Spark of Freedom: A Silent Meditation Retreat (Online)

Movement teacher: Matt Fritts

This is the ONLINE component of the retreat. If you’d like to register for the RESIDENTIAL component, please click here.

Dive into the deep waters of awareness this summer as we explore and recognize the nature of the heart/mind. This retreat focuses on the Mahamudra techniques of Vipashyana – practices designed to enhance our capacity to experience reality directly and completely, beyond the veils of misunderstanding and conceptuality that usually mediate our experience.

This retreat will include teachings, meditation sessions, group discussion and movement practices. We will learn what it means to examine the still mind and the moving mind to relax into the vast openness of our being, the space of present-moment awareness out of which all appearances arise and back into which they dissolve. Through the practice of Vipashyana, we put in place the conditions for a direct experience of the nature of mind – an experience of spacious, awake, compassionate, and loving responsiveness to the world of suffering around us.

Please join us to:

• Explore the nature of your own awareness
• Experience reality directly through the practice of Mahamudra
• Connect with fellow practitioners
• Benefit from the wise teachings of Lama Willa Blythe Baker and Lama Gursam

Throughout this retreat, we will emphasize how to integrate natural awareness meditation into ways of speaking, listening, moving and being that can help us to merge these practices with daily life. By joining primordial wisdom to our everyday activities, we can discover a bottomless source for resilience, effective action, and compassionate responsiveness to this troubled world.

Matt Fritts will lead daily movement sessions.

Retreatants will have opportunities to share within a small discussion group throughout the time together. The voices and kind presence of multiple Margha Program Mitras will bring depth and variety to our evening meditation sessions.

Please Note: This retreat is open for all.  And for those participating in the Margha Program, this retreat is an essential part of the program.

Typical Retreat Schedule

(All times are Eastern time zone)

First Day — Hybrid evening session begins around 7:00 pm.

Full-Day Schedule — Morning meditation 7:00 am; Breakfast break 8:00-9:30 am; Lunch break 12:30-2:30 pm; Dinner break 6:00-7:30 pm.

Last Day — The closing session typically ends by 12:00 pm.

These times are just for reference. An expanded schedule will be provided in pre-retreat information emailed during the week prior to the event.

Zoom Link

The Zoom link will be sent several days before the retreat to all those registered. If you register after that date, you’ll receive the link with your confirmation email shortly after submitting your registration. If you don’t see an email from Natural Dharma Registrar or Wonderwell Mountain Refuge, it may have mistakenly gone to your spam folder or to Promotions or Updates in Gmail.

Important: Please put these this email address in your Contact or Safe-Send list to make sure you receive our emails:

Program Cost

Our program fees provide essential support to our non-profit operations and NDF’s mission to spread the Dharma in accessible, relevant, and creative ways. Our goal is that no one misses out on our events due to lack of funds. Thanks to our generous donors, we are able to offer tiered pricing and additional support to fit varied financial situations: 

• May All Beings Benefit! *– supporting access for all and general support for NDF operations
• A Middle Way – covering the base cost
• Held in Sangha Loving-kindness – offering ease when financial resources are limiting

If the lowest cost tier creates an obstacle to your attendance, please see our financial support options on the registration page. The process is simple and does not require extensive information. Financial aid is immediately approved using discount code options that allow you to contribute the most you are able while honoring your particular resources.

* The difference between the May All Beings Benefit! tier and the Middle Way tier will be considered a tax-deductible donation and will be acknowledged as such in writing. Contributing at this level helps us offer financial aid to other participants. Thank you!!

Access to Recordings

NDF offers unlimited access to recordings, which are available in your user dashboard (more information about user accounts provided in a pre-retreat letter). If you have a user account, please register with the same email you use to log into your dashboard. If not, an account will be created for you using your registration address.

Availability will vary depending on the type of event and the backlog for our precious resource volunteers. Thank you for your patience.

Natural Dharma Fellowship Full Calendar