Next Step Dharma:
Integrate Your Retreat into Daily Life
You’ve done the deep dive. Now comes the true path.
Next Step Dharma is here to help you carry the stillness, clarity, and compassion you cultivated in retreat into your everyday life
–where it matters most.
A 6-Week Course with Oren Jay Sofer & Guests
Transform your insights into lasting change
Starts September 3rd, 2025
Why take this course?
You’ve just come out of retreat. You’ve touched stillness, clarity, and insight. But now the world is rushing back in—and with it, the old habits, distractions, and stressors.
This is where the real path begins.
Next Step Dharma is here to help you bridge the gap between the cushion and your everyday life. It’s easy to feel like you’re losing what you gained. This course shows you how to keep it alive.
Turn Insight Into Integration
A retreat gives you a glimpse of freedom. This course helps you live from that freedom, moment by moment, choice by choice.
Build a Daily Practice That Works in Real Life
No guilt. No pressure. Just clear, practical support to help you establish a rhythm that’s realistic and nourishing.
Work with Emotions Skillfully
Learn to meet overwhelm, shame, anger, or anxiety with mindfulness and care, so they don’t derail your practice.
Stay Connected
Isolation is one of the biggest obstacles after retreat. This course helps you find support, saṅgha, and steady guidance.
Live with Integrity
Ethical reflection becomes not a rulebook, but a path to dignity, joy, and inner strength.
Let Your Life Become the Path
Every email, commute, relationship, and conflict becomes an opportunity for awareness, compassion, and growth.
This Course Is for You If...
- You’ve just finished a retreat and want to continue practicing.
- You’ve struggled to stay consistent with mindfulness in everyday life.
- You want support from teachers who understand real-world challenges.
- You’re looking for a spiritually grounded, welcoming community.
- You’re ready to bring more kindness, wisdom, and clarity into your relationships.
- You’d benefit from structure and accountability in your practice.
Reflections from Past Participants
What You Receive
Six Weeks of Video Teachings
14 Guided Meditations
Readings, Self Inquiry, and Integration Practices
Live Community Question & Response Sessions
Interviews with Founding Insight Meditation Teachers
Lifetime Access to Course
Course Overview
11.5
2
Tue 9/9, 2 pm – 3 pm PT
Tue 9/30, 11 pm – 12 pm PT
6
Course Syllabus
- 4 Video Dharma Talks:
- The Real Practice: Coming Home
- Strengthening Mindfulness
- Mindfulness in Motion
- Creating a Positive Feedback Loop
- 3 Guided Meditations:
- Settling into Presence
- Relaxing Key Areas
- Beginning and Ending the Day
- Interviews with Joseph Goldstein, Jack Kornfield, and Dara Williams
- Readings and Core Integration Practice Suggestions
- 4 Video Dharma Talks:
- The Real Practice: Coming Home
- Strengthening Mindfulness
- Mindfulness in Motion
- Creating a Positive Feedback Loop
- 3 Guided Meditations:
- Settling into Presence
- Relaxing Key Areas
- Beginning and Ending the Day
- Interviews with Joseph Goldstein, Jack Kornfield, and Dara Williams
- Readings and Core Integration Practice Suggestions
- 3 Video Dharma Talks:
- The Quality of Our Lives
- Growing Kindness
- The Patient Gardener
- 3 Guided Meditations:
- Mindfulness Practice
- Kindness
- Radiating Good Will
- Interviews with Sharon Salzberg, Jack Kornfield, and Dara Williams
- Readings and Core Integration Practice Suggestions
- 4 Video Dharma Talks:
- The Need for Wisdom
- Developing Wisdom
- Include It All
- Knowing What’s Needed
- 2 Guided Meditations
- Mindfulness Practice
- Letting Be, Letting Go
- Interviews with Joseph Goldstein, Jack Kornfield, and JoAnna Harper
- Readings and Core Integration Practice Suggestions
- 3 Video Dharma Talks:
- Living with Integrity
- Ethics: Care and Concern
- Redefining Progress
- 2 Guided Meditations
- Standing Meditation
- Recollecting One’s Goodness (Ven. Ajahn Sucitto)
- Interviews with Joseph Goldstein and JoAnna Harper
