Releasing and Greeting the New Year with Dhamma at Cloud Mountain Retreat Center

Releasing and Greeting the New Year with Dhamma is a seven-night meditation retreat at Cloud Mountain Retreat Center in Castle Rock, Colorado. It is led by Santikaro and held across the turn of the year, so the old year is let go and the new one met within a period of Buddhist practice rather than at a party.

It suits people who want to spend the end of December and the start of January in retreat, learning from the Dhamma, the Buddha's teachings, in a dedicated meditation center in the Colorado foothills region south of Denver.

What to Expect

The retreat runs seven nights, from a Wednesday to the following Wednesday. Its title names the theme: releasing the year that is ending and greeting the one that follows, with Dhamma as the ground for both. Santikaro is the teacher for the whole retreat.

The material does not give a daily timetable, so session times and the exact balance of sitting, walking, teachings and silence are best confirmed with the center before you register. What is clear is the shape: a full week held by a single teacher, with the new year arriving in the middle of it.

About Santikaro

Santikaro is the teacher leading this retreat. He is known in the Dhamma teaching community, and he guides this New Year retreat at Cloud Mountain.

The Setting

Cloud Mountain Retreat Center is in Castle Rock, Colorado, in the United States. The center hosts a year-round calendar of residential meditation retreats, many of them week-long, along with shorter weekend retreats and longer ones. Teachers from several Buddhist backgrounds come to lead them. This retreat is one of the center's retreats between the end of one year and the start of the next.

Before You Go

Cloud Mountain offers its retreats at three rates, so you can choose the level that fits your circumstances. This retreat is popular, and registration has at times been full, with a waitlist. If you are interested, check the current status of the retreat before making plans.

The material lists no experience requirement for this retreat, unlike some other retreats at the center that do ask for prior practice. If you are unsure whether it suits you, ask the center before you register.