Sylvia Boorstein, PhD

Residential Retreat Teacher

Sylvia Boorstein, PhD, has been teaching Dharma and mindfulness meditation since 1985. She is a founding Spirit Rock teacher, a psychologist, mother, grandmother, and great grandmother. She is particularly interested in emphasizing daily life as mindfulness practice and including informed citizenship and social activism as integral to spiritual maturation. Her books include: It's Easier Than You Think: The Buddhist Way to Happiness; Don't Just Do Something, Sit There: A Mindfulness Retreat; That's Funny, You Don't Look Buddhist: On Being a Faithful Jew and a Passionate Buddhist; Pay Attention for Goodness' Sake: The Buddhist Path of Kindness and Happiness Is an Inside Job: Practicing for a Joyful Life.

The only thing that makes sense is kindness. Equanimity in the mind really depends on having enough balance to know that whatever is happening now is not happening because of yesterday. It's happening because of everything that has ever happened in this whole world. Every individual is heir to their own karma. There are no enemies and no villains—this is just life unfolding, and the only thing we can do is to be kind. We can be kind to ourselves and everybody we meet so that in this whole pained world, we don't add any fuel to the fire of enmity.

 
Sylvia Boorstein, There's Nothing Left to Do but...Be Kind to Yourself and Everyone You Meet

Sylvia Boorstein's Upcoming Programs

Retreat Online Non-Residential

November 23 - November 24, 2024 Saturday - Sunday | 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM

Hidden in Full View: The Shared Heart of Spiritual Teachings and Practices

In stating “My religion is kindness,” the Dalai Lama highlighted universal principles of ethics, wisdom, and goodness that transcend any particular religion. Throughout this retreat, we’ll combine Buddhist teachings and practices to develop wisdom, ethics, and the awakened heart with various perspectives from other spiritual traditions. In doing so, we’ll connect with universal principles that can be expressed in ordinary, everyday language. Our time together will include meditation, talks and dialogue between Donald and Sylvia, and small- and large-group discussions.

Donald Rothberg

Donald Rothberg

Sylvia Boorstein

Sylvia Boorstein

Retreat On-Land

December 8 - December 18, 2024 Sunday - Wednesday | 10 nights

December Insight Retreat: Cultivating Calm, Contentment, and Confidence

Spaces Available. In this retreat, we tend to the three qualities of stability, well-being, and confidence, all of which support insight into the three characteristics of existence. Then we explore and befriend these characteristics—namely, aniccā (impermanence, inconstancy), dukkha (stress, unsatisfactoriness, suffering) and anattā (not-self, impersonality, ungovernability)—in our own lived experience. When we understand and make peace with these characteristics, we have more ease, compassion, and freedom in our lives, and we can be of more benefit to ourselves, others, and the world.

Nikki Mirghafori

Nikki Mirghafori

Tuere Sala

Tuere Sala

Rachel Lewis

Rachel Lewis

Sylvia Boorstein

Sylvia Boorstein

Mei Elliott

Mei Elliott

Isabelle Frenette

Isabelle Frenette

Retreat Online Hybrid

Wednesday, January 1 10:00 AM - 1:00 PM

Welcome the New Year With Intention, Determination, and Joy

Celebrate 2025’s arrival as we respond to the fundamental question, “What, in challenging times, keeps the mind alert and buoyant, and the heart hopeful and generous?” Together we’ll explore the practices that have sustained us throughout the last year and the lessons we’ve learned. We’ll share stories, Dharma, meditation instructions and practice periods, guided mindful movement, and music. Please join us as we, in the words of the Buddha, “Move into the future with confidence.”

Sylvia Boorstein

Sylvia Boorstein

Retreat On-Land Hybrid

Wednesday, January 1 10:00 AM - 1:00 PM

Welcome the New Year With Intention, Determination, and Joy

Celebrate 2025’s arrival as we respond to the fundamental question, “What, in challenging times, keeps the mind alert and buoyant, and the heart hopeful and generous?” Together we’ll explore the practices that have sustained us throughout the last year and the lessons we’ve learned. We’ll share stories, Dharma, meditation instructions and practice periods, guided mindful movement, and music. Please join us as we, in the words of the Buddha, “Move into the future with confidence.”

Sylvia Boorstein

Sylvia Boorstein

Retreat On-Land

January 10 - January 17, 2025 Friday - Friday | 7 nights

Mettā Retreat: Teachings and Practices to Cultivate a Wise, Awakened, and Responsive Heart

Registration Open - September 10. Mettā, or lovingkindness, practice is the cultivation of the intention of benevolence as the orientation of our heart and mind. It is also a path to wisdom. We develop our capacity for mettā through meditation in order for it to manifest in our daily lives. Mettā practice strengthens self-confidence, self-acceptance, and steadiness of mind and heart, revealing our fundamental disposition toward kindness. We’ll be joined on one day of the retreat by Sylvia Boorstein, a beloved long-time teacher of mettā.

Donald Rothberg

Donald Rothberg

Gullu Singh

Gullu Singh

Beth Sternlieb

Beth Sternlieb

Diana Winston

Diana Winston

Sylvia Boorstein

Sylvia Boorstein

Jonathan Relucio

Jonathan Relucio

Upcoming Drop-Ins

Drop-in Online

Wednesday, November 6 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM

Wednesday Morning Meditation & Talk

Our Wednesday Morning Meditation & Talk is led by Sylvia Boorstein, Donald Rothberg, Heidi Bourne, or other guest teachers. This group welcomes beginners and experienced practitioners to explore the Dharma.

Sylvia Boorstein

Sylvia Boorstein

Donald Rothberg

Donald Rothberg

Dharma Library

Can't join us live online or on the land? Study and practice at your convenience with Sylvia Boorstein through our new library of recordings, articles, and self-paced online courses.

Picks from the Library

Books by Sylvia Boorstein