Celeste Young is a Theravadin Buddhist mindfulness and Dharma teacher. She has been practicing meditation and sitting retreats since 2002. She was one of the first teachers to be empowered at InsightLA, a nonprofit Buddhist and secular mindfulness organization based in Los Angeles.
Since 2011, Celeste has worked with thousands of meditation and Dharma students teaching Buddhist Dharma and mindfulness classes, leading silent meditation retreats, and working with individual students. She teaches both in the US and internationally. Additionally, she has led corporate sessions and retreats for organizations such as Netflix and the University of Southern California.
For the last 13 years, her own practice has been centered around yearly long silent retreats in the Insight meditation tradition lasting from one to three months in length. In 2022 she also became a certified Life Balance Strategist and is extremely passionate about this work which empowers people to make mindful change in their lives. She sees life balance work and Dharma teaching and practice as a pragmatic way of supporting people in living their deeper values and navigating their lives with much more clarity and well being. Sharing in the Dharma with others brings her immense joy.
Events with Celeste Young
New Year's Retreat: Weaving Ancient and New Ways of BeingDecember 28, 2025 - January 3, 2026
This retreat welcomes both beginners and experienced meditators. Registration for this retreat closes on December 21st, 2025 at 11:59pm Pacific Time. If looking to join after this date, please inquire at guestservices@bigbearretreatcenter.org. During this retreat we will come together in community to support each other in consciously letting go of the past and opening to the New Year from a place of stability, ease and the inner freedom we find in deepening our practice. In these uncertain times, old cultural narratives are dissolving and we are called to navigate the world differently. The Four Protective Meditations offer us protection from…
Love and Awareness: The Heart That KnowsJune 8 - 14, 2026
Open to experienced and new practitioners Registration closes on May 25, 2026. If joining after this date, please contact us. Join us in the natural beauty of the San Bernardino mountains for this silent insight meditation retreat. Awareness and love are not two separate paths but one living expression of wisdom. When the heart is open, awareness becomes tender; when the mind is clear, love naturally shines through. This retreat invites a relaxed exploration of that meeting point — cultivating mindfulness that is infused with care, and love that is grounded in knowing. Through sitting and walking meditation, silence and…
The Heart of Awakening: Exploring the Seven FactorsSeptember 22 - 27, 2026
Open to experienced and new practitioners Registration closes on September 8, 2026. If joining after this date, please contact us. During this weeklong meditation retreat, we will explore the seven awakening factors (bojjhanga) — the Buddha’s teachings on the qualities of mind and heart that lead to freedom and well-being. Together, we’ll learn to recognize, nurture, and balance these interrelated capacities: mindfulness, investigation, energy, joy, tranquility, concentration, and equanimity. Each day will focus on one factor while honoring how they naturally arise and support one another: mindfulness opens the door to wise investigation, investigation kindles energy, energy gives rise to…