Name of the Center: Spirit Rock Meditation Center

Address: 5000 Sir Francis Drake Blvd Woodacre, CA 94973

Website: www.spiritrock.org

Phone Number: (415) 488-0164

Tradition(s): Insight Meditation / Theravada

Technique(s): Insight Meditation, metta, concentration practice, more formless practices, and occasional yoga and qi-gong in addition to the above.

Teacher(s): Over 20 core teachers at Spirit Rock, led most notably by Jack Kornfield. Many more than 20 teachers teach there throughout the year.

Cost: on the pricier side of insight meditation centers, with a week-long retreat costing between $75 - $120 / night. Cost is on a sliding scale and many scholarships are available.

Housing: Housing is in one of 4 residential dormitories (each one named after one of the brahma viharas...), with a mix of single dorms and double bedrooms. Housing is simple and nice.

Schedule: There is a full year-round schedule here consisting of many day-long activities, many 5-9 day retreats, and the longer 2-month retreat which is taught each spring (February thru March).

Entrance Requirements: Most all of the retreats and events don't have any entrance requirements, except the 2-month course which requires that you have done one 9-day course.

Food: Food is all vegetarian, and generally includes lots of international dishes. Breakfast, lunch, and tea are served.

Setting: Spirit Rock is north of San Francisco in Marin County and is in a fairly secluded plot of land in the rolling hills of Marin County.

Facilities: As well as the 4 housing dorms, there is also a large meditation building, that includes the meditation hall (big enough to fit around 100 meditators), 2 walking rooms, and a large foyer with space for shoes. There is also a dining hall at the bottom of the hill, and outside the silent retreat space is a large bookstore and community meditation hall where on-going events are conducted.

Size: Spirit Rock is fairly large and can accommodate a large retreat of 80 or more people as well as a smaller retreat (in the community meditation hall) at the same time.

Clothing Restrictions: None

Etiquette: Etiquette is based on the 5-precepts and noble silence.

Issues of Rites and Rituals: There is some bowing that goes on here, but it's much more loose than most retreat centers. Jack Kornfield, the head teacher, intentionally doesn't bow and wants people to feel comfortable without any particular rites or rituals.

Openness of Discussion: While I was there I found the discussion with many of the teachers to be very open during interview periods. Several of my teacher spoke openly about the progress of insight and the stages of enlightenment.

Conduciveness to Practice: Spirit Rock, if you can afford it, is one of the best places I've found to practice insight meditation in the United States, and has some of the most well-rounded, flexible, and developed teachers I've encountered.

Openness about Hardcore Practice: Again, the teachers I spoke with were extremely open to talking about Hardcore practice. These included Guy Armstrong, Howie Cohn, John Travis, and Jack Kornfield.

Problems?: The only problem I would mention, when sitting with Jack, is that he has a bit of a groupie following that can be kind of annoying. This was more apparent at a shorter retreat (9 days) where people were coming up to him after the dharma talk to have him sign their books (wtf guys!?). There is also a super-strong boomer mentality at these retreats, that fortunately because it is silent doesn't become to irritating. There was also an interesting phenomena where with the more loose teachers people would be a little bit more sloppy in their discipline and sometimes a lot more noisy and occasionally annoying. This wasn't a big problem for me, but could be for people that are into a more strict mode of practice where they expect everyone around them to be in a similar mode.