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ONGOING EVENTS THE DAILY SIT via Zoom at 12:00 pm - 12:45 pm (Eastern) Learn more HERE Join us daily at 12:00 PM (Eastern) Mornin' Meditations Zoom Recording Archive Check this homepage for updates and the Upcoming Events page for all events. We will add more events during 2026! UPCOMING EVENTS UPCOMING RETREATS *SAVE THE DATES* MORE INFORMATION COMING SOON Vallecitos Retreat Between Spiritual Bypass and Stress Reduction: Mindfulness and Deep Psychological Work, An Intensive Retreat for Mental Health Professionals July 1-8, 2026 Finding Balance in Chaos: A Mindfulness Retreat for Coming Back to Ourselves August 4-9, 2026 The Institute for Meditation and PsychotherapyCertificate Program September 18, 2026-May 9, 2027 BCBS Opening Cert Retreat September 18-23, 2026 Copper Beech Retreat w/ Chris Germer October 2-9, 2026 BCBS Householder Retreat TBA A Loving Community Focused On Mindfulness for Psychotherapists and Lay Practitioners Read about Founders Bill & Susan Morgan >> WELCOMING YOU HOME Bill and Susan Morgan’s journey to where they are today began well before their 4-year silent retreat at the Forest Refuge in Barre Massachusetts*. In 2009, they felt it was time in their lives to seek a longer-term practice. They decided to see what it was like to be completely free from day-to-day worries and responsibilities in order to gather experience, train in spiritual practices, and deepen their own capacity for compassion and wisdom. At the end of four years, knowing they wanted to continue on the path they had begun on retreat, they carried home their experiences and knowledge and have dedicated their everyday-lives to nurturing, teaching, developing, and supporting a community of practitioners devoted to enriching their spiritual practice. Their life is built around daily practice, teaching, writing, offering retreats, and building their own refuge in the city where practitioners can come and deepen their own spiritual lives and practices. They open their home to those who genuinely want to follow a similar path. *The Forest Refuge is affiliated with the Insight Meditation Society Learn about Bill & Susan's 4-year silent retreat DANA May what we offer be of benefit to as many as possible. The practice of giving is universally recognized as one of the most basic human virtues. In the teaching of the Buddha, the practice of giving claims a place of special eminence, one which singles it out as being in a sense the foundation and seed of spiritual development. ~Bhikkhu Bodhi PAYPAL: Donate button below YOUR DONATION IS GREATLY APPRECIATED SPECIAL OFFERING: The Institute for Meditation and Psychotherapy Certificate Program Info & Apply >> Bill & Susan are meditation teachers within this Certificate Program sponsored by the Institute for Meditation and Psychotherapy (IMP). This nine-month program will comprehensively explore the integration of mindfulness and psychotherapy. The clinical and academic material will be studied in a manner that embodies the qualities of mindfulness, suffusing the inquiry with awareness, insight and compassion for self and others, and engaging both mind and heart.

Daily Reflection Sit Join us daily at 12:00 PM (Eastern) Panna The Daily Sit Categories PANNA Play Video Play Video 38:40 2021 April 26: Everything Rests on the Tip of Motivation What is driving our behavior in the moment? We learn to steer away from suffering and harmfulness and towards ease of wellbeing—by LETTING GO of suffering & harm, by BEING WITH whatever is here in a friendly way, and by CARING FOR for the pain that is here. Play Video Play Video 38:35 2021 April 22: Nuts & Bolts of Right Intention Bringing more granular attention to cause and effect in direct experience. Play Video Play Video 38:35 2021 April 20: Right Resolve or Intention Translating non-greed, non-aggression and harmlessness into meaningful bite-size moments of practice. Play Video Play Video 38:31 2021 April 19: The SELF View & the MINDFUL View We learn to shift out of our usual way of relating to the world and shift into a posture of mindful caring attention. This is crucial for practice to grow. Play Video Play Video 38:47 2021 April 15: Starting Out & Staying the Course With mindfulness at the wheel navigating, and keeping Right View in sight, our choices are guided toward non-harm & good will. Play Video Play Video 38:14 2021 April 13: Right View is the North Star! Right or Wise View sets the stage at the outset of our mindfulness journey and keeps us on track for not causing more harm, encouraging more ease and well being. Play Video Play Video 39:31 2021 April 12: Overview of Right View Emphasis upon understanding causes of distress and causes of ease of wellbeing.

