Forest Refuge Schedule 2024

Please take note of our COVID-19 safety protocolshere.

To explore virtual program options, please visit the IMS Online page.

IMS’s Forest Refuge program supports experienced meditators in sustained, longer-term retreat practice. A personal retreat, under the guidance of the following teachers, helps strengthen practice faith, confidence and self-reliance.

Please note

A self-sustaining practice is necessary to undertake a Forest Refuge retreat.
Before you apply, please make sure you meet the Forest Refuge application requirements. We expect that candidates have participated in at least one six-week structured and teacher-led insight meditation retreat, or six similar one-week retreats.
The teaching schedule may change without notice. It is our intention that retreatants will have the opportunity to practice with a variety of experienced and well-qualified insight meditation teachers.
When retreat space is limited, priority will be given to those applying for longer stays.

The Forest Refuge: Sustained Practice in Deep Silence

In “The Forest Refuge: Sustained Practice in Deep Silence,” teachers Joseph Goldstein, Winnie Nazarko, Caroline Jones, Ajahn Sucitto, Tara Mulay, and Devin Berry discuss the origins of the Forest Refuge and share their experiences practicing and teaching in this special environment. View the full series of 11 videos here.

Supporting our teachers

Here at IMS, our teachers are continuing the ancient Buddhist monastic tradition of freely offering the teachings while living in the midst of contemporary society. What this means is that they rely on the generosity of retreat participants for a sustainable income.

There is an opportunity at the end of your personal retreat to make an offering to teachers – this is known as teacher dana. At the Forest Refuge, where retreatants often stay for long periods, IMS supplements teacher dana as needed to provide an adequate offering.

Your contributions help teachers to lead a life devoted to teaching both at IMS and in other parts of the world, including communities without the means to donate. Your gifts also allow teachers to take time for their own practice, ensuring that their teachings are continuously enriched.