- Readings and Core Integration Practice Suggestions
- 5 Video Dharma Talks:
- Being at Home with Emotions
- The ABCs of Emotions
- Awareness of Emotions
- The Art of the Middle
- Curiosity and Care
- 2 Guided Meditations
- Thoughts and Emotions
- Exploring Unpleasant Sensations
- Interviews with Jack Kornfield and Larry Yang
- Readings and Core Integration Practice Suggestions
- 3 Video Dharma Talks:
- Relationship as Spiritual Practice
- Words That Lead to Awakening
- Sangha Refuge
- 2 Guided Meditations:
- Contemplating Interconnection
- Circles of Support
- Interviews with Joanna Macy, Joseph Goldstein, and Larry Yang
- Readings and Core Integration Practice Suggestions
Meet The Teachers
Oren Jay Sofer, SEP
Next Step Dharma teacher
Oren Jay Sofer teaches meditation and communication internationally. He holds a degree in comparative religion from Columbia University, is a Certified Trainer of Nonviolent Communication, and a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner for the healing of trauma. Oren is also the author of several books, including the best-seller Say What You Mean: A Mindful Approach to Nonviolent Communication and his latest book, Your Heart Was Made for This: Contemplative Practices to Meet a World In Crisis with Courage, Integrity, and Love.
His teaching has reached people around the world through his online communication courses and guided meditations. A husband and a father, Oren lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, where he enjoys cooking, spending time in nature, and home woodworking projects.
Jaya Rudgard
Next Step Dharma teacher
Jaya Rudgard began meditating in 1984, and from 1996 to 2005 was ordained as a nun in the Thai forest tradition in England at Amaravati Buddhist Monastery. She subsequently trained as an Insight Meditation teacher at Spirit Rock in California and Insight Meditation Society in Massachusetts.
She teaches meditation retreats and courses in the UK and internationally. Jaya has extensive experience teaching Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT), and Mindful Self-Compassion, and she teaches retreats for Mindfulness teachers and teachers in training. She also enjoys practicing and teaching qigong.
Guest Teachers
Jack Kornfield
Jack trained as a Buddhist monk in the monasteries of Thailand, India and Burma. He has taught meditation internationally since 1974 and is one of the key teachers to introduce Buddhist mindfulness practice to the West. He is a founding teacher of the Insight Meditation Society and Spirit Rock Meditation Center. He holds a PhD in clinical psychology and is a father, husband, and activist. His books include A Path with Heart; Buddha’s Little Instruction Book; Teachings of the Buddha; Seeking the Heart of Wisdom; Living Dharma; A Still Forest Pool; After the Ecstasy, the Laundry; The Art of Forgiveness, Lovingkindness and Peace; The Wise Heart: A Guide to the Universal Teachings of Buddhist Psychology; and Bringing Home the Dharma: Awakening Right Where You Are.
Joseph Goldstein
Joseph Goldstein is a co-founder and guiding teacher of Insight Meditation Society (IMS) in Barre, Massachusetts. He has been teaching vipassanā and mettā retreats worldwide since 1974 and in 1989 helped establish the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies. He is the author of Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Awakening, A Heart Full of Peace, One Dharma, Insight Meditation, The Experience of Insight, and co-author (with Jack Kornfield) of Seeking the Heart of Wisdom.
DaRa Williams
DaRa Williams has practiced Insight Meditation for more than 25 years. She completed the Spirit Rock/IMS/IRC Teacher Training, and she serves as a Stewarding Teacher at Spirit Rock and an Associate Guiding Teacher at IMS. DaRa is a trainer and wellness coach, and has been a clinician and administrator in the mental health field for over 25 years. She is a certified Focusing Oriented Therapist and a practitioner and trainer of Aboriginal Focusing Oriented Complex Trauma Therapy.
