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The greatest gift is the
gift of the teachings
 
Retreat Dharma Talks

Finding Joy in the Playground of the Mind

An Insight Retreat
With Amana Brembry Johnson and Matthew Hepburn

Wholesome joy arises when we release expectations and create the conditions for the practice to blossom easefully, without grasping for outcomes. In a culture that teaches us to seek pleasure through external stimulation, this retreat invites a return to the creative play, investigative curiosity and gladness that dwell within our own hearts and minds.

Through meditation, dharma talks, and deep attunement to both nature and the body, we will awaken an intimate sense of the heart-mind continuum. Together, we will gently uncover barriers that obscure ease and happiness and rediscover the quiet medicinal qualities of spacious presence, where openness ripens and old patterns of perception unwind.

2026-05-24 (6 days) Vallecitos Mountain Retreat Center

  
2026-05-25 Finding Joy in the Playground of the Mind 53:48
Amana Brembry Johnson
Through stillness, playfulness, and deep listening to the body, we rediscover our interconnectedness, resilience, and capacity to live fully awake in a changing world.
2026-05-25 Guided Metta (Goodwill) for all Categories 43:14
Matthew Hepburn
Guided Loving-kindness instruction after a brief description of the potential of the Brahmaviharas in daily life.
2026-05-27 Guided Instructions: Compassion 36:20
Matthew Hepburn
Instructions on cultivating compassion by starting small and gradually building to an expansive orientation of the compassionate heart.
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