Before you apply, please read the retreat guidelines and make sure you meet the Forest Refuge application requirements.
The Forest Refuge is structured for meditators with an established and long-term commitment to vipassana practice, including longer-term retreat experience. We recommend that candidates have participated in at least one six-week structured and teacher-led insight meditation retreat, or six similar one-week retreats.
Contact us for updates about space availability. Forest Refuge retreat periods range from seven nights to stays of a year or more. We require a minimum stay of seven nights. Retreatant feedback suggests, however, that a stay of 10-14 nights or longer is beneficial to deepening practice and supports a more fruitful retreat.
If your application is approved, but there is no accommodation available at the time you wish to come, we encourage you to keep your application in process. You may like to change your dates, or we can put you on a wait list. There are often cancellations from those already confirmed, and spaces open up.
Please be as specific as possible when listing your retreat experience on your application. Each application is carefully reviewed. On completion, you will receive a letter notifying you of our decision. If you are accepted into the program, you will also receive a registration form to complete. Please fill it out and return it to us with the deposit amount stated in the acceptance letter. (Initial payment is not due until you receive this information.)
Payment can be made online, by mail, by phone or in person. Your confirmation letter will contain instructions for online payment. If you choose to pay by mail or in person, please make your check or money order payable to IMS, or include Visa or MasterCard information.
If accepted into the program, please commit fully to your stay.
Application process
Review the FR Schedule for 2025 first, and once you know what time period you would like to apply for, follow the instructions to apply, below.
We have shifted to a new registration system. To submit an application for 2025, log into your new IMS Portal. Note: this is the same IMS Portal that is used for residential RC Retreats – and it is different from logging into IMS Online.
Click here to create your user name and password or to login to MyIMS portal.
Click here for instructions on submitting your application via your MyIMS.
Once you are logged into your IMS Portal, select Forest Refuge and you will see a green Forest Refuge Application button. Follow the prompts to submit your application.
