, thinks, eats, and relates to others—as potential spiritual practice. This retreat includes workshops on meditation's significance, talks on integrating practice into daily life, and access to senior instructors for private mentoring. The daily schedule balances formal sitting practice with gentle movement, scriptural study, and community satsang.

Fri, Jul 17, 2026Satchidananda Ashram – Yogaville, Buckingham

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meditation retreat

Education of Thought and Emotional Hygiene: Analysis of the Four Noble Truths

This residential weekend retreat offers an in-depth investigation into the Four Noble Truths, the foundational teaching that emerged from the Buddha's awakening. Rather than presenting doctrine as abstract theory, the retreat uses these truths as a lens to examine direct experience: how suffering manifests not only as obvious pain but also as the instability and fragility woven through all conditioned experience. Participants explore the origins of suffering through ignorance, attachment, and mental afflictions, considering how the mind constructs and interprets experience. The retreat then opens the possibility of genuine transformation, not merely temporary relief but the dissolution of suffering's deepest roots. The final focus rests on the path itself: understanding, inner discipline, and meditation as practical means to weaken afflictions and develop clarity. This approach differs from contemporary mindfulness programs that regulate mental states; instead, it works at a deeper level by transforming how the mind perceives reality itself. The program is part of a nine-year contemplative lineage in Italy, grounded in two millennia of investigation into mind through the unbroken transmission from Nagarjuna through Candrakirti, Tsongkhapa, and the living teachings of the Dalai Lama.

Fri, Jul 17, 2026Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa, Pomaia

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meditation retreat

Meditation & Modern Life

A weekend retreat exploring the ancient Zen practice of meditation in contemporary life. Led by writer, technologist, and Zen teacher Dan Zigmond, the program offers instruction in sitting meditation alongside brief talks and group discussion. The workshop addresses a perennial human challenge: in an age of unprecedented distraction, how do we cultivate sustained attention and clarity. Whether new to practice or experienced, participants learn to bring meditation into daily life and work. The schedule balances periods of silent sitting with optional lectures and community reflection, creating space for a gentler way of being.

Fri, Jul 17, 2026Omega Institute, Rhinebeck

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meditation retreat

Calmo Dimorare: A Practical Meditation Retreat

This seven-day retreat introduces shamata, or calm abiding meditation, the foundational practice for stabilizing mental attention. Led by Venerable Sonam Wangchuk, a Tibetan Buddhist scholar trained at Sera Je Monastery, the program balances intensive meditation sessions with guided inquiry into emptiness and bodhicitta. The retreat is structured for both newcomers and experienced practitioners seeking to deepen their capacity for focus and clarity. Unlike analytical meditation, which examines philosophical concepts through reasoning, shamata works directly with concentration. A scattered mind struggles to perceive reality with depth; a settled mind becomes the ground from which genuine understanding can emerge. The retreat alternates between sitting meditation, group discussion, and individual consultation with the teacher regarding practice difficulties and insights.

Sun, Jul 19, 2026Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa, Pomaia

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yoga meditation retreat

4 Day Intensive Yoga & Meditation Retreat, Scionzier, French Alps, France

4 Day Intensive Yoga & Meditation Retreat, Scionzier, French Alps, France — Scionzier

Mon, Jul 20, 2026Scionzier

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meditation retreat

Breath, Chakras, and Meditation

A five-day residential seminar exploring the integration of breath, chakra theory, and meditative practice. The Sanskrit word chakra refers to wheels or vortices, energetic centers that yogic physiology locates along the body's central channel, connected by thousands of subtle energy channels called nadis. Optimal health, both physical and emotional, depends on the free flow of prana through these pathways. When this vital energy becomes blocked or imbalanced, disharmony emerges across the body and mind. This seminar takes a psychosomatic approach, examining each of the seven primary chakras through both contemplative study and somatic practice. Participants will work with breath awareness, body consciousness, and meditation techniques tailored to each energy center. The teaching draws on existential and wisdom themes alongside practical technique. Led by Andrea Serena, a philosophy graduate and senior yoga instructor who has trained extensively in India and brings decades of experience with Tibetan practices and breathing techniques. The seminar welcomes both newcomers to meditation and those seeking to deepen existing practice.