The Living Map A Living "Map" of the Buddha's Teachings on Mindfulness There are many ways to offer the Buddha's teachings and we offer this "Living Map" that illustrates and helps navigate a path we started last year and will continue into the foreseeable future. Below is The Wheel of Buddhist Terms created by Ellis Tingstad. I - The Starting Point: SETTING UP a Meditative Posture of Mindfulness - The "Holding" Environment II -PRACTICING the Practice of Mindfulness THE BASICS: The Buddha's Foundational Teachings

Daily Reflection Sit Join us daily at 12:00 PM (Eastern) The Paramis: Khanti (Patience) The Daily Sit Categories THE PARAMIS: KHANTI (PATIENCE) Play Video Play Video 37:40 2023 June 28: Nature as Teacher of Patience In the animate and inanimate, nature does not rush or lean forward but is persistent, constant, alert and accepting of conditions. Adopt the pace of nature, its secret is patience (Emerson). Play Video Play Video 38:43 2023 June 26: Recognizing the Harmful Impact of Impatience Understanding the potential harm caused by acting out of impatience. Honoring our pace and the pace of others, remembering that patience is rooted in compassion and equanimity. Play Video Play Video 14:27 2023 June 21: The Fruits of Patience Patience yields a bounty of fruits. Patience will ease our passage through samsara and by practicing patience, we grow strength, equanimity and compassion. Play Video Play Video 13:28 2023 June 19: Patience and Flexibility Cultivating patience as a proactive and engaged practice within the vicissitudes of our lives; just as we stretch the body, patience stretches the heartmind. Play Video Play Video 12:12 2023 June 14: Being a Slow Learner Practicing patience we give ourselves permission to be slow learners giving ourselves time to let our experience filter down from our minds to infuse our hearts and become deeply embodied. Play Video Play Video 12:47 2023 June 07: What We Learn from Working with Impatience Looking at what the parami of patience teaches us. The goodness of the practice itself, Veruca Salt and I want it now! Play Video Play Video 14:49 2023 June 05: The Value of Patience We want to cultivate patience so that we can be more at ease and skillful with discomfort. When we cultivate patience, we expand our capacity to accept and tolerate delay, interference and frustration.

Meditations & Chanting Setting the stage for meditation with movement with Susan and a sample of meditations and talks from Bill. Meditation Preparation -- Setting the Stage The body is always collecting some amount of tension. The moves in the videos below encourage and support the body to drop what is unnecessary. What Shake it Loose is a free-form practice that releases stress and opens the body and breathing in a playful unscripted way. Let the body have its way with you! This creates space for the heartmind to unwind its burdens in. When BEFORE formal meditation practice AND periodically throughout the day. How Move all of the joints, all of the limbs, as much as they are able. Let breathing be free and full as the body moves. Bend, open, lengthen, roll, shake off tension that has recently accumulated. Not so vigorously that you injure yourself, but enough to tenderize the meat on the bones. Meditations & Chanting Select from the playlists below to listen to a meditation series, hear a talk on The Hindrances and the Seven Factors of Awakening, or participate in a chanting session. Meditations Chanting Download a copy of Suffusion with the Devine Abidings Download a copy of Verses of Sharing and Aspiration

About the Founders We share a deep appreciation for the interweaving of meditation and psychotherapy in our personal journeys and in our work with others. For 15 years, we have been teaching and leading retreats for mental health professionals and more recently, for couples as well. We share a deep appreciation for the interweaving of meditation and psychotherapy in our personal journeys and in our work with others. We are board members and faculty for the Institute for Meditation and Psychotherapy, a non-profit organization which offers seminars, courses, retreats, and a certificate program for mental health professionals . We are also contributing authors to Mindfulness and Psychotherapy - Second Edition, a book that gives clinicians and students an introduction to mindfulness and it's clinical applications. Susan T. Morgan, MSN, RN, CS At 4 years old I saw starving children from Ethiopia on TV and cried. As a teen, I wanted to work with Mother Teresa. When I was 21, my mother died propelling me further into existential questioning. From these early experiences, the heart and mind found expression as a Psychiatric Clinical Nurse Specialist. Curiosity led to practicing in a diversity of settings and populations—homeless shelters, community clinics, psychiatric hospitals, research clinics, college mental health, Pervasive Developmental Disorders, artists and writers, undergraduate and graduate students, ordinary folk, and couples. These days, I am drawn to work with therapists and caregivers seeking to deepen their own meditation practice and therapeutic presence. It is a joy and a privilege to work with those interested in growing at the edges of their comfort zone. In 1992, the heart and mind found a new avenue of expression. I began practicing in Zen and Vipassana traditions, and more recently, Tibetan practices. In December 2013, I completed a four-year silent meditation retreat at the Forest Refuge in Barre, MA. It is my deepest joy to practice the dharma and to share that practice with those who are interested. Loving-kindness and mindfulness of the body are two themes that have emerged as pivotal in both my personal practice and my teaching. William D. Morgan, PsyD The first wave of Buddhist meditation came to our shores while I was an undergraduate at Tufts University in the early ’70s. I majored in Eastern religion at Tufts and was drawn to meditation immediately. When I was 19, my father died propelling me toward a deeper search for meaning. I took a year sabbatical after my sophomore year and spent six months in a Trappist monastery. I spent the following summer at Mt. Baldy Zen Center in California and lived at Chogyam Trungpa’s Tibetan center in Boston upon graduating in 1975. I then gravitated toward vipassana practice and did three 3-month courses at the Insight Meditation Society with Joseph Goldstein. Following this , I earned my Psy.D. and began a private practice in Cambridge and Quincy. I have led retreats and taught meditation since 1984, and particularly enjoy working with people to incorporate meditation into their lives in a personally meaningful and enlivening way. With Susan, I completed a 4-year retreat at the Forest Refuge in December, 2013. In November 2009, Bill and Susan Morgan began what would become a four-year silent meditation retreat at the Forest Refuge, the Insight Meditation Society's center for experienced meditators seeking longer-term retreat practice. Bill and Susan were interviewed about their experience by John Spaulding of the Insight Meditation Society . Watch the first episode below. You can also watch the entire series on videopart1 A 4-Year Silent Meditation Retreat, Pt. 1: How It Began Play Video

