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Winter Solstice Retreat: Embracing the Dark, Inviting the Light

December 18 - December 23, 2025
Silent meditation retreat Online

Winter Solstice Retreat: Embracing the Dark, Inviting the Light

Throughout this residential retreat, we will focus on centering ourselves at the time of the holidays and the New Year. Together we will quiet our minds, ground our bodies, open our hearts, and use inquiry to help energize our practice. Special emphasis will be placed on opening to the darkness, including to our difficulties and challenges, and opening to the coming light, which includes the beauty, joy, wisdom, and love within and around us. This retreat will include complete meditation instructions, sitting and walking meditation, daily lovingkindness practice, daily Qigong practice, evening talks, practice discussions, and a Winter Solstice ceremony. This retreat is silent except for teacher-led Q&A, small groups, or other practice meetings. On-Land Teachers: Dawn Scott, devon hase, Yong Oh, and Kimi Mojica (movement)

Online Teacher: Heather Sundberg

Sliding Scale Pricing

Choose your rate

We offer our retreats on a sliding scale to make the Dharma accessible to all.
By selecting the highest rate you're able to afford, you help support Spirit Rock's ability to offer lower rates and meet the growing number of scholarship requests. Your generosity sustains our nonprofit mission and ensures that these teachings of lovingkindness and wisdom remain available to everyone.

$1500

Generous support.
Helps the community and teachings.

  • Covers all costs with meaningful contribution
  • Supports our work and future programs
  • Tax-deductible amount above Sustainer rate

$1008

Our standard rate.
The foundation of our community.

  • Covers food, lodging, and program costs
  • Supports program sustainability
  • Not tax-deductible

$550

Partially subsidized.
Made possible by community generosity.

  • Makes programs more accessible
  • Not tax-deductible

Financial Aid

Needs-based assistance

Scholarships are limited to those with significant financial need.
If you need a scholarship to attend, we encourage you to select the scholarship rate that best aligns with you and your financial circumstances.

$125

For those facing financial hardship, including elders 65+ on fixed incomes, or those with serious or life-threatening illnesses.

  • Not tax-deductible

$125

For those who self-identify as Black, Indigenous, and/or People of Color and need financial assistance to attend a program.

  • Not tax-deductible

Teacher Dāna

Please note that registration fees do not include teacher dana. At the end of the retreat, there will be an invitation to offer dana to the teachers and to Spirit Rock.

Meet the Teaching Team

Dawn Scott

Dawn Scott

Teacher

Dawn Scott has been practicing Insight Meditation since 2008. She is a graduate of the Insight Meditation Society’s teacher training program and is a core teacher of Spirit Rock’s Liberation, Emptiness, and Awareness Practices (LEAP) Program. Dawn has a deep love of long retreat practice and the Buddha's liberative teachings.

devon hase, MA

devon hase, MA

Teacher

devon hase has practiced intensively in the Insight and vajrayana traditions since discovering meditation in 2000. She now teaches at the Insight Meditation Society, Spirit Rock Meditation Center, and the Forest Refuge. She co-authored How Not to Be a Hot Mess and the forthcoming This Messy, Gorgeous Love.

Yong Oh

Yong Oh

Teacher

Yong is a core teacher at the Durango Dharma Center and at Sacred Mountain Saṅgha. Yong has a particular interest in nature Dharma, devotional expression, and supporting caregivers as well as communities of color in the Dharma. For more, visit yongoh.com.

Heather Sundberg

Heather Sundberg

Teacher

Heather Sundberg has taught insight meditation since 1999, and completed the Spirit Rock/IMS Teacher Training. For the last three decades, Heather has studied with senior teachers in the Insight Meditation and Vajrayana traditions, completing 3.5 accumulated years of retreat. Her teaching emphasizes embodiment, heart practice, and emptiness-awareness practices. www.heathersundberg.com.

Kimi Mojica

Kimi Mojica

Movement

Born on the unceded Ohlone lands of Yelamu (San Francisco, CA), Kimi is currently based in unceded Ohlone Territory in Huchiun (Oakland, CA). They can be found seeking refuge on the water, learning from plant allies medicine, and building ecosystems of community care with their Kajukenbo martial arts community.