The Wisdom of Embodiment
Finding Peace Through the Body
with Tempel Smith & Dawn Scott
3-MONTH PROGRAM · STARTS APRIL 12
Deepen your practice of embodiment and bring the Buddha's teachings into everyday life.
When returning from silent residential retreats many students wonder how to keep practicing in daily life. This intensive practice period explores how we can bring the Buddha’s teachings and practices to everyday life, and integrate what we learn on retreat into out personal lives. The program consists of four interactive day retreats, 12 weekday classes, individual meetings with a program mentor, guided meditations, and weekly readings, reflections, and practices, with a community of experienced peers.
$799 $599
First 30 spots: Save $200
What You'll Practice
- How to bring the Buddha's teachings into the ordinary moments of everyday life.
- Why daily life itself is an essential part of the path.
- How to sustain continuity of practice through interactive day retreats and weekday classes.
- How to deepen integration through guided meditations, weekly readings, reflections, mentor meetings, and peer community.
This Course is for You If...
- You've returned from a silent residential retreat and are wondering how to sustain your practice in daily life.
- You want support integrating retreat insights into your personal and relational world.
- You find practicing alone challenging and are ready for shared commitment.
- You're looking for a spiritually grounded, welcoming community.
What You Receive
Live Immersive Sessions
4 Sundays Retreats and 11 weekly live sessions with practice guidance
Community Connections
Build meaningful relationships through our online forum
Practices Between Sessions
Tools and practices to help you integrate learning into everyday life
Lifetime Access to Course
Revisit the teachings, practices at any time at your own pace
Meet the Teachers
Tempel Smith
Tempel Smith teaches Mindfulness, Insight, and mettā meditation with an emphasis on Buddhist psychology and mind-body awareness. He spent a year as a monk in Burma with Sayadaw U Pandita and Pa Auk Sayadaw. Tempel serves on the Spirit Rock Guiding Teachers Council, organizes the Dedicated Practitioners Program (DPP) and Living Dharma retreats for Spirit Rock, and teaches classes in the East Bay.
Dawn Scott
Dawn Scott has been practicing Insight Meditation since 2008. She is a graduate of the Insight Meditation Society’s teacher training program and is a core teacher of Spirit Rock’s Liberation, Emptiness, and Awareness Practices (LEAP) Program. Dawn has a deep love of long retreat practice and the Buddha’s liberative teachings.
Mentoring Teachers
Anthony T Maes
Anthony “T” Maes has been a dedicated practitioner of Buddhist meditation since 2003, including long retreats and practicing in a forest monastery in Thailand. He teaches at East Bay Meditation Center, Inward Bound Mindfulness Education, IMS, Freedom-Together, and Dharma Homies where he leads Mindfulness Teacher Training programs, Mindful Movement, and teen meditation retreats. He has volunteered with Spirit Rock’s Family Program since 2009, including New Years teen retreats and the Abhayagiri monastery weekend teen retreat. “T” graduated from UC Berkeley in 2004, completed the yearlong Commit2Dharma program at EBMC in 2011, and the 2017 Facilitator training with his mentor JoAnna Hardy and Vinny Ferraro. In 2018, he completed the 3-year Organic Intelligence practitioner training in post-traumatic nervous system resilience. He is currently in the 4-year Teacher Training Program at Spirit Rock/IMS.
Ramona Lisa Ortiz-Smith, MBA (she/ella)
Ramona Lisa Ortiz-Smith, MBA, (she+), brings over 25 years of meditation practice and spiritualstudies to her livelihood as a Spiritual Teacher and Leader. She is a dedicated lay practitioner of the Dharma and has spent the last six years undertaking contemporary Upasika vows and living as a lay renunciate. Ramona Lisa is honored to be in the 2025-2028 cohort of the Insight Meditation Society/Spirit Rock Teacher Training Program. She enjoys scholarly programs and has completed East Bay Meditation Center’s Commit to Dharma Program (C2D3), Spirit Rock Meditation Center’s (SRMC) Dedicated Practitioners Program (DPP6) and East Bay Meditation Center’s two-year Spiritual Teacher and Leadership training. Ramona Lisa is an Indigenous Focusing Oriented Therapy (IFOT) Practitioner, certified mindfulness teacher and mentor. Ramona Lisa is a Free Spirit who creatively weaves real life experiences into her Dharma interpretation using Earth based practices, authenticity, kindness, humor, music and joy! When not teaching, she is likely meditating, sitting in long, silent retreat practice or enjoying time with her adult daughter, family, friends and Dharma Buddies!
Ghisly Garcia
Ghisly Garcia has a deep love for dharma practice that has grown steadily and all at once since her first retreat in 2013. She practices primarily in the Theravada tradition through the support of the Seattle Insight sangha, where she is a volunteer and Dharma Leader trainee, as well as retreat centers like Cloud Mountain, Spirit Rock, Insight Meditation Society, and Insight Retreat Center. She is a trained mindfulness educator through Inward Bound Mindfulness Education and the Search Inside Yourself Leadership Institute. Ghisly is passionate about making ancient mindfulness practices accessible to BIPOC youth.
- 4 Daylong Retreats
- Supportive Online Community
- Weekly Guided Practices
- Lifetime access to the content
- Grow Together Through Dialogue & Reflection
$599
$799 Save $200
Course Schedule
Schedule
4 daylong retreats
Sundays April 12 – June 28
10am-4:30pm PDT
- April 12
- May 3
- May 24
- June 28
11 weekly classes
Thursdays, 4:30pm-6:30pm PDT
- April 16
- April 23
- April 30
- May 7
- May 14
- May 21
- May 28
- June 4
- June 11
- June 18
- June 25
Course FAQ
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
Note: The login for our Online Learning Platform differs from your Spirit Rock login.
Accessing Your Program Page:
Click on it from your Dashboard after you’ve logged in. Once there, navigate through the sections on “My Courses” on the dashboard.
Are you logged in? Use the “log in” button on the top right of the page. This will give you the access you need to see all 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.
The course is delivered LIVE online over a 4-week period over Zoom.
If you notice a link, content, or anything that isn’t working properly, please email us at courses@spiritrock.org
Try refreshing your browser and check your internet connection. Check another website to see if it’s just our site or something in your system.
Yes, once you’ve completed the course, you will retain lifetime access to all course materials, allowing you to revisit lectures, exercises, and meditations whenever needed.
Yes.
- Completion of at least one 5-night silent residential Insight Meditation retreat
- At least 2 years of consistent meditation practice.
- For white-identified participants, to have completed or be signed up to take a white awareness, antiracist, and/or racial equity training. Spirit Rock offers an on-demand course that is donation-based, called White & Awakening. You can register here.
Spirit Rock offers scholarships for those in need. If the course fees are a barrier, please complete the scholarship form HERE.
If you need to cancel before the course begins, we’ll provide a refund with just a $25 cancellation fee.
For cancellations made by the end of day on March 12, we’ll happily refund your payment, keeping only a $49 course fee.
- After March 12, we’re unable to offer refunds. Thank you for your understanding.
- To assist you with your cancellation, please reach out to us directly at courses@spiritrock.org. We’ll take care of the process for you.
