Coming Home: Foundations of Mindfulness at Benedict Canyon Retreat House

Coming Home: Foundations of Mindfulness is a single-day mindfulness meditation retreat led by Melissa McKay, offered online and in person at Benedict Canyon Retreat House. It is a non-residential day of practice, so you return home at the end of the afternoon. The title points to the heart of it: a return to the basics of mindfulness, which makes the day a natural fit for anyone who wants to begin, restart, or steady a practice.

What to Expect

The retreat runs on a Sunday from 12:00 PM to 5:00 PM Pacific Time, five hours set aside for meditation and learning the foundations of mindfulness. Joining online, you take part from wherever you are, and the same day is held in person at Benedict Canyon Retreat House for those who prefer to practice in a room together. Because it is a single day with no overnight stay, it suits people who cannot step away for a longer silent retreat but still want an extended stretch of guided practice.

About Melissa McKay

Melissa McKay is a meditation teacher and the Executive Director of Insight LA. She has practiced meditation since the mid-1990s and trained in vipassana (insight, mindfulness) and metta (lovingkindness) meditation in Burma with the Burmese master Sayadaw U Pandita, and in the United States with Sayadaw U Khippa Pano of Vietnam. She has spent more than two years in intensive retreat practice and has over 10,000 hours of meditation training.

She began teaching in 2003 in her yoga studio in Brooklyn, New York. Since then she has taught with InsightLA, MNDFL, New York Insight, Bozeman Dharma Center, Big Bear Retreat Center, Won Dharma Center, Kula Yoga and Wanderlust, including the Wanderlust festivals. Her teaching centers on vipassana and metta, offered through silent retreats and weekly classes.

The Setting

Benedict Canyon Retreat House hosts the in-person version of this day. If you join online, the retreat comes to you, so it helps to choose a quiet corner of your home where you can sit undisturbed for the afternoon.

Before You Go

This is a foundations retreat, built around the basics of mindfulness. The day is listed as a single-day, non-residential retreat, and all times are Pacific Time, so check the start against your own time zone if you are joining online from elsewhere. Plan for five hours of practice, with a comfortable place to sit and a space where you will not be interrupted.