Fall Weekend Retreat
October 11 - 13, 2024

Fall Weekend Retreat


In person in Bow (Samish Island)

Weekend retreat


Ready for an overnight retreat? Our weekend retreats are a great place to start if you’ve established a mindfulness practice or taken a mindfulness class and you’re ready to take it to the “next level.” A weekend retreat is also a wonderful way to renew and refresh a long-standing practice. Our lives as mindfulness practitioners deepen when we’re ready to enter into the sustained practice of retreat.

This residential retreat will be held mostly in silence at the beautiful Samish Island Campground and Retreat Center and will include a series of gently guided mindfulness practices including sitting meditation, walking meditation, gentle yoga, and the body scan.

View of the sunset and ocean from Samish Island Campground, mindfulness meditation retreat location.

Informative talks on the process of being on retreat, mindfulness, stress reactivity, and other topics will be presented by the instructor. Small and large group discussion at the beginning and end of the weekend will center around our experience together walking, sitting, and breathing in the quiet of the beautiful retreat site.

 

SCHEDULE Details

• Starts Friday with 4pm – 5pm check in followed by dinner and an orientation, after which we will begin our silence.
• Saturday is a full day of silent practice (6:30am to 8:30pm with breaks after the meals).
• Sunday is a short morning practice period, followed by breakfast and closing activities.
• The retreat concludes at about 12pm on Sunday after cabin clean up, with a sack lunch provided for the road.
You can review a typical schedule.

 

WHO THIS RETREAT IS FOR

  • Students of mindfulness interested in deepening and maintaining their practice.
  • Those who have taken a course in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, Mindful Self-Compassion, or Mindfulness for Healthcare Professionals.
  • Adults age 18 and over.

 

NEW TO RETREAT?

This is a silent retreat with supportive guidance from our teachers including significant periods of silence and few distractions or amusements. While a weekend retreat can be a good way to get started with extended practice, some find it helpful to take a more gradual approach through our daylong retreats (offered online and in-person).

If your practice has been primarily at home (guided by apps or recordings, etc.) we do recommend trying longer meditations of 30-40 minutes before signing up for retreat. Take a look at a typical weekend retreat schedule.

 

SCHEDULE

October 11 – 13, 2024
Friday 4pm – Sunday 12pm

TEACHER

Tim Burnett

LOCATION

Samish Island Campground and Retreat Center

COST

$295 – $545 (or $74 – $136/month)

  • Sliding scale: Choose what’s right for you.
  • Payment plan option: 4-months, no-interest.
  • Limited scholarships available for $210 ($53/month). 
    No need to apply; just choose a scholarship tuition during registration.
  • Lodging – An additional surcharge applies for some lodging options.

COVID POLICY

Help us keep the group healthy. Our policy requires a COVID home test before you leave home to attend an overnight retreat. Please review our current COVID policy before registering.

Tim Burnett on what he loves about our weekend retreats.

Cancellation Policy

For retreats at Samish Island Camp:

  • Cancel up to 15 days before the event begins: Receive a full refund less the $40 non-refundable processing fee.
  • Cancel between 14 days and the event start time: Receive a refund of 50% of the tuition paid.
  • Cancel after the event begins: No refunds.

*Note: If the tuition is paid on a payment plan, payments will continue to withdraw until the amount due is paid.

Registration closes at 11:55pm on Wednesday, October 9th.

About the Teacher

portrait of tim burnett, mindfulness northwest bellingham wa
Tim Burnett: Executive Director and Guiding Instructor at Mindfulness Northwest, Tim has been leading multi-day retreats in both the mindfulness and Zen Buddhist styles for many years. For these retreats Tim loves offering a universal (“secular”) mindfulness retreat experience while also plumbing the depth of Buddhist texts and philosphy that form one of the deep roots of this work. You can explore an example of Tim’s teachings at a prior retreat.

FOOD & ACCOMMODATIONS

Simple accommodations and tasty, nutritious meals are included in your registration. The wonderful cooks at Samish can always accommodate gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free and vegetarian diets. If your dietary needs require bringing your own food, fridge space is available, as is a microwave.

Most rooms are comfortable single-occupancy rustic cabins sharing the campground bathhouses. There are Male & Female bathhouses, as well as an All-Gender bathroom with showers, and All-Gender single-occupancy toilets in the dining hall. There is an option for motel-style rooms with a shared en-suite bath for a surcharge. RV and tent camping are also available (water and electrical hookup provided). More information about accommodations here 

the cabins lined up in a row at samish island mindfulness meditation retreat location
Photo by Pam McRae

 

ABOUT SAMISH ISLAND RETREAT CENTER

This beautiful campground maintained by the Community of Christ at the east end of Samish Island (the “island” is accessible by road) offers stunning views, deep quiet, and simple accommodations. Mindfulness Northwest has been offering retreats at Samish for many years. More details about the venue can be found here.

CAMP CHORES

Note that Samish is very lightly staffed allowing it to be more affordable than most venues. This helps us to hold registration fees at an affordable level. Every participant helps out with camp chores such as washing dishes and cleaning the buildings at the end of the retreat.

 

Register for this program

Registration is closed for this program.