Social Meditation Half Day Retreat

A Different Kind of Meditation Retreat

Join us for a half-day social meditation retreat in a peaceful dharma community house nestled in the Berkeley Hills, just minutes from the UC Berkeley campus. This isn't your typical silent meditation session, nor is it an intense intimate gathering like eye gazing or circling—it's something beautifully in between.

What Makes This Unique

Most meditation practitioners do "noting" silently in their heads—observing sensations, emotions, and thoughts as they arise. We take this practice and bring it out loud, together. By vocalizing our noting in a group setting, something remarkable happens: different notes naturally evoke different states of consciousness, and the group's presence provides both gentle accountability and nervous system coregulation that helps many people access deeper peace more easily than solo practice.

Schedule (1-6pm)

• Group Grounding – We begin together, settling into the space and each other's presence
• Compassion & Lovingkindness Practice – Out loud group noting focused on cultivating warmth and connection
• Break – Time to stretch, rest, and integrate
• Awareness-Based Noting – Transitioning to group awareness practice and finally into silent meditation sitting, deepening into stillness
• Tea Lounge & Reflections – Casual conversation and sharing over tea & snacks to close the afternoon

What to Expect

You'll experience the support of practicing alongside others while maintaining your own center. The format is social enough to feel held and connected, yet contemplative enough experience shifts in consciousness and depth of stillness. All experience levels welcome.

Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.

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Host or Publisher Sophie Jacobs