April 14-16, 2023
Westerbeke Ranch
Sonoma, California
Slip away for a weekend to beautiful Westerbeke Ranch, just 1.5 hours north of San Francisco. The deep nourishment of Westerbeke’s delicious food and relaxing landscape will help you unwind and reset, quieting the chatter of your mind and opening your heart to the wisdom that’s within you.
The retreat begins on Friday afternoon, and ends on Sunday afternoon, making it easy for you to leave your weekday responsibilities behind and come back refreshed for the week ahead.
The retreat will be led by two WITHIN teachers: Devon Pipars and Ranga Jayawardena. Devon brings the perspective of Advaita Vedanta, while Ranga draws from Buddhism. Together, they’ll offer wisdom, insight and guidance to help you cultivate awareness and joy.
What to Expect
Location
Westerbeke Ranch is a restful retreat nestled in the rolling Sonoma countryside. Delightful paths lead to charming redwood sleeping cabins, nestled among trees and gardens.
Everyone at the retreat will be housed in two cabins, each with several bedrooms that sleep 3 people. The cozy bedrooms each have their own bathroom and outside entrance, so you have both privacy and camaraderie. You can choose to reserve a whole bedroom for yourself if you prefer - or bring two friends and share the experience with them!
The gathering spaces for our retreat will be Casa Nueva; you’ll also be able to explore the grounds (and the pool!) at your leisure. A delicious breakfast, lunch and dinner will be served throughout your stay, with options for all dietary restrictions (vegetarian, vegan, gluten free, etc). For more pictures and information about the location, visit Westerbeke’s website.
Retreat Schedule
You're welcome to arrive at the ranch anytime between 4:30-5:30pm on Friday. (If you need to arrive later on Friday, let us know what time we can expect you in your registration notes.) In the evening, we'll gather for introductions and dinner, followed by a talk and a guided meditation session to set the tone for the retreat.
On Saturday, we'll be in silence together through breakfast and into a morning practice that includes walking and seated meditation, both guided and self-guided, and a talk. You'll have an opportunity to rest and enjoy the beautiful grounds of the ranch in the middle of the day, both before and after lunch. The afternoon will include 1-on-1 sessions with the teachers and a physical practice (yoga or qi-gong) as well as meditation. After dinner, a talk will be followed by a group discussion before turning in for the night.
For our last day together, we'll have a morning practice just as we did on Saturday, followed by time for yourself and lunch before a concluding group session. The retreat will end by 3pm.
Noble Silence: We will be practicing noble silence during this weekend, meaning that speech will be restricted other than group sharing, one-on-ones with teachers and Q&A. While this may seem like a challenge, it’s actually a rare gift that can help your mind find a delicious stillness. External chatter can contribute to internal chatter. As Ajahn Sona, a Buddhist Monk puts it, "the deeper mind is trying to speak to you but you're too noisy.”
How to Prepare
Doing a weekend retreat can seem daunting if you've only sat for brief periods of meditation before. To help you get the most out of the experience, and put you at ease, Ranga and Devon will offer guidance and advice in an orientation call the week before. They'll also check in with you after the retreat, to talk about your experience and help you integrate what you learn into your regular life.
Rest: It is incredibly supportive to show up to a retreat well rested, so that drowsiness during meditation is minimized. We recommend spending a week attending to your sleep (i.e. go to bed by 10/11pm and wake up by 7am) prior to this retreat.
Formal meditation practice: Intensifying your personal sitting practice prior to the retreat is recommended. Silent meditation is great, but if it’s helpful, you can join Devon or Ranga for guided meditation classes online via Zoom. They both teach regularly through WITHIN Meditation - just check out our class schedule here.
Who Should Come
If you've been building a meditation practice for just a few weeks, or for several years, you'll appreciate the depth of stillness that comes with this weekend retreat. This is a beginner-intermediate level, residential retreat where you can learn both the basics of how to meditate and several advanced modes of perception that can progress your practice to deep, blissful dimensions of being.
COVID Safety
We'll be implementing the following procedures to help keep everyone safe:
All participants will be required to provide a negative COVID test prior to joining the retreat (PCR or antigen/rapid)
The doors and windows of our meeting space will be kept open to increase air flow, weather permitting
Meals will be held outdoors, weather permitting
If you have any questions or concerns, please email us at sit@withinmeditation.com so we can address them before your register.
Meet Your Retreat Hosts
The retreat is hosted by WITHIN Meditation teachers Devon Pipars and Ranga Jayawardena.
Devon Pipars
Devon is a teacher and blogger for WITHIN Meditation, who also works with companies via wellness workshops, meditation sessions, and mindful communication coaching. She is a featured voice for Hyperice’s meditation training device Core, as well as a senior instructor on the Core app (hellocore.com).
Meditation is Devon’s passion and purpose. A meditator since 2002, the practice has been deeply transformative for her. After devoting four years to the study and practice of meditation under the guidance of a master teacher in the Indian Himalayas, Devon’s sessions incorporate multiple traditions and techniques including mindfulness, breath work, mantra, gratitude practice & loving kindness.
Devon is masterful at translating all she’s learned into simple terms, making her classes appropriate for first-time meditators as well as experts. No matter what your experience level, her approach effectively reduces stress and promotes well-being.
Ranga Jayawardena
Ranga sees meditation as playing with perception. We can learn how to adjust perception, and therefore experience, towards more enjoyment, strength and freedom.
He began his training with formal meditation practice at age 10, and has been on a journey of discovery ever since. After years of climbing the corporate ladder and later co-founding startups, he has shifted his career towards sharing his enthusiastic approach to meditation practice.
Ranga's teaching style entails bringing the ancient wisdom of the Buddha to the modern ear, through personal stories and contemporary similes. Rather than offering a singular, rigid view, he believes that we each hold the authority to find our authentic path in life and to deeply free ourselves up from worrying, anger, doubt, dullness and a sense of lacking. As such, he approaches his role as a teacher with an open heart; open to all the particularities, experiences and uniqueness of each student.
He draws on over 20 years of meditation practice and a lifetime of learning from Buddhist (and a few Daoist) meditation masters to guide friends on their personal journeys towards what they yearn for.
What’s Included
$949 Shared Occupancy
$1,849 Single Occupancy
Payment Plans Available
Your all-inclusive retreat registration fee covers the full experience:
3 days / 2 nights accommodation at Westerbeke Ranch
Twice daily (sometimes 3x daily) guided and silent meditation practices
Inspiring talks to help guide you to deeper understanding and clarity
One-on-One with Devon or Ranga
Delicious meals cooked on-site by the Westerbeke staff
Access to the beautiful grounds, including the swimming pool and trails
Coordination of carpooling to/from the retreat
Orientation call the week prior to the retreat
Gift bag
Shared occupancy ($949): You'll have your own bed in a room that's shared with 1 or 2 other participants. The group of you will share a private bathroom.
Single occupancy ($1,849): You’ll have your own room and private bathroom in a shared cabin.
We want to make it possible for you to join us on this retreat!
If you need a payment plan, please email us before you register at sit@withinmeditation.com. We’ll work with you to set a deposit amount and payment schedule that work for you.
Refund Policy: Registering for the retreat secures your spot. If you cancel up to a month in advance, we will give you a refund less a 20% processing fee. If you cancel less than a month in advance, we will give you a 50% refund if we are able to fill your spot. If we cannot fill your spot, we will be unable to issue any refund.
Please contact us at sit@withinmeditation.com with any questions - we're happy to help you decide if this retreat is right for you!
Can’t make it on April 14th-16th? We’ll let you know when we set a date for the next retreat! Click below to get notified.