One metaphor for sati (mindfulness) is water. Like water, sati is transparent. It can take the shape of whatever it is aware of, and allow an intimacy, a deep knowing, of whatever awareness is shining its light on. Sometimes in the suttas, sati is described as limpid, meaning undarkened. The metaphor of seeing clearly runs through this practice. Limpid is used to describe eyes that are unclouded, eyes that are clear. When sati grows in strength, it’s effortless. It just effortlessly knows experience.
Dawn Scott
Residential Retreat Teacher
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.
Dawn Scott's Upcoming Programs
Training | Online | Dharma Institute
April 6 - June 29, 2025 | Dates and Times variable - see details.
Sanctuaries of Heart: Integrating Mettā into Daily Life
Make each day count as a sacred day on the path, and bring lovingkindness into your everyday life in this intensive practice series focused on cultivating the four brahmavihāras. These four sanctuaries are lovingkindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity. These aspects of the awakened heart strengthen our ability to relate to ourselves and others with wisdom, and cultivate a balanced heart in all conditions so we can let go of old relational habits based on greed, hatred, and confusion.
Retreat | On-Land
May 17 - May 29, 2025 | Saturday - Thursday | 12 nights
The Nature of Awareness: A Retreat for Experienced Students
Registration Open. In this retreat we will explore the nature of awareness, or consciousness, which is at the heart of sentient life. Awareness is always with us, revealing the phenomena of our experience, yet we may not have learned how to use it as a focus in meditation. As we deepen our connection to this mysterious capacity for knowing, it becomes a powerful pathway to inner freedom and liberation.
Retreat | On-Land
August 11 - August 16, 2025 | Monday - Saturday | 5 nights
Nature is our Body: Dharma and Connection to the Earth
Registration Opens - February 19. Our body can be a vehicle for liberation in this life, containing all that we need to wake up. Yet we may not know how to relate to the body to support this kind of freedom. Together we will practice connecting to our body with loving awareness while recognizing ourselves as part of nature, which includes developing awareness of our mortality. This retreat will be held in silence as we are supported by nature on the land at Spirit Rock.
Retreat | On-Land | Hybrid
December 18 - December 23, 2025 | Thursday - Tuesday | 5 nights
Winter Solstice Retreat: Embracing the Dark, Inviting the Light
Registration Opens - February 19. Throughout this residential retreat, we will focus on centering ourselves at the time of the holidays and the New Year. Together we will quiet our minds, ground our bodies, open our hearts, and use inquiry to help energize our practice. Special emphasis will be placed on opening to the darkness, including to our difficulties and challenges, and opening to the coming light, which includes the beauty, joy, wisdom, and love within and around us.
Retreat | Online Non-Residential | Hybrid
December 18 - December 23, 2025 | Thursday - Tuesday
Winter Solstice Retreat: Embracing the Dark, Inviting the Light
Registration Opens - February 19. Throughout this residential retreat, we will focus on centering ourselves at the time of the holidays and the New Year. Together we will quiet our minds, ground our bodies, open our hearts, and use inquiry to help energize our practice. Special emphasis will be placed on opening to the darkness, including to our difficulties and challenges, and opening to the coming light, which includes the beauty, joy, wisdom, and love within and around us.
Retreat | On-Land
December 27 - January 4, 2026 | Saturday - Sunday | 8 nights
New Year's Insight Meditation Retreat
Registration Opens - February 19. This is a traditional Insight Meditation (vipassanā) retreat with sitting and walking in silence, and regular meetings with teachers. Each day there will be systematic meditation instructions, Dharma talks, and movement practice. We will mark the turning of the year with a late evening sitting and simple ceremony on New Year’s Eve. In celebration of the New Year, our focus will be on cultivating loving awareness and embracing each moment as fresh and new. All are welcome.
Dharma Library
Can't join us live online or on the land? Study and practice at your convenience with Dawn Scott through our new library of recordings, articles, and self-paced online courses.