SEEING SECURITY EVERYWHERE:

Finding Refuge in the Storm of Uncertainty

Weekend/ June 12-14, 2026

9-Day / June 12-21, 2026 (full-time or part-time)

Online Intensive Meditation Retreat

with Michele McDonald and Jesse Maceo Vega-Frey

In the Attadanada Sutta, the Buddha is quoted as saying,

Not harsh, not greedy, not perturbed, everywhere in tune:

This is the reward — I say when asked — for those who are free from pre-conceptions.

For one unperturbed — who understands — there is no accumulating.

Abstaining, unaroused, they see security everywhere.

How can we find peace amid the volatility, compassion amid the tragedy, loving kindness amid the anger? During this era of tumult, possibility, hope and fear, we encourage our students to take the time to heed the call into silence and exploration - to use it as an opportunity to develop the beautiful qualities of mind that we know are available to us in any moment but which do not arise easily without training.

Join this group of teachers for a supported online Self-Retreat. While your individual schedule may vary from other yogis in the group, every participant will be offered:

~ Daily practice instructions

~ Interviews (Group or individual, Depending on size)

~ Dhamma talks

~ Group chanting in the evenings

Instructions, talks, and chanting will be offered live and will also be recorded so that yogis in various time zones can listen and watch at their convenience.

We understand that the conditions of seclusion may vary greatly for all of us and so we cannot expect the same degree of support that we might have at a retreat center. Nevertheless, we expect all yogis who sign up to be able to have a the capacity to mostly stay in silence during their days, to primarily be yogis during this time - amid other tasks and responsibilities that may be necessary for us to manage from time to time. We understand that given the reality of their lives, many yogis will need to cook, clean, answer a few emails, respond to a bit of work, etc. Part of the value of self-retreat is the ability to integrate our practice into our daily lives. At the same time it is very easy for the protection of the container to fall apart entirely and without that protection our practice will not have the conditions in which to flourish.

Yogis will have three options to participate:

1. As Full-Time Yogis for the 9-Day Retreat you will be expected to hold a great-deal of seclusion and silence and participate in the full program for the full duration. These yogis will be included in the interview schedule posted each day for one-on-one teacher support during the week and have Q&A Sessions on Wednesday and the weekends. All sessions will be recorded and so can be watched again or, for yogis in distant time zones, viewed at your convenience. We only have the capacity for 20 full-time yogis - so we expect you to be fully on retreat during the practice period.

The full-time Intensive option is only open to students of ours who have sat in-person retreat courses with us in the past.

If you have been sitting with us online for some time and have other retreat experience and would like to join full time,

please get in touch with us by email and let's see what might work.

or

2. As Part-Time yogis for the 9-Day Retreat : you can join any sessions you are available to attend during the week and watch the recordings at your convenience. Part-Time yogis will not be included on the interview schedule. 

or

3. As Weekend Yogis : Open to all - you are invited to join for the entire opening weekend portion of the retreat.

SCHEDULE

The daily schedule will look something like this:

(all Times Hawaii Standard - Pacific+3, Mounatin +4, Central +5, Eastern+6)

3am ~ Sitting Meditation (without instructions)

5am ~ Sitting Meditation (without instructions)

6am ~ Walking Meditation with Instructions

7am  ~ Sitting Meditation with Instructions

10am  ~ Sitting with Instructions

11:30 ~ Interviews (weekdays), Q&A (weekends)

2pm  ~ Dhamma Talk

4pm  ~ Metta Chanting and Sit

Vipassana Hawaii regularly has participants for our online retreats from around the world. Please know that all sessions will be recorded and available to watch at your convenience. Interview times will take your time zone into consideration as much as possible.

Please contact Vipassana Hawaii with any questions you may have regarding your participation.

SCHOLARSHIPS

All fees for the program will go to sustaining the basic needs of the organization. NO ONE WILL BE TURNED AWAY FOR LACK OF FUNDS.

You may pay the full price upon registration or register for a scholarship amount that matches your budget. There is no request process: just sign up for what works for you. Please be aware that this open-payment system is an experiment and a risk for us. It will certainly require those who can afford to pay more than the base price do so in order to expand our ability to provide Dhamma to those who cannot.

We look forward to supporting you in the ways we know best during these challenging times.

TEACHER DANA

In accordance with tradition, all Vipassana Hawai’i internationally respected teachers offer their teachings free of charge and are supported through the freely-offered generosity of students and supporters. Costs associated with retreats cover the growing expenses associated with online services, online storage, broadcasting equipment, and website administration - but do not support teacher time, training, effort, or energy. We believe that this commitment helps keep the purity of the teachings alive and thriving, as it has for millennia. They do not collect salaries in keeping with the time-honored tradition of sharing openly the chance for peace. This allows us to keep our registration fees as low as possible but also means that the livelihood of our teachers is precarious. As a result, we strive to give back in any for - including monetarily - so that they may continue their endeavors and share their wisdom. Vipassana Teachers must be supported in this way if we are to keep this tradition alive, healthy, and with integrity in the modern era. Dana, or generosity, can be offered by cash or check at the end of the retreat or online here.

TEACHERS

Michele McDonald co-founded Vipassana Hawai’i in 1984 with Steven Smith. She has taught Insight meditation for thirty eight years. Beyond her commitment to the Vipassana Hawai’i Sangha, she teaches extensively throughout the United States, in Canada, Burma, and various locations around the world. Michele has been a quiet pioneer having being the first woman to teach a formal retreat in Burma, side-by-side with a senior monastic figure, Sayadaw U Lakkhana, Abbot of Kyaswa Monastery. Having worked with a wide range of Asian and Western teachers, Michele is most inspired by her practice with Dipa Ma and Sayadaw U Pandita and more recently in Burma with the Mya Taung Sayadaw. She appreciates teaching at many levels of practice and has enjoyed teaching three-month retreats for experienced students as well as developing meditation retreats for youth. Her style of teaching emphasizes helping individuals find entry points into stillness that are natural for them. She encourages an understanding of the path of insight and a gentle strengthening of mindfulness and concentration so that, ultimately, people can access the peaceful depths of their experience in every moment. Michele is thrilled when students begin to love their practice as their own.

Jesse Maceo Vega-Frey's teaching aims to inspire the skills, determination, and faith necessary to realize the deepest human freedom. He is a student of Michele McDonald and his approach is rooted in the tradition of Mahasi Sayadaw of Burma. As a teacher of Vipassana (insight) meditation within the broader context of Theravadan Buddhism his teaching encourages an exploration of the relationship between ethics, insight, and action. Perpetually intrigued by the dynamics between inner and outer change, Jesse is a writer of numerous essays and author of Insurgent Heart: A Vipassana Manual for the Guerrilla Yogi. Links to his writing can be found on his website: www.dolessforpeace.org as well as links to his weekly musical radio show, Mind to Mind: The Transmission. He is a spoon carver who loves to teach people about how to work with their hands and explore the relationship between labor, ownership, and kamma. He is the resident teacher for Vipassana Hawai’i and teaches around the world.

Please note our Cancellation Policy:

If you cancel less than 7 days prior to the event for a non-emergency, unfortunately we cannot afford to offer a refund for FULL TIME YOGIS. Last-minute cancellations are costly and usually mean that others cannot attend the retreat.