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A Residential Retreat with Fresh "Lev" White, Ramona Lisa Ortiz-Smith and Dr. Hy V. Huynh
December 11-15, 2024
Join us this winter season, December 11-15, 2024, as we co-create a sanctuary of rest and refuge within QTBIPOC community. Together, we will cultivate practices of mindfulness, lovingkindness, and compassion that have long belonged to the QTBIPOC community. As the winter season can be a challenging time for our hearts, minds, and spirits, we can cultivate practices that help bring us a greater sense of ease and well-being as we move through this season. We will honor our individual and collective need for rest, reflection, and connection, and slow down (moving at the “pace of mindfulness”) to honor all the ways we can care for our whole beings. This retreat offers teachings from Buddhist wisdom traditions, guided meditation, movement practices, silence, singing/chanting, and nourishing food prepared with love.
As we share silence and meditative presence within a QTBIPOC affinity space, we are given full permission to show up fully as ourselves in a way that fosters nurturing, healing, and connection to ourselves and each other. This retreat is open to all self-identified QTBIPOC (Queer, Trans, Black, Indigenous, People of Color), welcoming participants of all experience levels. We practice not only for our own well-being but for the benefit of all beings.
Retreat Cost
This retreat is offered on a dana/gift basis. You are invited to offer dana / donations for the retreat costs at any time through Dhamma Dena's Paypal or Venmo. Dhamma Dena is currently supported solely by dana to cover the retreat costs of groceries, utilities, supplies and everything it takes to maintain and run the center year round and continue to offer retreats freely. Community and generosity make this all possible - thank you!
Teacher Support
Our teachers at Dhamma Dena, like many around the world, offer their teachings freely and rely on the generosity of students for support. This approach is rooted in the Buddhist practice of “dana”, a Pali word meaning “generosity” or “giving freely”. This practice of dana has sustained the free offerings of these wisdom teachings for much of Buddhism’s 2,600-year-old history. Practicing generosity is believed to foster lovingkindness and compassion, deepen awareness of our interconnectedness, and encourage non-attachment.
Your contributions enable teachers to lead a life devoted to teaching both at Dhamma Dena and in QTBIPOC communities worldwide, including those without the means to donate. Your offerings help support and sustain teachers materially, emotionally, and spiritually, helping them meet their daily personal and family needs. You will have an opportunity to offer a contribution to your teachers at the end of this program. Your gift of teacher dana is deeply appreciated!
Fresh "Lev" White
Fresh "Lev" White
Fresh “Lev” White (hey/they/love) is a love and compassion activist. He offers mindfulness, meditation, diversity training, writing, and coaching as tools for shifting all of us towards more authentic, conscious, and passionate living. As a certified professional co-active coach (CPCC), and professional trainer, Lev has offered over 250 diversity trainings in the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond. He is mindfully and lovingly grounded at the East Bay Meditation Center, in Oakland, CA, and a grateful graduate of Spirit Rock’s Community Dharma Leadership (CDL) and Dedicated Practitioner (DPP) programs. Lev is also trained in Mindful Self-Compassion as offered by the Center for Mindful Self-Compassion, founded by Kristin Neff and Chris Germer. From SF Drag King 1999, to SF Pride Grand Marshall 2016, to celebrating his 9th year as a teacher at the East Bay Meditation Center, Lev uses their coaching, leadership, and teaching certifications to entertain, ground us in the present, and prepare us for the work of both meeting and creating our future with seeds of love, compassion and empathy. https://affirmativeacts.org
Ramona Lisa Ortiz-Smith
Ramona Lisa Ortiz-Smith
Ramona Lisa Ortiz-Smith, MBA (she/her) brings over 25 years of cumulative meditation practice and spiritual studies to her livelihood as a Spiritual Teacher and Leader. Silent Vipassana (insight) meditation retreats, Theravada Buddhist studies and earth-based indigenous spirituality and healing arts are at the heart of her practice. She is a MTI Certified Mindfulness Teacher, Certified Cloud Sangha Mentor, Focusing Initiatives International Certified Indigenous Focusing Oriented Therapy (IFOT) Practitioner and she is amongst the first cohort to complete East Bay Meditation Center’s (EBMC) 2-year Spiritual Teacher and Leadership training. Ramona Lisa’s spiritual studies include completing Spirit Rock Meditation Center’s Dedicated Practitioners Program (DPP6) and East Bay Meditation Center’s (EBMC) Commit to Dharma Program (C2D3). She recently accepted an invitation to participate in the 2025-2028 IMS/Spirit Rock Teacher Training program. https://www.freespiritofferings.com
Dr. Hy V. Huynh
Dr. Hy V. Huynh
Dr. Hy V. Huynh (they/them) is a Buddhist community psychologist and mindfulness meditation teacher. They’ve been studying and practicing Theravadan (vipassana) meditation for over 15 years and did much of their early training in rich culturally Buddhist communities within Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand. By day, they’re a global mental health researcher, practitioner, and professor, advocating for the mental health of marginalized communities worldwide, particularly for youth living in residential care, immigrants and refugees, and the queer and trans community, both locally and abroad. By night, they’re a community gatherer and space holder, leading meditation groups and courses for the queer and trans / QTBIPOC community in Durham, NC. Much of how they show up in the world is inspired by their Vietnamese lineages, QTBIPOC Buddhist teachers, and their queer and trans ancestors, all of whom have fought for their right to exist and have demonstrated beautiful, alternative ways of loving and caring for one another.
