Looking for escapes that encompass physical, spiritual, and psychological serenity¹? The meditation retreats are one of the most devotional ways to experience each of these adventurous escapes.

Meditation² retreats offer a perfect environment to connect with your inner self³ and detach from the worries of the outside world. These are the best techniques to re-establish a tuning between your mind, body, and heart.

Joining meditation retreats assists you in developing a sense of clarity and hope, which might not be possible to earn in your daily life.

Learning under professional mentors can help improve your meditation skills and adapt new techniques to avoid distractions. This post will guide you about the best meditation retreats in Northern California to explore.

If you plan to visit one such meditation holiday, you can check out Tripaneer. This platform organises a plethora of amazing meditation holidays and retreats, not just in northern California but across various stunning locations in the USA, at the best price guaranteed.

1. Ananda Meditation Retreat

Located on 72 acres of land, the Ananda Meditation Retreat Center lies in Northern California’s Sierra foothills. Lush green gardens surround the retreat, showcasing a beautiful combination of wildlife, indigenous species, and cultivation.

Along with garden benches for visitors to relax around the wonderful little ponds, this retreat offers you the opportunity to enjoy a peaceful environment in a meditative ambience. Guests here have various accommodations, and this retreat asks for a minimum stay of 3 nights.

In addition to different accommodation plans, visitors can enjoy hiking trails that take just half an hour’s drive to the Yuba River. Devotion, Swami’s Dome, Peace of Mind⁴, Krishna, Generosity, and Kindness are the names of their famous accommodations.

These accommodations are set up in a beautiful and meditative ambience that resembles their name, where you get pretty mountainous views depending on the accommodation you choose.

They provide meditation programs and silent retreats exclusively designed for women. The retreat offers various interesting things and beautiful locations to stay; you can meditate at the domed temple or in the middle of serene gardens.

2. Silent Stay Meditation and Retreat Center

The Silent Stay Meditation and Retreat Center was established in Vacaville and later moved to the town of Montecito. Located in the county of Santa Barbara, this retreat provides one of the best silent meditation experiences.

It offers private and shared rooms to visitors with beautiful mountainous and garden views. They provide silent retreats, whose range varies from two to nine days, and these packages include swimming, quiet contemplation, relaxing walks, and yoga.

The retreat centre provides excellent accommodations; you must cook your meals in a functional kitchen. Get a chance to bond with other guests through routine meditation sessions that may include therapeutic massages.

Further, they offer silent meditation entitled Heartfulness meditation, which is a three-step process that allows guests to experience our spiritual heart. Bathe in the silent meditation in a simple, peaceful environment around true nature.

The Heartfulness meditation is designed to understand your true self with infinite presence against our human setting. This meditation retreat centre also provides several private sessions and mini-retreats.

These retreats are an incredible choice for people looking for reliable access to inner peace, creativity, joy, and freedom from the chaotic world that always rattles in the mind.  

3. Anubhuti Meditation and Retreat Center

Located on the summit of a hill near San Francisco Bay, the Anubhuti Meditation and Retreat Center is a place to experience spirituality. Founded by Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual Organization, the centre is operated by volunteers.

Anubhuti is a word taken from the Hindi language, which means “to experience with the heart, ” allowing people of all backgrounds to experience spirituality. Whether you are here to learn relaxation or Raja Yoga meditation techniques, they will teach you meditation practice and Raja Yoga with divine self-knowledge.

These volunteers are those who have benefited from the practices and insights of Brahma Kumaris and want to provide their time happily and freely. Get instructed by the experienced teachers and practitioners of Raja Yoga and indulge yourself in a peaceful meditation environment. 

The location is surrounded by the protected open space of 1600 acres and provides authentic 360° views of Novato Creek, Marin County’s rolling hills, Bay, and Pacheco Pond. The goal of the retreats is to improve one’s tolerance and self-respect, and all these programs are assisted by the Raja Yoga practitioners.

The centre is famous for organizing its excellent workshops, online courses, and retreats run by experienced Raja Yoga teachers and practitioners. Many practitioners have exceptional qualifications that can bring spirituality into daily life.