Mon, Jul 20, 2026Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa, Pomaia

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meditation

Within & Beyond-A Once a Month Deep Dive Immersion with Sabrina & Tobi

Within & Beyond-A Once a Month Deep Dive Immersion with Sabrina & Tobi.

Thu, Jul 23, 2026TBA

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meditation retreat

Anger and Fear: Observing, Understanding, and Transforming Them

This four-day retreat draws from the Cultivating Emotional Balance program, a scientifically validated curriculum developed at the request of the Dalai Lama by psychologist Paul Ekman and contemplative scholar Alan Wallace. The course addresses anger and fear, emotions that have fundamentally shaped human evolution yet now often cloud modern life with reactivity, distortion, and suffering. Rather than suppressing these states, participants learn to observe them with precision, tracing their triggers, variations, and entrenched patterns through both cognitive study and somatic awareness. The curriculum integrates Buddhist philosophical frameworks with contemporary psychology, offering sustained practices in meditative stability and compassion as antidotes to destructive emotional patterns. Through structured reflection, guided meditation, and deliberate cultivation of loving-kindness, equanimity, and empathetic joy, participants develop practical skills for meeting daily reality with clarity and compassion, moving beyond the toxicity of reactive anger and fear toward a life characterized by balance, interdependence, and genuine care for oneself and others.

Thu, Jul 23, 2026Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa, Pomaia

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meditation retreat

Healing the Mind to Dwell in Serenity

Suffering arises not from external events alone, but from how the mind grasps, interprets, and clings to them. This three-part intensive retreat with teacher Massimo Corona explores the Three Principal Aspects of the Path as taught by Lama Tzong Khapa, the foundational practices of the Mahayana tradition: renunciation, bodhicitta (altruistic intention), and correct view of reality (emptiness). These are not intellectual concepts but mental practices that transform understanding. Through guided reflection, meditation, and dialogue, participants learn to recognize the patterns that bind them to suffering, cultivate an awakened heart, and develop clarity about the nature of self and world. The course welcomes all levels of experience, and attendance is flexible, either for individual sessions or the full series.

Fri, Jul 24, 2026Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa, Pomaia

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meditation retreat

50 ILTK: Serkong Rinpoche – Le chiare parole

Tsenshab Serkong Rinpoche II offers teachings on Chapter 22 of Chandrakirti's Clear Words, a foundational text in the Madhyamaka philosophical tradition. The four-day intensive explores the nature of emptiness, dependent origination, and how phenomena appear and exist according to Indo-Tibetan Buddhist analysis. Conducted in Tibetan with simultaneous translation into Italian and English, the program includes guided meditation sessions and question-and-answer periods led by scholar Alexander Berzin. This teaching cycle marks part of the Lama Tzong Khapa Institute's 50th anniversary celebration. Participants may attend in person at the institute in Tuscany or join online. The Clear Words stands as a central analytical text for those seeking to deepen their understanding of Buddhist philosophy and engage with traditional Madhyamaka thought.

Sun, Jul 26, 2026Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa, Pomaia

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meditation

Byron Katie's 1-2-3 Event - Zoom

Byron Katie's 1-2-3 Event - Zoom at Zoom

Wed, Jul 29, 2026Zoom

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meditation retreat

The Family Retreat 2026

A four-night residential retreat designed for families with children ages 7 to 15, held at Spirit Rock Meditation Center. Led by Diana Winston, Cara Lai, Ofosu Jones-Quartey, and Ayya Santussika, with assistance from Brett Wheeler, this program weaves together age-appropriate meditation and dharma teachings with games, arts and crafts, and time in nature. Children and teens participate in supervised group activities with peers while adults receive their own meditation practice and instruction. The retreat prioritizes creating a welcoming environment for all family structures, races, gender identities, and bodies. Participants often report lasting connections formed during this four-day immersion. Admission is by application and lottery-style selection to maintain community diversity and inclusion.

Wed, Jul 29, 2026Spirit Rock Meditation Center, Woodacre

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