There can be joy in meeting our difficult experiences. Once we touch into our capacity to turn towards our difficult emotions, we can learn more about how they operate to keep us caught in suffering, and how we can let go. And we don't have to do the letting go—our mindfulness can do that for us, because our desire to be free is baked in.
Tara Mulay, JD
Residential Retreat Teacher
Tara Mulay has been practicing Insight Meditation since 2003. She was trained and authorized to teach by the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts, and serves on the Board of Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Woodacre, California. Of South Asian heritage, Tara was initially drawn to the Dharma by the Buddha’s teachings rejecting caste as a measure of worth and capacity for awakening. Tara's journey into Dharma practice began during her 20-year career as a criminal defense attorney. Her teachings are rooted in the Mahasi Sayadaw lineage, enriched by influences from other Theravadan traditions and teachers, including Howard Cohn, Kamala Masters, and Joseph Goldstein. For more information, visit taramulay.com.
Tara Mulay's Upcoming Programs
Retreat | On-Land
March 2 - March 28, 2026 | Monday - Saturday | 26 nights
2026 March Insight Meditation 1-Month Retreat - Application
Application Open. Spaces Still Available! An extended period of retreat offers the rare opportunity for sustained, dedicated practice. This retreat emphasizes quieting the mind, opening the heart, and developing profound clarity and depth of Insight practice. Instruction will follow the traditional four foundations of mindfulness combined with training in lovingkindness and compassion, and practice will be structured around a daily schedule of silent sitting, walking, Dharma talks, and practice meetings with teachers.
Tara Mulay
Tempel Smith
Tuere Sala
Anushka Fernandopulle
Kristina Baré
Greg Scharf
Rasika Link
Retreat | On-Land
April 20 - April 29, 2026 | Monday - Wednesday | 9 nights
April Insight Meditation Retreat
Full - short waitlist. Commuter spaces available! The emphasis during this retreat will be on the continuity of awareness in all activities, which stabilizes and balances the mind. Relaxed acceptance of our moment-to-moment experience will become the platform for investigation and wisdom. Particular attention will be paid to the attitudes in the mind that condition our understanding. This retreat is suitable for both beginner and experienced meditators, and we welcome people from all life experiences, backgrounds, and communities.
Retreat | On-Land
September 14 - September 19, 2026 | Monday - Saturday | 5 nights
Inclining Towards the Beautiful Factors of Mind
Spaces Still Available! The Buddha taught that whatever the mind frequently inclines toward becomes the tendency of the heart. This retreat invites us to cultivate five beautiful qualities—faith, energy, mindfulness, tranquility, and equanimity—that steady the heart, support well-being, and create the conditions for liberating insight. Held in noble silence, the retreat offers a supportive space for deep investigation, sustained stillness, and the gradual transformation of habit and heart. Together, we’ll incline the mind toward qualities that foster clarity, wisdom, and inner freedom.
Retreat | On-Land
December 1 - December 5, 2026 | Tuesday - Saturday | 4 nights
The Natural Clarity of Awareness: Courage, Connection, and Compassion
Spaces Still Available! This retreat explores refined qualities of attention that deepen mindfulness and support insight into the nature of experience. By inclining the mind toward restful, non-reactive awareness, we open to tranquility, clarity, and joy. Moment-to-moment presence reveals our entanglement with changing conditions and guides us toward freedom. These natural capacities are seeds of awakening and help integrate mindfulness, compassion, and wise action into daily life. The retreat includes Dharma teachings, meditation instructions, mindful movement, and guidance in the practice of lovingkindness.
Dharma Library
Can't join us live online or on the land? Study and practice at your convenience with Tara Mulay through our new library of recordings, articles, and self-paced online courses.