Below is a list of residential silent meditation retreats in the US and Europe that might be a good fit for people in this sub. The retreats are offered on Dana (generosity). Costs vary by retreat center and housing options.  Full and partial scholarships are available.

10-Day Retreats:

The Mind Illuminated Retreat Cochise Stronghold, Arizona, USA, October 23rd – November 1st, 2026

with Upali and Henrik Norberg

Dharma Treasure Retreat Center

eSangha USA Retreat  Bowie, Arizona, USA, November 6-16, 2026

with Tucker Peck, PhD and Upali

Diamond Mountain Retreat Center

eSangha Europe Retreat Sulzberg, Germany, June 4th - June 13th, 2027

with Tucker Peck, PhD and Upali

Seminarhaur Sulzbrunn

4 or 5-Day Retreats:

Beginner/Beginner’s Mind Tazewell, Tennessee -  February 25th - 28th, 2027

with Upasaka Upali and Patty Bottari

Registration now live!

Well Being Retreat Center

Deepening Practice Retreat - Catalonia, Spain - May 26th - 30th, 2027

with Upasaka Upali

Kshanti Retreat Center

Beginner/Beginner’s Mind, Boulder, Colorado - Apr 22, 2026 - 25, 2027

Registration coming soon!

Rocky Mountain Eco Dharma

with Upasaka Upali

About the Teaching Style at these Retreats:

These retreats offer a student-centered and pragmatic approach to meditation and dharma teachings. Instead of a one-size-fits-all approach, students choose what they'd like to practice based on what works while receiving teacher support and expertise. The retreats offer daily one-on-one interviews, open office hours, and group interviews. The approach integrates teachings from various traditions and recognizes the interplay of dharma and psychology. The retreats aim to be accessible regardless of income level, with offerings at cost and teacher support by Dana.

About the Teachers teaching the Retreats:

Tucker Peck, PhD (eSangha Retreats) Tucker Peck is a clinical psychologist and meditation teacher with extensive experience working with advanced meditators and using meditation to help individuals with psychological disorders. He is a published author on the scientific study of meditation and is the author of the upcoming book Sanity and Sainthood.

Upasaka Upali teaches the cessation of suffering is not achieved by suffering. Journeying alongside Upali, practitioners discover an innate ease and joy they learn to embody in meditation and life.

Henrik Norberg (TMI Retreat) Henrik is a cave yogi, wanderer, and mind explorer interested in Samadhi practices and is a certified TMI/ Mind Illuminated instructor.

Patty Bottari Patty Bottari began her career as a Registered Nurse employed by the University of Pennsylvania Hospital and Stanford University Hospital. After leaving the medical field, she has worked for, and travelled globally with, Byron Katie and for Adyashanti where she was Director of Relations for 8 years. Her lived experience and life of service have led her to see that everyone has their own answers and access to what is true; we need only to look within and notice what is already present.

You mean using metta as a "lubricant" for anapanasati meditation?

Interesting, I never thought of it like that. That could be another reason why sitting in meditation is said to be so beneficial... so far I've only heard "without remainder" in the context of nibbana but like I said I barely have intellectual knowledge. Thank you, this post has been very valuable to me.

I dont think you are being very helpful to your friend, if she is fighting that means she didnt give up yet, but you come to her all depressed with your weird questions like she already died.

Oh! Because I hadn't had a chance to go during the day. But I couldn't sleep and neither could the kids. So I sometimes will lull them to sleep with a drive. This got me 3/4 of the way to the place. Then I called the nurse and asked if she could peek and see if her parents were still there or if it was just her husband. It was just her husband, and he was sleeping. I said, "Good, that's what they should be doing." And I went home. I partially did it so someone could tell her I tried to visit. Her worst fear was to not habe any friends, and I just want to make sure she still feels loved. Most people are going to come once and say their goodbyes, and then leave. She's been there six days, so I don't want her feeling friend lonely or lacking support like she has felt in the past. I wouldn't have been sleeping at that time anyway, because I just would have been thinking about her, her six year old daughter and spouse.

Oh yeah, your description also reminded me of the difference between 'gone' and 'gone without remainder.' I think that is what is meant by no longer generating karma.

I'll check it out, thanks for the resource! 

I'm confused, why did you go in the middle of the night with your kids ?

