Browse Schedule by Category: Retreats / Online Courses
Vipassana Meditation Retreat 2027
March 19, 2027 @ 3:00 pm - March 28, 2027 @ 3:00 pm CST
Vipassana Meditation Retreat
with Catherine Pawasarat Sensei | March 19-28, 2027
Vipassanā is ideal for those new to meditation because it introduces you to the foundations needed to build a strong meditation practice and is a doorway to profound insight and realization.
If you have a background in Vipassanā retreats and are interested in doing something that is similar but a next step, with a live teacher, then this retreat may be for you.
Led by Catherine Pawasarat Sensei, this retreat gives an opportunity for more detailed instructions based on the Buddhist suttas, and opportunities for asking questions and receiving feedback on your practice.
We’ll practice a balanced meditative approach using the foundations of mindfulness from the Annapanasati Sutta.
Registration Deadlines:
In-Person Retreat registration deadline: March 12th, 2027
Online retreat registration deadline: March 12th, 2027
Early Bird Deadline:
In-person retreat Early Bird deadline: February 21st, 2027
Online retreat Early Bird deadline: February 28th, 2027
We recommend in-person retreats as the best way to get the most out of your experience. That said, we recognize that travel is inhibitive for some people and are offering an online option to people living outside of Western Canada.
“The meditation on Mindfulness of Breathing is not only suitable for all beings, it is also the direct way to enlightenment.”
A Life Changing Experience
At this retreat, the practice itself is awakening, life-changing and healing. And most importantly, you will reap great benefit from the rare in-person guidance of an accomplished meditation teacher and wisdom holder, Catherine Pawasarat Sensei. Sensei’s teaching is radical, down to earth, and one-of-a-kind.
If you have a background in Vipassanā retreats and are interested in doing something that is similar but a next step, with a live teacher, then this retreat may be for you. You will receive more detailed instructions based on the Buddhist satipatthana sutta, and opportunities for asking questions and receiving feedback on your practice. This is priceless.
An online option is also available for those not in Western Canada, to make participation possible from anywhere in the world.
Ten Day Vipassanā Meditation Retreat
While we believe any undertaking can be a vehicle for awakening, there’s no substitute for the power of one’s own profound experience of truth, gained through meditation. This is why meditation is one of the four foundational practices of our teaching.
Another of our foundation practices is learning.
A guiding text for this retreat is the Ānāpānasati Sutta, or Mindfulness of Breathing Discourse. In it, the Buddha describes 16 steps of practice divided into four areas of mindfulness.
This simple yet powerful framework will extend your meditation experience to everything from subatomic particles to the vastness of space, and all that’s between. It includes practice in all four postures—sitting, walking, standing, and lying down. Experience will transform. And, finally, we will offer support for bridging the gap between retreat and daily life when you get home.
Schedule
For those traveling short distances, please arrive by 3pm on the start day. For those coming from international or longer distance travel, please plan to arrive 1-2 days early to allow time to rest and acclimatize before the start of retreat.
Sample brief daily schedule:
9am Class with Teacher
11am Group Meditation led by a Senior Student
12:30pm Lunch
3pm Group Meditation with Teacher
6pm Dinner
7:30 pm Meditation led by a Senior Student
Departure:
Departures will begin from 2pm MT, after lunch on the final day of the retreat, however we also recommend adding some extra nights to your stay for a more easeful transition from retreat to daily life.
Meet the Teacher
Catherine Pawasarat Sensei is a contemporary Dharma teacher, attendant, consort, co-teacher via Planet Dharma and co-founder of Clear Sky Retreat Center. In addition to Buddhist philosophy and its applications to daily life, Catherine also draws on generative living and universal spiritual tools including transpersonal astrology and Japanese arts.
She trained daily with Acariya Doug Duncan from 1998 until his passing in 2024, in an intensive spiritual apprenticeship that is rare in the modern West. She received lay ordination from Namgyal Rinpoche in 2003.
About Clear Sky
Located in the BC rocky mountains, we offer over 300-acres to deepen your practice and reconnect with nature.
Founded by Qapel Doug Duncan and Catherine Pawasarat Sensei, we are home to students from around the globe who are dedicated to co-creating a supportive and innovative space for awakening in our modern world.
In adherence with our quadruple bottom line, we source our food as local and organic as possible.
EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW on how to get here, what to bring and what to expect.
FAQs
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Costs
The teaching itself is offered in the traditional Buddhist way on the basis of Dāna, Please see the section About Dāna below.
The costs below cover the accommodation, food and program/admin fees for Clear Sky to operate the retreat.
In person cost including meals and accommodation.
- Shared Room – CAD $1,557.00
- Private Cabin – CAD $2,007.00
- Orion Private Cabin – CAD $2,142.00
- Tenting – CAD $1,017.00
- CAD $450.00 – Online Course Fee
Early bird discount available (see below).
About Dāna
Dana:
Registration fees cover food, accommodation and the technology needed to offer the retreat online. The Teachings are freely given on the basis of dāna.