Retreat FAQ
Retreat FAQ
What is the nearest airport to the center?
Palm Springs International Airport (PSP). Ontario (ONT) is the second closed aiport (about an hour and a half away) and sometimes has cheaper flight options, however we are unable to do pick ups and drop offs there.
Will I be able to get a ride to and from the airport to the center?
We offer rides to and from the Palm Springs International Airport (PSP) for $30 each way. You can specify that you need to be picked up or dropped off in your registration and we will contact you to arrange that. You can also email us at retreats@dhammadena.org. Please be prepared to wait for consolidated pick-ups and drop-offs and please avoid late night or early morning arrivals and departures. There will also be a retreat carpool/ride share and encourage retreatants to support each other and the center by offering each other rides to and from the retreat.
I want to come but I can’t afford to get there. Is there any support I can get with travel costs?
The Open Dharma Foundation offers scholarships for helping to cover the cost of travel for retreats. You can apply here: https://opendharmafoundation.org/scholarship
Does this retreat include food and lodging? What will those be like?
Yes, this retreat includes lodging and 3 vegetarian meals daily, prepared by retreat cook extraordinaire, Parisa Ghaderi. Dhamma Dena has been lovingly (and often creatively) built by Ruth Denison’s students over the course of the last forty years. The structures and atmosphere can be described as rustic, quirky, beautiful and a work in progress. There is a main house where the kitchen and the office are located, the zendo (or meditation hall), two main houses for retreatants, as well as a range of other structures and trailers to stay in. On the grounds, there is also a walking labyrinth as well as four outhouses, two outdoor showers and a bathhouse. Residents are provided with either their own room or trailer or a shared room or trailer and access to single stall shared bathrooms as well as outhouses and outdoor showers around the land. Housing options depend on what is available at the time you arrive. Please let us know if you have accessibility needs around your housing before you come. We have a very limited number of single rooms, so please only request this if it is absolutely necessary for you. Camping on the land or staying in your van/RV are also options.
I’m on a special diet. Will I be able to cook my own meals?
Food provided for retreatants will include options for a variety of diets, and we ask that you indicate your dietary needs in the registration form so we can meet them. We do have kitchens available if your diet requires that you cook your own meal. Please indicate this is what you plan to do on your registration form (or email us at retreats@dhammadena.org) so we can arrange a kitchen for you to use.
How much dana should I give?
There is no one answer to this question. We encourage you to give dana according to your heart and your means and to cultivate and appreciate the beautiful quality of generosity within. The meditation center, the teachers and the cooks offer their services freely and receive no payment other than what the community gives to support them and to support the teachings to continue to be given freely into the future.
Can I bring my dog or pet?
No, we cannot accommodate dogs or other pets on this retreat. If you have a service animal as described in the American Disabilities Act, please let us know as soon as possible so we can reserve you an appropriate room.
Is this retreat wheelchair accessible? Will it meet my access needs?
Yes, the facilities are wheelchair accessible, offering two ADA bedrooms and bathrooms and a fragrance free environment. Please let us know your access needs when registering. Dhamma Dena is committed to making the center accessible to all who would like to come.
What do I need to bring?
Loose and comfortable clothes, suitable for both moderate and cold weather
Slip on shoes for going in and out of buildings more easily
Shoes suitable for hiking in the desert
Sunglasses
Sun hat
Sunblock lotion
Water bottle
Flashlight or headlamp
Alarm Clock (we have additional alarm clocks to borrow from the office, as you are asked to check in or put away your mobile phone for the retreat)
Toiletries and personal hygiene products – please avoid all fragrances (see the Fragrance Free Policy)
Warm outerwear as evenings and mornings can be quite chilly in the desert
Optional but highly recommended: fragrance free lip balm, body lotion or oil (skin gets dry in the desert), gloves & scarves, umbrella & rain gear, your personal meditation cushions/benches (the Zendo is well-stocked with a wide variety of these, as well as chairs, so you don't need to bring your own unless you wish)
Sheets and towels will be provided but you’re welcome to bring your own
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