First, a reminder that mettā practice is a training. We’re training to lead with our kind hearts—to lead with the heart in our own experience, and in our interactions. Sometimes we can do that by asking a question. “Where’s my heart at right now?” This is a great daily life practice. “Am I present? Am I present to my heart?” Or as Julia Butterfly Hill asks, “Am I meeting this moment with love?” Just like the mettā phrases, questions like these are not demands, but invitations to the heart.
Donald Rothberg, PhD
Residential Retreat Teacher
Donald Rothberg, PhD, has practiced Insight Meditation since 1976, and has also received training in Tibetan Dzogchen, Mahamudra practice and the Hakomi approach to body-based psychotherapy. Formerly on the faculties of the University of Kentucky, Kenyon College, and Saybrook Graduate School, he currently writes and teaches classes, groups and retreats on meditation, daily life practice, spirituality and psychology, and socially engaged Buddhism. An organizer, teacher, and former board member for the Buddhist Peace Fellowship, Donald has helped to guide six-month to two-year training programs in socially engaged spirituality through Buddhist Peace Fellowship (the BASE Program), Saybrook (the Socially Engaged Spirituality Program), and Spirit Rock (the Path of Engagement Program). He is the author of The Engaged Spiritual Life: A Buddhist Approach to Transforming Ourselves and the World and the co-editor of Ken Wilber in Dialogue: Conversations with Leading Transpersonal Thinkers.
Donald Rothberg's Upcoming Programs
Retreat | On-Land
January 10 - January 17, 2025 | Friday - Friday | 7 nights
Mettā Retreat: Teachings and Practices to Cultivate a Wise, Awakened, and Responsive Heart
Join the Waitlist. Mettā, or lovingkindness, practice is the cultivation of the intention of benevolence as the orientation of our heart and mind. It is also a path to wisdom. We develop our capacity for mettā through meditation in order for it to manifest in our daily lives. Mettā practice strengthens self-confidence, self-acceptance, and steadiness of mind and heart, revealing our fundamental disposition toward kindness. We’ll be joined on one day of the retreat by Sylvia Boorstein, a beloved long-time teacher of mettā.
Donald Rothberg
Gullu Singh
Diana Winston
Anushka Fernandopulle
Sylvia Boorstein
Jonathan Relucio
Ronya Fakhoury Banks
Retreat | On-Land
Saturday, February 8 | 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Cultivating Wise Speech: Becoming More Skillful in Your Speech Practice
6 CE Credits. Connecting our meditation practice with our speaking is a main way to bring spiritual values into our everyday lives. In this daylong, we will support this intention by integrating periods of sitting and walking meditation with talks, speech practices, and discussion. We will focus on (1) the basic teachings of the Buddha on wise speech, (2) cultivating presence and mindfulness during speaking and listening, (3) developing empathy as a practice, and (4) practicing wise speech in difficult situations.
Donald Rothberg
Retreat | On-Land
October 25 - November 1, 2025 | Saturday - Saturday | 7 nights
Settling, Seeing, and Spacious Awareness
Registration Opens - February 19. Together, we will train in three interrelated modes of practice. First, we’ll settle and stabilize our minds and bodies, becoming more concentrated. From here, we can see more clearly when there is reactivity, when we suffer, and when there is a thick sense of self, and we learn to be more in line with the impermanent flow of experience. We can also tune in to an increasingly luminous awareness beyond reactivity, which is a source of freedom, wisdom, and compassion.
Upcoming Drop-Ins
Drop-in | Online
Wednesday, January 8 | 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Wednesday Morning Meditation & Talk
Our Wednesday Morning Meditation & Talk is led by Sylvia Boorstein, Donald Rothberg, Heidi Bourne, or other guest teachers. This group welcomes beginners and experienced practitioners to explore the Dharma.
Drop-in | Online
Wednesday, January 15 | 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Wednesday Morning Meditation & Talk
Our Wednesday Morning Meditation & Talk is led by Sylvia Boorstein, Donald Rothberg, Heidi Bourne, or other guest teachers. This group welcomes beginners and experienced practitioners to explore the Dharma.
Drop-in | Online
Wednesday, January 22 | 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Wednesday Morning Meditation & Talk
Our Wednesday Morning Meditation & Talk is led by Sylvia Boorstein, Donald Rothberg, Heidi Bourne, or other guest teachers. This group welcomes beginners and experienced practitioners to explore the Dharma.
Drop-in | Online
Wednesday, January 29 | 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Wednesday Morning Meditation & Talk
Our Wednesday Morning Meditation & Talk is led by Sylvia Boorstein, Donald Rothberg, Heidi Bourne, or other guest teachers. This group welcomes beginners and experienced practitioners to explore the Dharma.
Dharma Library
Can't join us live online or on the land? Study and practice at your convenience with Donald Rothberg through our new library of recordings, articles, and self-paced online courses.