Resilience and Refuge: Mindful Yoga and Embodied Dharma
With Djuna Devereaux and Anne Cushman
November 2 - 7, 2026
Open to experienced and new practitioners
Registration closes on October 19, 2026. If joining after this date, please contact us.
How do we cultivate resilience and connect with inner and outer refuge, especially in times of personal and global challenges? In this silent retreat, we’ll offer Buddhist Dharma and Yoga teachings and practices for settling your nervous system, grounding your energy, and cultivating the capacity to meet life’s challenges with grace and wisdom. You’ll replenish your body, heart, and mind with a seamless flow of meditation in movement and in stillness, within a spacious schedule that offers ample time to rest, be in nature, and honor the natural rhythms of your own practice.
Each day includes gentle guided yoga; seated, walking, standing, and lying down meditation; Dharma reflections; and small group meetings with a teacher. You’ll leave with practical tools for building resilience and connecting with refuge in daily life—strengthening your capacity to respond to challenges with wisdom and compassion.
This retreat is silent except for teacher-led Q&A, small groups, or other practice meetings. All abilities and levels of experience are welcome.
WHAT TO EXPECT ON THIS RETREAT
This is a silent mindfulness retreat with alternating sitting and walking meditation, instruction, dharma talks, work meditation, and practice discussion with the teachers.
Learn more ABOUT RETREAT & SEE A SAMPLE SCHEDULE.
GENEROSITY: Retreat Costs and Fees
Registration fees for this retreat support the cost of developing and offering BBRC programs, which include lodging, meals, and staff compensation. Teacher compensation is not included in your registration fees. We price fees to make programs as financially accessible as possible.
As part of this tradition, many meditation teachers (including the teachers of this retreat) offer their teachings without set fees or compensation. As a practice of generosity from the heart, participants are invited to offer “teacher dana” (donations-generosity) to the teachers at the end of the retreat. It is encouraged but not required. Learn more about dana here.
Is cost a barrier? Nobody is turned away at Big Bear Retreat Center due to finances. We ask that financial assistance be prioritized for those who self-identify as BIPOC, hold marginalized identities, or are in financial need. For more information, please contact us at guestservices@bigbearretreatcenter.org.
SIMPLE YET COMFORTABLE, NESTLED IN NATURE
Accommodations
We offer several lodging choices nestled in nature for each retreat.
Meals
Our meals are freshly prepared to support your retreat experience.
Preparing for your retreat
We offer several resources and information to best help you plan your time on retreat with us.
Getting to BBRC
We have several resources to support your travel. Visit Getting to BBRC & Rideshares and Shuttles for more.
FEEL WELCOME AND INCLUDED: A PLACE TO BELONG
Our intention is to be as accessible as we can, even in ways that we may not be aware of yet. We hope this is a space of inclusivity where people feel welcome and held. For us, it is a practice of consistent attunement, presence and care to our community. However you identify – race, gender, sexuality, disability, mental health, and so on – it is our wish to meet your needs for belonging.
Please consider this about our environment:
– The center is on a hill with outdoor walkways between dining, gathering, and residential spaces.
– We are located at an elevation of 6,500 feet altitude in a ski town in the mountains of Southern California.
– We experience weather of all four seasons.
– We are located about 2 hours from Los Angeles and near 3 major airports. Learn more about getting here.
– We have a commitment to everyone’s mobility needs. Please contact us about ADA accessibility.
Visit our Planning Your Retreat page to learn more about accessibility and other resources. Contact us if we can support ahead of time.
HEAR MORE ABOUT BIG BEAR RETREAT CENTER
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
I love Big Bear Retreat Center. It’s my dharma home away from home. Everything about it – staff, teachers, food, accommodations, setting – is exceptional. A true gift to the community!!
Big Bear Retreat Center is indeed a refuge. A safe space to open your heart. – Laura
Teachers & Facilitators
Djuna Devereaux has more than two decades of experience teaching the integration of yoga and Buddhist Dharma. At Spirit Rock, she teaches on retreat and leads the Dharma and Yoga Teacher Trainings. She supports her primary Dharma teachers, Thanissara and Kittisaro, as a core teacher and Board Chair for Sacred Mountain Sangha. Djuna is also faculty for Prajna Yoga, offering events internationally, and is a certified yoga therapist and Somatic Experiencing Practitioner in private practice. Djuna weaves asana training, with somatic movement, biomechanics, and the wisdom of the Buddha Dharma, into her offerings. Her sessions are intelligently crafted to cultivate…
Learn more about Djuna Devereaux
As a teacher and writer, Anne Cushman explores the intersection between meditative practice, creative expression, and the down-to-earth details of embodied human life. A practitioner of both dharma and yoga since 1982, she is a Spirit Rock residential retreat teacher; core faculty for Spirit Rock’s Dharma Yoga Mindfulness Training; director of mentoring for the Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program; and a founding teacher of Cloud Sangha, an online mindfulness community. She is the author of the memoir The Mama Sutra: A Story of Love, Loss, and the Path of Motherhood; the novel Enlightenment for Idiots; the India pilgrimage guide From…
Learn more about Anne Cushman