Balance of mind is a possibility. Meeting experience with calm creates some peace, and an opportunity to check things out that we would miss if we’re in reaction. This is equanimity: not being pulled around by experience. You can be with something just the way it is, without pushing or pulling. If we can touch into the quality of awareness, which is mindfulness, and a quality of collectiveness or steadiness, then what naturally arises is a state of equanimity, balance of mind.
Victoria Cary
Residential Retreat Teacher
Victoria Cary is a Dhamma teacher and leader who co-founded the San Francisco Black Indigenous People of Color Insight Sangha and continues to serve as one of its core teachers. She has been practicing and studying Insight meditation for nearly two decades, most recently finding inspiration in the Mahasi/U Pandita lineage with Venerable Sayalay Daw Bhaddamanika and Venerable Sayadaw U Vivekananda, and sitting 3-month silent retreats in Nepal and at Insight Meditation Society.
Victoria loves the Dhamma and is particularly drawn to supporting people in their practice through a focus on the integration of Dhamma into everyday life. As a queer, biracial black woman, Victoria’s approach to teaching seeks to investigate the complexity of our human experience while holding plenty of space for kindness. Her practice has also been informed by 3-years of volunteer work at Zen Hospice and a deep exploration of how developing a relationship with impermanence and death can actually point us to a profound sense of aliveness.
She completed Spirit Rock’s Community Dharma Leaders training program in 2016, and Teacher Training in 2020. Victoria is honored to currently serve as one of Spirit Rock’s Staff Dharma Teachers, and a member of the Teacher’s Council for the San Francisco Dharma Center project, in addition to teaching retreats and groups, and mentoring students.
Victoria Cary's Upcoming Programs
Retreat | On-Land
January 27 - February 2, 2026 | Tuesday - Monday | 6 nights
Rooted in Connection: Embodying the Perfections of the Heart
Spaces Still Available! The Ten Perfections of the Heart, or pāramīs, offer a practical framework for living with compassion, resilience, and purpose. These teachings—generosity, ethics, renunciation, wisdom, energy, patience, truthfulness, resolve, loving-kindness, and equanimity—were cultivated by the Buddha over many lifetimes in preparation for awakening. In this residential retreat, we’ll explore and practice the pāramīs both on and off the cushion, focusing on how to embody them in daily life within a community dedicated to belonging and collective liberation.
Retreat | On-Land
August 14 - August 20, 2026 | Friday - Thursday | 6 nights
The Path of Liberation: Insight Meditation and the Buddha’s Early Teachings
Spaces Still Available! Rooted in the Buddha’s early teachings, Insight Meditation offers a time-tested path to clarity, compassion, and inner freedom. In this silent retreat, we’ll deepen mindfulness and lovingkindness, investigating the causes of suffering and the possibility of release. Through guided and independent meditation, Dharma stories, and embodied awareness, we’ll reconnect with the wisdom of the tradition and our own hearts. This retreat welcomes both beginners and experienced practitioners seeking to refresh and deepen their foundations.
Retreat | On-Land
August 21 - August 28, 2026 | Friday - Friday | 7 nights
Liberating the Heart: Navigating Seven Gates to Inner Freedom
Designed for self-identified womxn of Black African Ancestry only. Spaces Still Available! In stillness, the heart softens and the mind finds rest—making space for clarity, healing, and inner freedom to arise. This retreat invites us to release confusion and attune to the Seven Gates of Awakening through mindfulness, joyful investigation, and compassionate rest. We’ll begin in intentional community, then settle into silent sitting and walking, embodied movement, Dharma talks, and teacher meetings. With deep listening and steady hearts, we open to awakening—even in a world that trembles.
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
November 1 - November 6, 2026 | Sunday - Friday | 5 nights
Finding True Refuge: A Retreat for the LGBTQIA+ and GNC Community
For those who identify as LGBTQIA+. Spaces Still Available! Explore Buddhist practices and teachings of liberation in our LGBTQIA+ and GNC (Gender Non-Conforming) community. Together, we will practice mindfulness and heart-fulness, embracing all of our experience with loving awareness and deep acceptance. There will be an emphasis on cultivating a continuity of awareness in all activities (sitting, stillness, standing, walking, movement, eating) with a relaxed and gentle presence. Through these practices, we will explore what true refuge means for us individually and for our community.
Retreat | On-Land
November 6 - November 13, 2026 | Friday - Friday | 7 nights
Liberation through Mindfulness and Insight
Spaces Still Available! This silent meditation retreat is rooted in the early Buddhist tradition, drawing on a living lineage of liberating practice from the time of the Buddha. Through kind, sustained attention to body and mind, we cultivate mindfulness and insight through direct experience rather than theory. Within the supportive structure of silence, clarity and ease can naturally arise. Suitable for newcomers and experienced meditators, the retreat includes guided and self-supported meditation, with limited speaking for Q&A and practice meetings.
Upcoming Drop-Ins
Drop-in | Online
Sunday, February 22 | 9:00 AM - 10:30 AM
BIPOC Voices: Weekly Sunday Saṅgha
For those who identify as BIPOC.
The Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) Sangha is a weekly gathering for BIPOC practitioners that provides a safe place to meditate and explore the Dharma. Beginners and experienced meditators are welcome.
Victoria Cary
Drop-in | Online
Wednesday, February 25 | 5:30 PM - 7:00 PM
Rainbow Saṅgha
For those who identify as LGBTQIA+.
The Rainbow (LGBTQIA+) Sangha is a weekly gathering for self-identified practitioners within marginalized gender and sexuality groups such as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual, two-spirit, and gender non-conforming.
Victoria Cary
Dharma Library
Can't join us live online or on the land? Study and practice at your convenience with Victoria Cary through our new library of recordings, articles, and self-paced online courses.