4. The Expanding Light Retreat

Located beside the highlands of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, the Expanding Light Retreat resides in the Ananda Village in the city of Nevada. It connects the Ananda Yoga with the sacred meditation practices for profound devotional realization and self-recognition.

They provide you with indoor and outdoor accommodation options that can be chosen at your convenience. It includes a bonus, which is specially prepared vegetarian meals for the guests practising meditation and Yoga.

In addition to the meditation sessions, massage and healing therapies are also available. The retreat centre offers various retreat options, including yoga therapy, private retreats, spiritual counselling, and private and group yoga sessions.

They offer you Ananda meditation along with Ananda yoga. Their meditation retreats and meditation teacher training are methods to empathize with the spirituality within yourself.

The Ananda Meditation allows people to reduce stress, improve self-awareness, establish a deep connection with the silent spirit, and relax. You can also get a chance to acquire a personal retreat to reconnect yourself with inner joy.

Personal retreats are short programs; to get personal retreats, you need to make reservations a day before your arrival so that they can serve you suitably.

5. Vajrapani Institute

Situated closer to Boulder Creek in California, the Vajrapani Institute resides in the Santa Cruz Mountains. The institute offers a plethora of programs that vary from a few days to weeks in duration.

Established on the ideals of Gelug Buddhist traditions, the institute supports the conversion of divine teachings into lifetime experiences via retreats. As a spiritual association, they serve the requirements of retreaters in all the customs.

Founded by Lama Thubten Yeshe, a Tibetan Buddhist, and Lama Zopa Rinpoche, the spiritual director of the institute, the staff supports its guests with the energy of holy objects.

The retreat institute is devoted to looking after the rich living customs of wisdom and humanity given by Lama Tsong Khapa. Associated with the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition, they believe in the values of wisdom, trust, loving-hearted, diversity, harmony, clarity, and spaciousness.

They offer private as well as group retreats. You can choose to stay in a personal cabin or group retreats that let you join in with the other trainees and gain exceptional experience.

Customized programs are also available for young adults and families. Along with the regular private and group accommodation facilities, they also provide nutritional vegetarian meals with meditative tools.

6. Ratna Ling Retreat Center

Ratna Ling Retreat Center resides in the city of Cazadero, California. The retreat centre is tucked into the oak, redwood, and pine coastal forests, offering a peaceful and mesmerizing environment. Overlooking Sonoma County’s pretty hills, the centre offers spectacular views from its accommodations.

It has splendid suite-styled rooms and cottages that provide scenic views of mountains with full-proof privacy. It operates under the Buddhist tradition and teachings of Tarthang Tulku, the centre’s founder. Years of old retreats are converted in such a way that suits the modern world’s requirements.

The centre has various customized programs, including meditation, personal retreats, yoga, spirituality, and healing. A collection of private cottages expands across the magnificent landscape, providing guests with a memorable retreat experience with privacy and relaxation.

Each cottage is like a home to itself, including a living room, bathroom, outdoor deck, and stocked kitchen with a dining area. You’ll get a vegetarian meal as you are here to commune with nature and your inner true self. Enjoy cycling or hiking in the beautiful expansion around the retreat or to the Salt Point State Park.

7. Northern California Vipassana Center, Dhamma Manda

The Northern California Vipassana Center is also popularly known as the Dhamma Manda. Located in Lake County’s Cobb Mountain near the city of Kelseyville in California, the centre is devoted to the Vipassana Meditation.

Vipassana is among India’s most ancient methods of mediation, which means “to look at things as they actually are”. The centre is one of the many Vipassana centres spreading worldwide, which are dedicated to the teachings of S.N. Goenka in the Sayagyi U Ba Khin’s custom.

Nestled among a landscape of seventeen acres, the location is surrounded by oak, fin, and pine trees. Vipassana is the process of self-filtration by self-realization, and this meditation technique can be practised by anyone as it has nothing to do with any sectarianism.

A 10-day residential Vipassana is among the most popular programs here. Dhamma Manda offers various short-term and long-term programs for everyone, from children to adults. Experience the regular Vipassana retreat that demands noble silence for ten hours of meditation, which is distributed with breaks and rest, including a videotaped discussion by Goenka.

