Gateway to Liberation: Cultivating True Forgiveness

Gateway to Liberation: Cultivating True Forgiveness is a five-night silent meditation retreat at Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Woodacre, California. Rooted in Vipassana and Insight Meditation, it is a residential retreat for experienced practitioners who want to explore forgiveness and letting go through mindfulness, kindness, compassion, equanimity, and gratitude. A seven-person team led by Noliwe Alexander, DaRa Williams, Yong Oh, and nakawe cuebas berrios guides the days.

What to Expect

The retreat treats forgiveness as a practice of freeing ourselves from remaining captive to a person, a circumstance, or a past experience. Starting from where each person is, participants investigate the opening of the heart and mind, even in small ways. The teachers are clear that this can be difficult. The aim is not perfect forgiveness but a life with less suffering and more boundless joy, and the approach holds space for trauma, loss, grief, and anger.

Silence is held throughout, with exceptions for teacher-led Q&A, small groups, and other practice meetings. The first day begins with arrival in the afternoon, an opening session, orientation, and a settling into silence. The following days bring daily meditation sessions, Dharma talks, movement practice, teacher-led inquiry and small groups, silent meals, and time for personal practice. On the final morning there are closing sessions and a closing ceremony, with an invitation to offer dana to the teachers and to Spirit Rock, and departure by 11:00 AM.

The Teachers

Noliwe Alexander has studied Vipassana meditation for over 20 years and has taught retreats, sitting groups, day-longs, and class series. She dedicates her practice and teaching to BiPOC, LGBTQIA+, at-risk, and elder communities.

DaRa Williams has practiced Insight Meditation for over 25 years and completed the Spirit Rock/IMS/IRC Teacher Training. She is a Spirit Rock Stewarding Teacher and an Associate Guiding Teacher at IMS. With a background in mental health, she is also a trainer, wellness coach, and certified Focusing-Oriented Therapist, and she trains in Aboriginal Focusing Oriented Complex Trauma Therapy.

Yong Oh is a core teacher at the Durango Dharma Center and at Sacred Mountain Saṅgha. He has a particular interest in nature Dharma, devotional expression, and supporting caregivers and communities of color in the Dharma.

nakawe cuebas berrios has practiced Buddhism for over 20 years. She completed the IMS Teacher Training Program, studied in the DPP and CDL affiliated with Spirit Rock, and sits on the Teachers Council of New York Insight.

Hakim Tafari is the movement teacher. Originally from the U.K. and now living in Los Angeles, he is a runner, meditator, and martial arts student, best known for his love of Tai Chi Quan, which he has studied and taught for over 20 years.

Isabel Adon, a teacher in training, is committed to bringing the Buddha's teachings into daily life while befriending joy and sorrow.

Aishah Shahidah Simmons, also a teacher in training, is a Black feminist lesbian survivor-healer, Buddhist practitioner, Insight Meditation teacher, and filmmaker-writer. She has practiced vipassanā since 2002, has more than a year of silent retreat practice, serves as Resident Teacher at Delaware Valley Insight, and is in the 2025–2028 Spirit Rock/IMS Teacher Training Program.

The Setting

The retreat takes place at Spirit Rock's Upper Meditation Hall campus in Woodacre. Rooms are single or shared double, and most of the campus rooms are single occupancy, with only 16 of 80 being doubles. Single rooms are limited and are first prioritized for people with serious medical needs. All meals are provided. Retreat commuters, who take part in the full program and meals without overnight lodging, have a shared day-rest area. Commuter places require prior completion of at least one weeklong silent residential Vipassana retreat, and open once the retreat is full with a waitlist, or sooner for those with caregiving circumstances.

Before You Go

This retreat suits intermediate to advanced practitioners. Spirit Rock suggests first attending two or three daylong programs, then a shorter retreat of four or five nights. Anyone with limited retreat experience can contact registration to talk through readiness. The retreat is offered in English.

Registration includes lodging, all meals, meditation sessions and teachings, Q&A and small groups, and movement practice. It does not include teacher dana, transportation, or personal supplies. Sliding scale rates, payment plans, and several needs-based scholarships are available, including options for BIPOC participants, young adults, parents and guardians, and people facing financial hardship.

Because participants share close quarters, anyone who is sick is asked to stay home. Masks are optional, and no proof of vaccination or compulsory COVID testing is required.