Roots of Compassion Retreat

Our silent retreats are delivered in the style of Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC) and Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and include a variety of sitting, walking, and movement meditations. Our inclusive and trauma-sensitive style invites participants to be in wise discernment as they receive the instructors suggestions and feel into what really works to settle body and mind and open the heart. Our Roots of Compassion and Roots of Mindfulness retreats feature a daily talk to support and deepen practice. These talks generally feature the Buddhist roots of this work and are offered in everyday language with an accessible style. In this years’ retreat Tim will explore the 7th century teachings of the Buddhist pundit Shantideva whose text “The Way of the Bodhisattva” (Bodhicaryāvatāra) is revered in all Tibetan Buddhist schools. For a warm and accessible commentary on that text, and especially the pivotal chapter 8 on patience, Tim recommends Pema Chödrön’s No Time to Lose or her The Places That Scare You. Studying ahead of the retreat is totally optional as the teachings and practices will stand alone. Norman’s book, Training in Compassion: Zen Teachings on the Practice of Lojong, with his own contemporary translations of the traditional phrases, has been widely appreciated for it’s accessibilty and warmth. January 29 – February 3, 2027 Friday 5pm – Wednesday 2pm Tim Burnett & Nikki Dvorak Larsen Rainbow Lodge (North Bend, WA) $1,125 – $2,020 (or $281 – $505/month) plus optional single room surchage Sunday January 24 at 11:55pm The insights I received during the retreat and now, two weeks later, are centering on choosing more compassionate freedom for myself and how it spills into my life and work. I feel this tremendous blessing could only have surfaced in the deep and loving container co-created by the teachers and my fellow retreatants. I’m quite certain the benefits will be exponential. For retreats at Rainbow Lodge: The beautiful Rainbow Lodge sits on 40 acres of woods just below the majestic Mount Si near the town of North Bend in the North Cascades. We’re excited to start hosting retreats at a center that’s comfortable in the winter and just 40 minutes from Seattle. At Rainbow Lodge you’ll find a lovely cedar lodge with massive rock fireplaces and comfortable rooms. You’ll experience the tranquility of a deep forest and mountain streams. More details about the venue can be found here. Tim, Senior Teacher and former Executive Director at Mindfulness Northwest, has been leading multi-day retreats in both the mindfulness and Zen Buddhist styles for many years. Ordained as a Soto Zen priest in 2000, he apprenticed with Zen teacher Zoketsu Norman Fischer and is the Guiding Teacher of Red Cedar Zen Community in Bellingham. For these retreats Tim loves offering a universal (“secular”) mindfulness retreat experience while also plumbing the depth of Buddhist texts and philosophy that form one of the deep roots of this work. You can explore an example of Tim’s teachings at a prior retreat. Tim is a certified Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction instructor with the Center for Mindfulness at the University of Massachusetts Medical School and has been teaching MBSR for over a decade; he’s also a certified Mindful Self-Compassion instructor with the Center for Mindful Self-Compassion. The retreat starts with check-in at 5pm on Friday, and closes at 2pm on Wednesday, with breaks after each of the delicious meals provided. We’ll rise early, beginning each day of practice at 6:30am, and go steadily through each day in silence and contemplation, closing at 8:30pm. A sample schedule from a prior retreat can be viewed here. Full room and board including tasty, nutritious meals are included in your registration. The cooks at Rainbow Lodge can always accommodate non-celiac gluten free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, vegetarian, and vegan diets. Just let us know during the registration about your food allergies and needs. Accommodations are comfortable double-occupancy rooms with sinks in the room and full ADA bathrooms just a short distance down the hallway. Single occupancy is available with a surcharge during registration. There are rooms on the ground floor and upstairs. Please let us know in your registration if you need a ground floor room. The ground floor rooms and dining, meeting, and bathroom facilities are all ADA accessible at Rainbow Lodge. All adults (age 18 or over) are welcome at our retreats. A five-day retreat can be a psychologically strenuous experience for those new to silent meditation retreats. If you have any questions about whether this retreat is a good fit for you please don’t hesitate to reach out. Our longer retreats are especially well suited to: Before sitting a multi-day retreat we recommend that you have teacher-led experience with mindfulness or related contemplative practices: either in a class or a one-day retreat. Please contact us if you have questions about wheth