Deepening Joy: A Samadhi and Jhana Retreat

Deepening Joy: A Samadhi and Jhana Retreat is a residential meditation retreat at the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies in Barre, Vermont, led by Yahel Avigur. It is for meditators who want to explore samadhi (concentration) and jhana (states of deep meditative absorption) in a way that keeps the heart and body involved, rather than treating concentration as a purely mental discipline.

The teaching draws on approaches inspired by Rob Burbea. Yahel Avigur guides the retreat, and the emphasis falls on how joy, calm, and aliveness can be cultivated and felt through the practice itself.

What to Expect

The retreat explores samadhi and jhana through sensitivity, attunement, and refined perception. In practice, that means learning to notice more subtly what is happening in the mind and body, and to meet it with the kind of care that lets concentration deepen. The invitation is to open the heart and body to greater calm, aliveness, and joy, so that these qualities are met in direct experience instead of only discussed.

Because the retreat is residential, you stay at the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies for the length of the program and give your attention to practice. Anyone interested in jhana meditation, in Rob Burbea's way of approaching concentration, or in how joy supports a meditation practice will find a clear focus here.

About Yahel Avigur

Yahel Avigur teaches this retreat, and the program is shaped by approaches inspired by Rob Burbea. He also leads a separate online retreat at the same center on MahaSati, emptiness awareness practices from the Southern Thai forest tradition, which shows the range of his teaching across concentration, awareness, and letting go.

The Setting

The Barre Center for Buddhist Studies is a place for Buddhist study and meditation in Barre, Vermont, in the northeastern United States. Staying on site as a residential participant means the retreat can unfold without the pull of daily routines, which suits the sustained attention that samadhi and jhana practice asks for.