Daily Reflection Sit Join us daily at 12:00 PM (Eastern) The Seven Factors of Awakening: Concentration The Daily Sit Categories THE SEVEN FACTORS OF AWAKENING: CONCENTR... Play Video Play Video 37:47 2025 February 26 : Concentration Using a Metta Body Scan When developing concentration, we engage caring attention in the act of tracking by bringing attention to different areas of the body without analyzing what sensations are present. Instead we simply notice or track the placement of attention and offering the body part metta or lovingkindness. Play Video Play Video 38:22 2025 February 24 : Good Food for the Busy Mind Mantras are phrases, words, or sounds repeated silently or chanted out loud, to collect, calm and focus the mind on one object. Metta phrases are a type of mantra that encourage goodwill. Uniting the breath and metta phrases support the heart & mind to unify and be at ease. Play Video Play Video 38:18 2025 February 19 : Reviewing the Central Importance of Concentration Deeper insight will not arise without it. Play Video Play Video 37:48 2025 February 17 : Momentary Concentration: Khanika Samadhi Continuity of mindful attention from one moment to the next on more than one object; Following the bouncing ball of the mind without distraction. Play Video Play Video 37:57 2025 February 12 : Developing the Staying Power of Calm It is helpful to focus attention on neutral objects such as the breath or sounds. These don’t disturb and agitate the heartmind, making it easier to stay in a calm zone. Play Video Play Video 38:15 2025 February 10 : Concentration & the Holding Environment The Holding Environment, the opening posture for mindfulness meditation practice, is an embodied manifestation of concentration. Every time we set up the practice or reconstitute this foundational posture, we strengthen the skill of concentration. Play Video Play Video 36:52 2025 February 05 : Important Qualities that Help in the Development of Concentration Patience and Inner Compassion, not Striving! Play Video Play Video 37:42 2025 February 03 : Significance of Concentration Explaining the high correlation between the level of concentration and depth of insight.

Daily Reflection Sit Join us daily at 12:00 PM (Eastern) The Holding Environment: Breath Daily Sit Categories THE HOLDING ENVIRONMENT: BREATH Play Video Play Video 39:05 2020 December 01: Softening up the Breath Play, change it up, create it to be comfortable. Play Video Play Video 37:54 2020 September 17: The Holding Environment: Getting up close to the Breath The breath is Neutral object that we can rest attention on and regulate the system with. Play Video Play Video 38:09 2020 September 15: The Yin and Yang Orientations to the Breath Finding balance between receptivity and agency. Play Video Play Video 38:40 2020 September 14: Enlivening the Breath Bringing heartfelt attention to the breath Play Video Play Video 39:01 2020 May 13: Let the Breath Help You How does the breath want to breathe to re-establish calm stability? Play Video Play Video 39:16 2020 April 23: Blow Life Into Your Wind Instrument This is a wind instrument we have here. Blow life into it! Who else is going to? Play with modulating the breath to bring body-heartmind into ease and harmony. Play Video Play Video 39:37 2020 April 21: Befriending the Breath Get to know the breath. Check in. How does it FEEL right now?