You may have come across this elsewhere in the form of “pay from the heart”. Dāna is a Sanskrit term meaning “generosity”. With dāna, we give as a mutual exchange of generosity. It’s our joy to offer this course, and we trust you’ll match our time, energy, and passion by giving an amount of money that feels good and healthy to both you and us.
The dharma has been built on generosity. No-one is excluded for lack of funds but it is also extremely beneficial to give as much as you are able
Typically people give in a range of $120-$500 USD for a course.
As we’re committed to ensuring everyone has access to the Dharma, please feel comfortable to give less if you are not financially secure. Another form of giving dāna is to offer service, and if you are interested in providing support in a non-financial way, we invite you to contact us.
Conversely, if you are financially secure, we invite you to generate merit by providing more financial support to the Triple Gem. Contributions like these make the difference in supporting our teachers, teachings, and center.
Learn more about the practice of dāna here.
Scholarship Application
We aim to make our retreats as accessible as possible.
As a centre run entirely by Karma Yoga (selfless service), retreat fees only cover food, accommodation and the equipment required to offer them online.
The teachings themselves are offered on the basis of Dāna (pay-from-the-heart).
For some, this is still a barrier of entry.
If you are seeking financial assistance to attend a retreat, please complete a Scholarship Application form.
Detailed Daily Schedule (Long retreats)
Specific times may change – this is a rough guide (MST)
6:30 – 7:30 AM: Walk &/or Personal Practice
7:30 – 8:15 AM: Breakfast: Prepare, eat, clean up
8:15 – 8:45 AM: Walk &/or Personal Practice
9:00 – 10:00 AM: Class with Teachers
10:00 – 10:30 AM: Walk
10:30 – 11:30 AM: Group Practice led by Sangha
11:30 – 12:30 PM: Personal Practice
12:30 – 1:30 PM: Lunch: Prepare, eat, clean up
1:30 – 3:00 PM: Personal Practice
3:00 – 4:00 PM: Group Practice led by Sangha
4:00 – 5:30 PM: Personal Practice
5:30 – 7:00 PM: Dinner: prepare, eat, clean up
7:00 – 7:30 PM: Walk &/or Personal Practice
7:30 – 8:30 PM: Group Practice and Q & A with Teachers
8:30 – Beyond: Personal Practice & bed
Food, Weather, Accommodation and How to Get Here
Click here for details on how to get here, what to bring and what to expect.
Note: In the unlikely scenario that this retreat is cancelled, we recommend purchasing refundable travel fares.
Cannabis, Psychedelics and Microdosing
We recognize and respect plant medicine as an important part of some people’s spiritual paths.
Please note, the meditation practice on this retreat is very powerful. Consuming mind-altering substances will detract from your experience and could cause negative side-effects.
We ask that you refrain from microdosing or consuming mind-altering substances during this retreat and in the days immediately following it.
Keen Practitioner/Early Bird & Registration Deadlines
IN-PERSON: Please register as early as possible so we can plan for the retreat. Save 10% on fees until February 21, 2027. Registration deadline for in-person retreatants is April 9th, 2027.
ONLINE: We encourage early registration. Save $100 on the online fees until February 28th, 2027. April 16th is the final online registration deadline.
What Did Last Year’s Breathing Retreat Meditators Say?
Meditation Groups
The power of continued community meditation practice:
Following Catherine Sensei’s excellent Breathing retreat at Clear Sky and online in June 2022, a group of students from Dharma Europe and Japan started a morning Zoom meeting to help continue the practice. Meeting at 8am UK time six days a week, we take turns to lead/hold space – usually with a reading, sometimes an exercise, we meditate on the breath for 45 minutes and then share our experiences. The group has grown to include more European Sangha as well as Movement Shiatsu practitioners who didn’t attend the retreat but are committed to developing their practice.
It’s great to have the contact of the group – we learn so much from experiencing how the different parts of ourselves – individually and as a group perceive and receive the (phenomenal) world.
—Jonathan Clifford
The daily contact with awakening beings uplifts and encourages me in a practice that has been very solitary for me for many years. The daily discipline reminds me of a monastic order, where the task of gathering at an appointed hour to sit in silence together IS a practice in itself.
—Renata Drtina
The morning sits and Anapanasati practice are an opportunity to explore and build sangha in a different way and for us to strengthen and deepen our practice together.
—Zoe Moores
The Anapanasati group is an anchor – both to steady practice and being part of a group. It helps me to be in contact when I don’t feel like it. To practice speaking in front of a group even when it’s not comfortable. To practice leading a group. And silently this group has reinforced and supported daily practice and helped me to experience contact with the experience of breathing.
—Brigid Maclachlan
Registration Deadlines:
IN-PERSON: March 12th, 2027
ONLINE: March 12th, 2027
Early Bird Deadlines:
IN-PERSON: February 21st, 2027
ONLINE: February 28th, 2027
