Impermanence has struck our site. We are in the process of rebuilding it. See below for upcoming retreats. If you wish to register for one, email us at sangha@tristatedharma.org.
One Day Retreats for 2026
Pack a lunch, and come out for a day of quiet sitting and walking meditation.
One-day gatherings offer participants an opportunity for a day of silent meditation that includes sitting, walking and presentation of a Dharma Teaching.
No fee or registration is required. Donations are always appreciated to help cover expenses. Please bring a brown-bag lunch for yourself and tea will be provided. Please come a few minutes early so we can begin promptly at 10am.
Our plan is to provide one day gatherings monthly, on the 3rd Saturday of the month (if possible). Please check back for exact dates and locations. Times are 10am – 3pm. Come for all or part of the day.
The location for the day might be Earth Connection or Buddhist Dharma Center of Cincinnati. See dates and locations below.
No Registration Necessary. Please check our website before coming. Gatherings may be canceled due to weather. Dates may be changed.
IF AT EARTH CONNECTIONS, PLEASE TURN INTO THE FIRST DRIVEWAY ON THE LEFT AFTER THE INTERSECTION OF DELHI & NEEB. THE DRIVEWAY HAS A SIGN EAST PARKING SPORTS COMPLEX. GO UP THE HILL AND TURN RIGHT. DRIVE ACROSS THE PARKING LOT TO WHERE YOU SEE EARTH CONNECTION.
PLEASE DO NOT PARK IN THE EARTH CONNECTION (2ND LEFT) PARKING LOT.
One Day Retreat July 18 at Earth Connection 10am-3pm
Residential Retreats
Retreats consist of alternating periods of sitting and walking meditation, an evening talk by the teacher, and meals. There are periodic opportunities for personal interviews with the teacher during long retreats. Retreats are held in complete silence. Scroll down to see all retreats.
About our retreats: Our retreats support at most 25 people. All rooms are single occupancy. Bathrooms at Oakwood are single person facilities shared by a few rooms. All rooms at Transfiguration Spirituality Center have bathrooms. Towels and bed linens are provided. All meals are vegetarian. We do our best to handle dietary needs you specify when registering.
SCHOLARSHIPS:
It is Tri-State Dharma’s mission to make retreats available to meditators from Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana and beyond. To make these retreats affordable to all who wish to attend, the fees for each retreat are slightly less than the minimum amount needed to cover our expenses. This does not take into account the scholarships that we give for almost all retreats. If you are in a position to do so, please consider making a donation to Tri-State Dharma at the end of the retreat to help us continue this work. Thank you.
To request a scholarship please send an e-mail to Tri-State Dharma sangha@tristatedharma.org. No one will be turned away for lack of ability to pay.
Weeklong Retreat
July 10-17, 2026 – OAKWOOD RETREAT CENTER with Adam Stonebraker
Nothing Extra, Nothing Missing
A Heart-Centered Path of Simplicity
This silent retreat invites a return to the simple, steady heart of Buddhist practice. Rather than striving for special experiences or trying to fix ourselves, we explore a path of listening, softening, and trusting what is already present.
Rooted in early Buddhist teachings and the forest tradition, the retreat emphasizes mindfulness of the body, breath, and heart, along with cultivating ease, contentment, and a caring relationship to experience. Through silence and sustained practice, we learn to meet difficulty without judgment and to let go in ways that feel natural and humane.
As the week unfolds, clarity and compassion are revealed not through adding anything new, but through simplicity itself. This retreat is suitable for both newer and experienced practitioners who are drawn to a quiet, grounded, and heart-centered approach to meditation.
Adam Stonebraker, Guiding Teacher of Mountain Stream Meditation, has practiced since 1999 and taught since 2010. Rooted in the Thai Forest Tradition and the Bodhisattva path, his teaching emphasizes wisdom, openhearted awareness, and embodiment. He is mentored by Kittisaro & Thanissara and is currently in the 4 year Spirit Rock/IMS teacher training.
Location: Oakwood Retreat Center
Total Cost: $1300
Deposit: $200
5 Night Retreat
September 11-16, 2026 – OAKWOOD RETREAT CENTER with Lisa Ernst
Making Peace with Your Ego: Finding Freedom Through Letting Go
“Live in the nowhere you come from even though you have got an address here.” Rumi
During this retreat, we will explore the nature of our identity and sense of self we use to live in the world, as well as the wise space of heart and mind that lets go. As we practice meeting all the activity of self with mindfulness, steadiness, and kindness, our insight and compassion grow. The more we make peace with our ego, the more we dwell in our own boundless, empty nature. These practices also empower and support us in our challenging everyday lives. This silent retreat will include periods of sitting and walking meditation, daily instructions, dharma talks, q&a and meetings with the teacher.
