Coming Home to Our Senses [On Land]
With Trudy Goodman, Gullu Singh and Gabrielle Hammond (Qi Gong)
May 15 - 20, 2025
This in-person retreat is open to both beginners and experienced practitioners.
Along the path of dharma practice we make it a habit to connect to the truth of each moment as experienced in the body and through all the senses. By doing so, we can effectively reduce anxiety and confusion, making room for peace and joy. Meditation can also help balance our nervous system, moving us from fight, flight or freeze to rest and digest. This is profoundly healing. Not only do we learn to notice the habit of getting lost in troubled thinking, we practice creating a whole new relationship to your thoughts.
On retreat, we experience the support of the community, teachers and teachings. Each of these aspects of retreat help us to face the challenges of our lives with a greater courage, peace and equanimity.
Come home to your senses this May with Trudy Goodman, Gullu Singh and Gabrielle Hammond.
Time in retreat allows us to step away from the demands of everyday life and listen deeply to our body, heart and mind. The purpose of this practice is to turn our attention to what brings true peace and happiness in life while cultivating more resilience, compassion and wisdom, both in responding to suffering in the world and in our own hearts.
Most of the retreat is held in silence, with periods of sitting and walking meditation. Expect guided meditations, teaching talks, qigong practices and a teacher-led practice discussion meeting for each participant.
Retreatants are given guidance to encourage the practice of mindfulness in all the retreat activities, staying with their own present experience as it unfolds, moment to moment.
Registration for this retreat closes on May 1st, 2025 at 11:59pm Pacific Time.
What retreat participants have to say about programs at Big Bear Retreat Center
“I have never been to BBRC before. The spectacular pine forest, the labyrinth, the Tree of Resilience to the beautiful hall and delicious food gave me an environment where I could totally drop in and feel held. ” – Peggy B
“Big Bear retreat center is exceptional in every way. The accommodations are outstanding, food exceptional, staff very responsive and helpful and the teachers are always so loving and knowledgeable. Just a top notch retreat experience!!” – Sheila M
SEE OUR CABINS AND CAMPUS
ACCESSIBILITY
We are committed to accessibility. Big Bear Retreat Center has faith in the power of belonging and generosity. Please review our FAQs for more detailed information on accessibility to our campus and programs.
Location – Big Bear Retreat Center sits at an elevation of 7,000ft in a small mountain community in Big Bear Lake, California which is about a two-hour drive from Los Angeles.
Physical – We recognize disability as a valued aspect of diversity. Please contact us to share your specific needs so we can make your retreat as comfortable as we can.
Financial – We recognize that economic opportunity is not currently equal for all, please contact us if finances are a challenge in any way, as we have several options to make these retreats financially accessible to you.
RETREAT FEES AND TEACHER DANA
Teacher compensation is dana-based, the registration fee does not include teacher compensation. Learn more about the practice of dana here.
Teachers & Facilitators
Trudy Goodman, PhD, is the Founding Teacher of InsightLA, the first center to combine training in Insight (Vipassana) Meditation and in non-sectarian mindfulness and compassion practices, including Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC). The fourth teacher ever of MBSR, Trudy taught with its creator, Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn and studied Buddhist meditation for 40 years, with Asian and Western teachers. She is the Guiding Teacher and co-founder of the Institute for Meditation and Psychotherapy in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the first center in the world dedicated to integrating these two disciplines, and had a private psychotherapy practice there for 25 years.…
Learn more about Trudy Goodman
Gulwinder “Gullu” Singh is a mindfulness and Dharma teacher who also practices corporate real estate law. Although he was exposed to meditation as a child, he found his own practice when, after law school, he found himself working at high-powered law firms where the job was extremely stressful. Gullu completed the four-year Spirit Rock Meditation Center Teacher Training Program and qualified to teach Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction. Gullu is core faculty in the Mindfulness in Law Teacher Training, the Spirit Rock Dedicated Practitioner Program, and a mentor for the Sounds True Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program. He is also a core…
Learn more about Gullu Singh
Gabrielle Hammond (Movement Teacher | Qigong) has been practicing as an acupuncturist and doctor of Taoist and Traditional Chinese Medicine for past 28 years, under the tutelage of a 64th generation Taoist Master Chang Yi Hsiang, who initiated her journey into contemplative arts, meditation, and qigong practice at a young age. Gabrielle continues to teach and practice qigong over 35 years later as the bedrock of her healing practice. She loves working with plants, both as an herbalist in healing and in the more subtle and energetic way we are connected with plants as allies. This love of plants has…
Learn more about Gabrielle Hammond (Qi Gong)