For me, bowing is a very embodied experience of renunciation—coming to the earth, forehead down, touching—so the whole of my body and being is involved in this offering, in this letting go, receiving whatever the Dharma can teach me.
Yong Oh
Residential Retreat Teacher
Yong is a Dharma Council teacher at the Durango Dharma Center and a core teacher for Sacred Mountain Saṅgha, and is also a visiting teacher for other community centers across North America. He teaches retreats at Spirit Rock Meditation Center, Insight Meditation Society, Big Bear Retreat Center, and Vallecitos Mountain Retreat Center. He is a graduate of the 4-year Insight Meditation Society Retreat Teacher Training program, Spirit Rock Meditation Center’s 2-year Community Dharma Leaders program, the 2-year Nature Dharma Teacher Training, and the Sacred Mountain Saṅgha 2-year Dharmapala training, taught by his primary teachers Kittisaro and Thanissara.
Yong is also a retired acupuncturist, and he deeply loves mountains and forests and bringing the practice of meditation into nature. Nature and Dharma are at the heart of his path. He also has a particular interest in devotional expression and supporting caregivers as well as communities of color in the Dharma. For his full schedule, visit yongoh.com.
Yong Oh's Upcoming Programs
Retreat | On-Land
November 14 - November 21, 2025 | Friday - Friday | 7 nights
Natural Radiance: Exploring the Freedom of Awareness
A Few Spaces Still Available! Awareness is a beautiful, hidden jewel that is innate in everyone. Awareness illuminates experience, which supports clarity, understanding, and insight. It is a foundation for wisdom, compassion, and awakening. In this silent meditation retreat, we will explore this quality of awareness—what it is, and how to cultivate and abide in awakened presence.
Retreat | On-Land
November 22 - November 30, 2025 | Saturday - Sunday | 8 nights
Reclamation of the Sacred: Journey into Refuge, Presence, and Love
Spaces Still Available! In helping us to deepen our refuge and reconnect with what is most precious and sacred in this life, this retreat draws from teachings and practices that open us to the heart of compassion. Informed by a synthesis of Theravāda Buddhism as transmitted through the Thai Forest Tradition and the teachings of Ajahn Chah, and Mahāyāna practices and teachings around Quan Yin’s compassionate Bodhisattva Path, this retreat includes devotional practices, Dharma talks, meditation instructions, Yoga sessions, and meetings with teachers.
Retreat | On-Land | Hybrid
December 18 - December 23, 2025 | Thursday - Tuesday | 5 nights
Winter Solstice Retreat: Embracing the Dark, Inviting the Light
Full - with waitlist. Commuter spaces available! 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.
Retreat | Online | Hybrid
December 18 - December 23, 2025 | Thursday - Tuesday
Winter Solstice Retreat: Embracing the Dark, Inviting the Light
A Few Spaces Still Available! 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.
Retreat | On-Land
January 18 - January 22, 2026 | Sunday - Thursday | 4 nights
Returning Home: Finding Refuge in the Heart
Registration Open. Step into silence and reconnect with the heart. Join us for a silent Insight Meditation retreat with heart-centered practices, mindful movement, chanting, and Dharma reflections. Through dedicated practice, we uncover the radiance of the heart—our refuge and path. Deepen awareness, cultivate insight, and return home to what truly matters.
Class Series | Online
February 13 - June 26, 2026 | 11 Fridays
Holding Ground: Inner Resilience for Environmental Changemakers
This training supports activists, changemakers, and earthkeepers in cultivating resilience amid intersecting crises. Through mindfulness, compassion, and nature-based practice, participants strengthen their capacity to stay connected and engaged in the work of justice and ecological renewal. Together we explore ways to meet grief and uncertainty, nurture joy and meaning, and build communities of mutual support grounded in our shared belonging and collective action to defend and sustain life.
Dharma Library
Can't join us live online or on the land? Study and practice at your convenience with Yong Oh through our new library of recordings, articles, and self-paced online courses.