JoAnna Hardy
JoAnna has been exploring and practicing multiple traditions since 1999. In 2005, her focus landed on Buddhism and vipassanā meditation. Helping communities and individuals that don’t typically have access to traditional Dharma settings, social/racial justice, and building multicultural community is top on her list of priorities. She is an empowered teacher in the Spirit Rock, IMS lineage.
Larry Yang
Larry Yang teaches meditation retreats nationally and has a special interest in creating access to the Dharma for diverse multicultural communities. Larry has practiced extensively in Burma and Thailand, with a six month period of ordination as a Buddhist monk under the guidance of meditation master Ajahn Tong. Larry is one of the core teachers and leaders of the East Bay Meditation Center. He is the author of Awakening Together: The Spiritual Practice of Inclusivity and Community.
Sharon Salzberg
Sharon Salzberg is a meditation pioneer, world-renowned teacher, and New York Times bestselling author. She is among the first to bring mindfulness and lovingkindness meditation to mainstream American culture nearly 50 years ago, inspiring generations of meditation teachers and wellness influencers. Sharon is co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, MA.
She is the author of thirteen books, including the New York Times bestseller Real Happiness, her seminal work Lovingkindness, and her recent books Real Life and Finding Your Way. Sharon’s podcast, The Metta Hour, has amassed six million downloads and features interviews with thought leaders from the mindfulness movement and beyond.
Joanna Macy, PhD
Joanna Macy, PhD is a scholar of Buddhism, systems theory, and deep ecology. A respected voice in the movements for peace, justice, and ecology, she gives trainings worldwide for eco-warriors and activists for global justice. As the root teacher of The Work That Reconnects, she has created a ground-breaking theoretical framework for personal and social change. Her books include World as Lover, World as Self and Coming Back to Life: Practices to Reconnect Our Lives, Our World.
Sample Course Lecture - Awareness of Emotions
Learn to recognize, name, and navigate your emotions with mindfulness and compassion.
Discover the power of awareness to transform your inner emotional landscape.
Ready to bring the Dharma home?
Starts September 3rd, 2025
Payment Plan
- Bridge the gap between retreat and daily life
- Transform daily struggles into opportunities for awakening
- Weekly tools to maintain your practice when life gets messy
- Insights from Buddhism's influential teachers
- 2 Live Q&A with teachers
- Lifetime access to recordings
11 weekly payments of $29
$25
Early bird pricing - Save $44 total
Full Payment
- Bridge the gap between retreat and daily life
- Transform daily struggles into opportunities for awakening
- Weekly tools to maintain your practice when life gets messy
- Insights from Buddhism's influential teachers
- 2 Live Q&A with teachers
- Lifetime access to recordings
$299
$249
Early bird pricing - Save $50
- Scholarships are very limited and reserved for those who are truly experiencing financial hardship. Click here to apply.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I access my program on the Online Learning Platform?
Although our Programs are available on any device, we suggest using a computer (if possible) and Chrome or Firefox browser to log in: https://courses.spiritrock.org
To access the course:
• Use a computer and the Chrome or Firefox browser to log in at courses.spiritrock.org.
• Please note: Your login for the Online Learning Platform is separate from your Spirit Rock website login.
• Once logged in, your dashboard will display all your enrolled courses.
• Click on your program, then use the menu on the left to navigate through course sections.
How can I best view the content?
Although the Online Learning Platform works on mobile and tablet devices, for the best experience, use a desktop or laptop. This might be an easier way to find all the areas of the site as you are learning how it works.
What is the course format?
All of our on-demand courses are offered in a flexible self-study format, so you can access the materials whenever is good for you. Readings, video, audio, and all resources are structured for sequential access in our Online Learning Platform.
Can I participate from a different time zone?
Yes of course! We have students from all over the world participate in our courses. These self-paced study and practice courses are available wherever you are in the world, and whenever works best for you.
How long will I have access to the course?
You have lifetime access to the course and all materials.
I have more questions. Can you help me?
Yes! Please email us at courses@spiritrock.org with any questions that you might have.
