Deepening Your Practice: A Brahmavihārā & Jhānas Retreat

During the first days of this retreat, we will explore the Divine Abodes, or Brahmavihāras, which are ancient Buddhist heart meditations and related practices that reveal and awaken our deepest nature’s heart qualities. The heart meditations or brahmavihārā, also known as the divine abodes, are traditional Theravada Samatha practices. They fall under the umbrella called “purification of mind” and are one of the main practices of Awakening Dharma. The benefits are both transformational and transcendent. In concentration meditation (like breath awareness) we prioritize one object to the exclusion of everything else in our awareness. We will also discuss the common resistances to these qualities.

During the final days, we will deepen our meditation practice with the Jhānas (absorption). This practice leads us to the highest level of meditative concentration possible.  In jhāna our awareness and consciousness completely and seamlessly merge into, and with, the meditative object as a function of the source, the Absolute.  Steeping our consciousness and awareness in a quality of the Absolute purifies the mind while attuning us to deeper intimacy with the Absolute.

“Stephen and Julie create a welcoming, comfortable environment in a beautiful location with plenty of space, easy access to nature and quiet. Stephen’s teaching is wise, clear and kind. He meets with you one-on-one every day making sure you’re getting the support and guidance you need. I’ve done dozens of retreat and Awakening Dharma retreats are simply the best.”

— Mark Johnson

“Awakening Dharma retreats are a rare gift. Stephen Snyder is a compassionate, clear, and deeply experienced teacher of the jhānas and the path of awakening. The retreats are well-structured, deeply supportive, and profoundly transformative. Highly recommended!”

— Willie Ames

Stephen Mugen Snyder, Roshi began practicing daily meditation in 1976. Since then, he has studied Buddhism extensively—investigating and engaging in Zen, Tibetan, Theravada, and Western non-dual traditions. He was authorized to teach in the Theravada Buddhist tradition in 2007 and the Zen Buddhist schools of Soto and Rinzai in 2022. Mugen is a senior student of Roshi Mark Sando Mininberg. Mugen encourages students to turn toward their true nature and embody their true identity. He is the author of five books, including Buddha’s Heart and Demystifying Awakening.

“The greater your willingness to be impacted and changed, the deeper your transformation will be. The more tender your heart becomes, the more resilient, flexible, and responsive you will be. Ironically, the more authentically vulnerable we become, the safer and more protected we are.”

― Stephen Mugen Snyder, Buddha’s Heart

Prerequisites

There are no prerequisites but we do recommend attending one or more daylongs with Mugen Roshi before signing up. This ensures his teaching style will be a good fit for you.

This retreat is suitable for intermediate and advanced meditators and practitioners. For beginners, we recommend only signing up if you are capable of sitting at least 45 minutes two times per day.

For the best experience, we also recommend signing up for a mentoring program related to the retreat. Students who do this tend to readily engage in the teachings and practices.

Daily Schedule

Two Zoom calls daily for the entire group:

• 10:30am-12:00pm Eastern – First session (talk, Q&A, and guided meditation)
• 12pm-1pm Eastern – Break
• 1:00pm-2:30pm Eastern – Second session (talk, Q&A, and guided meditation)

Sundays are dark. This gives Mugen a rest day and for yogis they are a great day for deeper practice.

One-on-one interviews will be 15 minutes long. Yogis will be assigned to one of three groups for interviews: Monday/Thursday, Tuesday/Friday, or Wednesday/Saturday. Time slots for interviews will be in one of two blocks (either 9:30am-10:30am or 2:30pm-3:30pm). Interviews start day three of the retreat and go to the next to last day.

Outside of the scheduled times, students are advised to create their own schedule.

Student Feedback

“I have meditated for over 30 years and have attended numerous retreats. I think that I made more progress on my two recent (2026) jhana and formless realm retreats than any other previous retreat. Separating the signal from the noise in meditation is always challenging, yet the clear guidance and one-on-one interviews I received allowed me to correct errors and progress with confidence. I highly recommend Stephen for meditators with a well established meditative practice.”

— Robert Lencki

Recording

• This retreat will be recorded. One-on-one interviews will not be recorded.
• Recordings will be made available during the retreat once automatic processing has completed (usually within a few hours).
• By signing up and participating you are agreeing to release your rights of privacy and agree that any audio or video recording can be used by Awakening Dharma or Stephen Mugen Snyder, Roshi
• After this retreat is over, Awakening Dharma may sell the recordings as a self-paced retreat. If, so participants will be given free access to the self-paced retreat.

Investment

Both options include 14 days of live teachings and guided meditations, and access to recordings.

• $685 to attend without interviews.
• $985 to attend with interviews (limited slots available).

Interviews are highly recommended for anyone new to retreat practice and for anyone planning deep practice under strict retreat conditions (e.g., maintaining noble silence and fully withdrawing from worldly activities).

Interviews are not recommended for anyone who won’t be following retreat conditions (e.g., people who plan to still be engaged in worldly activities such as work, socializing, or consuming media).

Please review our Cancellation Policy and Participation Waiver.