Retreats

  • $363.00 – Residential Stay
    plus dana (offered at the end of the retreat) to the teacher and to Heartwood. You can read more about the practice of dana here.
  • $276.00 – Commuter Option
    plus dana (offered at the end of the retreat) to the teacher and to Heartwood.
    Commuters attend the full retreat, including lunch and dinner, but are not provided with overnight accommodations. It is important to note that by registering as a commuter, you agree to attend the entire retreat and to arrive and depart at the scheduled time each day. Your presence is important, as having retreatants come and go or miss sessions can disrupt the container created by group practice.

Date & Time Details: Opening Day: check in is between 2-5pm, with orientation at 5:30pm and supper at 6pm. Closing Day: ends at 11am.

Location: Heartwood Refuge and Retreat Center

Address: 159 Osceola Rd. Hendersonville, NC 28739

Contact: Retreat Manager
[email protected]
828-356-5568

Cancellation Policy: Full refund issued for cancellations received at least 4 weeks prior to the event

An $89 cancellation fee retained for cancellations received between 2 and 4 weeks prior to the event

No refund will be issued for cancellations received less than 2 weeks prior to the event

Room Assignments: Rooms are double-occupancy. Depending on the number of retreatants, if single rooms are available, we assign them in order of registration to those who registered earliest.

Email us about program
Program is fully booked

Mental Purification on the Buddhist Path

with Ronya Banks

October 24 - 28, 2018

Program is fully booked

During this retreat, you will learn step-by-step instructions on how to use Vipassana (Mindfulness) meditation and related Buddhist principles to purify your mind of the mental defilements that mar its naturally spacious, illumined beauty.  

Since the Buddha’s teachings stress that genuine enlightenment lies precisely in purity of mind, one of the primary purposes of spiritual practice is to liberate the mind from these defilements, and experience Nibbana (Awakening) directly.

While immersing ourselves in the beauty and simplicity of the Heartwood Refuge Retreat center, this silent meditation retreat’s schedule will include formal sitting meditation, walking meditation, daily dharma talks, specific instructions, Q&A periods, interviews, optional stretch periods and chanting.

The only pre-requisite for this retreat, is your having a genuine inquisitiveness and call to spiritual life.  It is appropriate for all levels of experience, including new and more experienced meditators.

Leader

Ronya Banks
Founder and lead teacher of the Asheville Insight Meditation center, in Asheville, North Carolina, Ronya Banks originally began her meditation practice in 1985, and she has personally spent over a year on silent residential Insight Meditation retreats with over 30 different teachers.   In addition to experience as a Theravada Buddhist nun, Ronya is also a graduate of the Spirit Rock & Insight Meditation Society’s joint Community Dharma Leader program.  She has been teaching for over a decade to people from all over the world.  Ms. Banks earlier life also included being a business entrepreneur, consultant, and single mother of…
Learn more about Ronya Banks