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  • Single w/ensuite Oceanfront – CAD $5,395.00
  • Single w/ensuite – CAD $5,003.00
  • Single w/shared bathroom – CAD $4,163.00
  • Couple w/ensuite Oceanfront – CAD $8,018.00
  • Couple w/ensuite – CAD $7,248.00
  • Couple w/shared bathroom – CAD $6,464.00
  • Twin w/ensuite oceanfront – CAD $4,023.00
  • Twin w/ensuite – CAD $3,631.00
  • Twin w/shared bathroom – CAD $3,379.00
  • Women Dorm – CAD $2,350.00
  • Male Dorm – CAD $2,350.00
  • Mixed Dorm – CAD $2,350.00
  • Tent Site Single – CAD $2,178.00
  • Tent Site Couple – CAD $4,210.00
  • Commuter – CAD $1,923.00
    • All Packages Include CAD $1,713.00 Tuition

Date & Time Details:
Program begins: April 21
Program ends: May 5
Click here to view a sample program schedule.

Registration Fee: $425 CAD (14 Nights)
Registration fee does not include compensation for the teachers. This is a dãna-based program.

Rooms & Meals: Rates listed below include room, 3 meals per day, use of hot tubs, and campus facilities. Tuition not included.

Room Type Nightly Rate 4 Nights / 5 Days 5 Nights / 6 Days
Private ensuite $451 $1,806 $2,257.15
Private shared bathroom $366 $1,462 $1,828
Twin shared bathroom $270 $1,081 $1,351.63
Dorm $180 $720 $900

All bookings are subject to a 10% campus fee and applicable taxes. Click here for more room types and rates.

Scholarships : Hollyhock recognizes that economic opportunity is not currently equal for all; we encourage and welcome anyone registering for a program to apply for a scholarship. Scholarship applications are open. Click here to learn more and apply.

Terms & Conditions: You may find terms & conditions here.

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Program is fully booked

Metta Vipassana: Awareness as a Path to Liberation

With Michele McDonald and Jesse Maceo Vega-Frey

April 21 - May 5, 2024

Program is fully booked

Experience Metta (unconditional love and kindness) Vipassana (insight) meditation on beautiful Cortes Island.

In this 14-day silent retreat, discover the four immeasurables (unconditional love, wise compassion, empathetic joy, and equanimity) through meditations that fuse these fundamental spiritual emotions with the intuitive wisdom of Vipassana. Develop compassionate awareness and a more loving heart with a unique melding of mindful movement alongside the Metta and Vipassana practices.

Please note: The registration fee does not include a fee for the presenter. This is a dãna-based retreat (see below for details).

What is Dãna?

Dãna is an ancient Pali word meaning “giving” or “gift.” Dãna is at the heart of the 2,500 year old Buddhist tradition. Going back to the days of the Buddha, he and the monastic community offered the teachings freely to lay people, as a form of dãna. In turn the lay community, through their generosity, or dãna, ensured that their teachers’ basic needs for food, clothing, shelter and medicine were provided.

When the Buddha would give a public discourse, he usually began with teaching on the importance and the benefits of dãna. The act of giving itself is of immeasurable benefit to the giver; it opens up the heart, diminishes for a moment one’s self-absorption and places value on the well-being of others. The key is that the act of giving itself is the natural expression of a connected and loving heart.

The fee you pay to attend this retreat covers the basic retreat costs; none of your registration fee is payment to the teacher leading the retreats. Teachers offer the teachings with a spirit of generosity and trust that their lives and work will be supported by those who are receiving the life-giving teachings. This is a real expression of the truth of interdependence.

How Do I Contribute?

You may contribute cash, cheques or by credit card or paypal at Vipassana Hawaii. Canadian cheques payable to Michele McDonald. US cheques payable to Vipassana Hawaii.

Teachers

The teaching team includes Michele McDonald and Jesse Maceo Vega-Frey.

Application

This program is by application. If you wish to apply to attend, please do so here.

Daily Schedule

A detailed schedule will be available at least 2 weeks in advance of the program. View sample schedule here.

Presenters

Michele McDonald
Michele McDonald has taught Insight meditation for fourty years and teaches extensively throughout America, in Canada, Burma, and various locations around the world. As a guiding teacher for Vipassana Hawai’i she has been a quiet pioneer. She is the first woman to have taught a formal retreat in Burma, side-by-side…
Learn more about Michele McDonald
Jesse Maceo Vega-Frey
Jesse Maceo Vega-Frey’s teaching aims to inspire the skills, determination, and faith necessary to realize the deepest human freedom. He is a student of Michele McDonald and his approach is rooted in the tradition of Mahasi Sayadaw of Burma. As a teacher of Vipassana (insight) meditation within the broader context…
Learn more about Jesse Maceo Vega-Frey