Lisa Ernst is a meditation teacher, writer, and founder of One Dharma Nashville. Known for her embodied approach, she weaves Insight meditation, her primary path, with Zen wisdom and trauma-informed awareness. For 20 years Lisa has guided retreats, classes, and workshops across the U.S. and internationally.
Lisa has maintained a committed meditation practice for over 30 years in the Zen and Vipassana traditions. She received full teaching authorization through her primary teacher Trudy Goodman in the Thai Forest/Spirit Rock lineage. Lisa has taught at Spirit Rock, InsightLA, Southern Dharma, Big Bear Retreat Center and many more. She has also led pilgrimages to India and Costa Rica. Lion’s Roar and Tricycle Magazines have published a many of Lisa’s articles. She recently wrote an article on Maranasati, mindfulness of death, for Lion’s Roar. You can read it here.
Location: Oakwood Retreat Center
Total Cost: $940
Deposit: $200
5 Night Retreat
October 20-25 2026 – OAKWOOD RETREAT CENTER with Kevin Griffin and Greg Pergament teaching QiGong
Join us for a unique meditation retreat combining traditional Buddhist practices with recovery and Twelve Step work. Primarily conducted in silence, the retreat focuses on insight/mindfulness meditation, with additional interactive exercises, lectures, and meetings exploring ways that Buddhism and the Steps can complement each other. Daily Qigong practice brings added benefit and energy to the retreat.
The emphasis will be on bringing mindfulness to all our activities, whether in formal meditation, movement, speaking, listening, or eating. Participants will practice Noble Silence outside of the interactive exercises and 12-Step-style meetings. All recovery paths are welcome, whether Twelve Step, Refuge Recovery, substance, process, or relationship-oriented.
The intensive nature of the retreat allows for profound personal openings, insight, and transformation. The support of the community carries us through the sometimes challenging, sometimes inspiring elements of this deep inner work.
A minimum of 30 days clean and sober is required for attendance.
Kevin Griffin is a Buddhist teacher and author known for his innovative work connecting dharma and recovery, especially through his 2004 book One Breath at a Time: Buddhism and the Twelve Steps. He is a leader of the mindful recovery movement and one of the founders of the Buddhist Recovery Network. He has been a Buddhist practitioner for over thirty-five years and a teacher for two decades. His latest book is Living Kindness: Metta Practices for the Whole of Our Lives.
Greg Pergament (Chi Kung teacher), is the author of Chi Kung and Recovery. Greg has been in recovery for over two decades and has studied and taught Qigong and Tai Chi Chuan for many years. He has an extensive background in Buddhist Vipassana meditation, is a firetender for Lakota Inipi ceremonies, and has helped facilitate many Vision Quests.
Location: Oakwood Retreat Center
Total Cost: $1050
Deposit: $200
Weekend Retreat
December 4-6, 2026 – TRANSFIGURATION SPIRITUALITY CENTER
More information to come…
Robert Pryor has been practicing Vipassana meditation since 1971. His first teachers were S.N. Goenka, Anagarika Munindra, and Joseph Goldstein. Robert designed the Antioch/Carleton Buddhist Studies in India program and served as director from 1979 to 2015. This is a full semester undergraduate program of academic study and meditation practice, held at the Burmese Vihar in Bodh Gaya. He was a consultant for the BBC documentary, In the Footsteps of the Buddha, and collaborated on the book Living This Life Fully: Stories and Teachings of Munindra. Robert is a founding member of the Yellow Springs Dharma Center, where he has taught Introduction to Meditation classes since 2006. He has been an assistant teacher with Rebecca Bradshaw at her Spring residential retreats in Southwest Ohio since 2019.
Location: Transfiguration Spirituality Center, Glendale (Cincinnati), OH
Total Cost: $240
3 Night New Year’s Retreat
December 31, 2026 to January 3, 2027 – OAKWOOD RETREAT CENTER with Joan Staubach
The end of the year is traditionally considered an auspicious time to focus on your practice, to examine it gently, and to renew it. Tri-State Dharma offers a wonderful opportunity to do this each year with a residential New Years Retreat at Oakwood Retreat Center.
This silent retreat will consist of regular sitting and walking meditation periods. Joan will share the Dharma through talks and optional interviews. The retreat is suitable for both beginning and experienced meditators. Anyone who is new to the practice will be given instruction.
Joan Staubach is an active member president of Tri-State Dharma. She is an experienced practitioner of Insight Meditation. She started practicing Insight Meditation in 1999, and has been on over 40 week-long or longer residential retreats. She has taught and co-taught the New Years Retreat for many years, led daylong retreats, and taught numerous Insight Meditation classes. She has taken training retreats with Matthew Flickstein on Sharing the Dharma.
Location: Oakwood Retreat Center
Total Cost: $570
Deposit: $200