Retreats

  • $205.00 – 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.
  • $158.00 – Commuters Cost
    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. Commuters attend the full retreat, including breakfast, 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.

$100 deposit saves your spot up when you register early. The balance will be charged one month before the retreat.

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: View Here

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

Awakening Joy

with Ronya Banks

April 26 - 28, 2019

Dalai Lama:   “The purpose of life is to be happy.”

Sometimes in Mindfulness or Buddhist practice, one gets the impression that you shouldn’t enjoy “joy” or “beauty”.   There is nothing further from the truth!

Insight/Vipassana meditation practice is actually a path that cultivates genuine happiness.

With retreat practice and amidst the silent beauty, you will practice cultivating a deep acceptance of things as they are, underneath which is a deep current of peace and joy.  The whole weekend’s activities will be designed to support you in discovering your “natural joy” – the joy that is your birthright.

Join AIM’s founder and guiding teacher – Ronya Banks at the beautiful and private Heartwood Refuge & Retreat Center for a wonderful weekend meditation retreat.

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