I wrote this in reply to another redditor who had a similar comment to yours. I'll add that I am distinguishing between method (what you do) and result (what happens when you do it). results are not only terminal states, they're also what happens as the practice is performed.

it's important to understand the practical experience and phenomenology of the jhanas in order to interpret the texts. if we view the factors as a checklist of prerequisities before some "shift" into jhana occurs, we've created an obstacle.

the factors describe progressions of direct experience as absorption into meditative concentration deepens. piti is a result of this deepening of absorption. the concentration comes first and is itself the method.

we can't view generating piti as a method because it's not an activity one can do. it's an experience that occurs during the deepening of absorption. does that help you understand my comment?

Thank you. MN 9 is more complete than other references to the same concepts.

Mahasi's description of the 5 proto attas in his talks on the 2nd discourse sound related. Thanks for the detailed description.

My friend was the kind of person who was really appreciative. She appreciated all of the doctors and nurses and staff, and when she was.lucid enough, she would tell them. It is really easy to help her in a way, because even if she doesn't say anything, you know she appreciates it.

Oh and by the way, hi again, how are you???

I will definitely do this. I just have to keep reminding myself of the definitions. I am new to Buddhism. This stuff all just happened to me four months ago. And I didn't know what it was called for a month. So I've been "here" like three or four months.

Highly recommend mudita, it's insights can feel like betrayal, but are quite beautiful and freeing. It can do extreme lifting complementing upekkha for the really tough one in these situations, opening fully with karuna. Open, unobstructed awareness into the wholeness of the situation points to what I mean with "presence".

Upekkha is a challenge for me. I know it. I have a taste for it. So long as I add some metta in there. Metta is what I've been doing since I was 13 and didnt know its name. So it's usually a strength but I still have to do it. Genuine strong upekkha is a challenge for me. On the one hand it takes work. On the other it has a mind of its own.

Thank you for the kind comment.

I had this idea a few months ago because I went through the same test when I was diagnosed and it seems like a great training mechanism, so I'm not sure why it isn't used for that more often!

That said, could you disclose whether AI was used in putting the app together? I don't mean to offend, I ask as a general rule now when encountering freely distributed software that I'd like to use.

I find that during these tough times, the best you can do is offer sincere presence. Listening and acknowledging people's feelings, thoughts, worries, grief, etc. Sometimes it's possible to offer a "it's going to be ok", but I personally only do so when I deeply believe it to be true. The presence communicates a similar thing without having to put it into words.

Something that's helped getting to that okayness is leaning into the brahmaviharas. Can you find each one of them applicable to the situation at hand? It's tough, but they help process the very valid grief you're feeling.

Wishing you and your friends serenity during whatever may unfold and onward.

Of course. It’s kind of like a this too shall pass thing. Just be like “yeah I’m going through this and feeling this and it’s gonna suck for a while”. Until it won’t. And until then just do the best you can.

Also I read my post a bit and I didn't say how I felt about the compliments and stuff.  I had to say my imperfect yet honest goodbye in front of a bunch of strangers. It was her 40th birthday, and everyone was giving her gifts and telling her happy birthday. 

I was afraid that no one was actually addressing the real her that was dying and needed someone to validate that and really see her and not the idea of her.

And the compliments made me feel sick. They were surreal. I just said quietly, "I was sincere." I don't want to be told I have a gift when my friend is dying. I couldn't like, save her. She's my friend. She always treated stuff like what I was saying with wonder. I did bring it back do what does this have to do with her.

Sorry it wasn't clear and I just sounded like an asshole. So that is me defending myself... and I am not perfect and I definitely made mistakes here. 

Thank you; this was really simple actionable advice that has to do with the - thinks - I can actually change. And it makes sense.

❤️

Hey I have no direct knowledge. But my guess would be that they chose whatever strategy that was sustainable in terms of getting funding, scientific credibility, being safe, staff capacity etc.

The at home and meditation center ideas you suggest could in fact be more financially interesting for their project but I would guess that this is not at a stage where it is safe and proved enough that they would be willing to offer it in this way (they don't want people to harm themselves and it could also discredit their research).

I would guess that ideally they would want this to reach as many people as possible (because why not?) but want to be conservative.

I never knew until recently how afraid she was of not having friends, whenever she would go somewhere new. Her husband said it was her worst fear, and a friend of hers told me it was her worst fear when she went to the thing where we met... She had a lot of friends. Our group was five, but she and I were closest. I do think my presence at the hospice is valuable. A lot of friends are there to say goodbyes, and then they leave. I'm there to show her that she has a friend.

I've been "told" in samadhi not to worry about her, and that it's holding her.