The registrations start 3 months before the beginning date of the course, which also includes a waiting period. Further, the personal silent retreat programs for mental tuning are operated by a Code of Discipline and are provided based on voluntary donations. 

8. Insight Retreat Center

Situated just outside Santa Cruz, California, the Insight Retreat Center offers retreats mainly dedicated to Vipassana, the insight meditation. They provide silent meditation retreats based on the salvation teachings of Buddha and Vipassana meditation.

The centre is completely supported by the generosity of a section of practitioners, teachers, donors, and volunteers. Executed entirely on voluntary donations, enrolling here includes a waiting period and is made solely based on the lottery system.

The retreat centre has private rooms to offer, and they mostly provide organic vegetarian meals to the guests, which are free of cost. IRC provides residential retreats as well as online retreats, which are executed by a videoconference.

They run on various weekends and weekdays and provide different volunteer programs and study retreats; they have ample options. A daily routine here includes silent mindfulness retreats⁵ with walking and sitting meditation. Dharma talks, instructions, and organized practice discussions with mentors are also part of routine retreats.

9. Nyingma Institute Buddhist Center

Nyingma Institute is a retreat centre situated at the hummocks of Highland and Hearst in Berkeley, CA. Set in a beautiful environment, the centre offers weekend, day-long, and long-term retreats with nurturing communities to find inner freedom.

Various options for accommodations are available. You can also choose luxury rooms with spectacular Golden Gate Bridge views and a shared bathroom and kitchen. Strengthen your mind with chanting, meditation programs, self-reflections, self-realizations, and relaxation techniques.

Operated according to the Nyingma Tibetan customs, there are personal retreat programs available. Vegetarian meals are included in each program as they nourish your health. However, guests are allowed to bring pre-cooked meat and fish in special conditions.

Participate in routine discourses and get a chance to relax in the middle of a Himalayan-themed garden. Further, they offer various in-person and online classes, workshops, yoga teacher training, and a path of liberation.

10. Spirit Rock Meditation Center

Tucked into the woodlands of West Marin in San Francisco, the Spirit Rock Meditation Center encourages the guests to release and renew their true selves. They offer Buddha Dharma, Metta, and Vipassana kinds of meditation to rejuvenate the guests in their peaceful environment.

Various accommodations and retreat programs are available for beginners and experienced learners. Many programs and sessions are offered, varying from two-hour classes to sessions hosted for weeks, months, and years.

Regular accommodations here consist of single and dual rooms, appetizing vegetarian meals, and shared bathroom amenities. Immerse yourself in the different kinds of meditative practices that can be done while sitting, working, and walking.

Spend a soothing period in the practice meetings and dharma talks for an hour with the mentors, who are all a part of this routine here. They also have several specialized programs for women, students, and families.

Meditation retreats are worth the visit to take a break from the daily hustle and bustle. If you want to know more about the mediation holidays and when it takes place, check out Tripaneer today. Book your slot now to experience tranquillity and practice mindfulness in your daily life.

1. Arnout, Boshra A. “The relative contribution of psychological serenity and self-regulated learning strategies in predicting academic engagement among university students.” International Journal of Medical Research & Health Sciences 8.11 (2019): 1-11. ↩︎
2. Sedlmeier, Peter, et al. “The psychological effects of meditation: a meta-analysis.” Psychological bulletin 138.6 (2012): 1139. ↩︎
3. Shotter, John. “The social construction of our inner selves.” Journal of constructivist psychology 10.1 (1997): 7-24. ↩︎
4. Lee, Yi-Chen, et al. “The construct and measurement of peace of mind.” Journal of Happiness studies 14 (2013): 571-590. ↩︎
5. McClintock, Andrew S., Marcus A. Rodriguez, and Noga Zerubavel. “The effects of mindfulness retreats on the psychological health of non-clinical adults: A meta-analysis.” Mindfulness 10 (2019): 1443-1454. ↩︎

Last Updated on February 20, 2024 by Namita Soren