Often we find that we're meditating with a corrective mindset—the feeling that somehow what we're doing or experiencing is wrong. But this path isn't about correcting. Correcting is samsara, because in truth, there are no obstacles. Obstacles are the fodder through which we wake up. How are you developing a deeper way of being? That's what we're doing here, we're developing a reliable, illuminating capacity to be with our experience. The real power of mindful awareness lives within our innate capacity to be with all that arises in such a way that we can awaken through it, within it.
Erin Treat
Residential Retreat Teacher
Erin Treat has been practicing Buddhist meditation for nearly 30 years. She is the guiding teacher of Vallecitos Mountain Retreat Center in northern New Mexico and served as Guiding Teacher of the Durango Dharma Center. Erin teaches the practical and the profound, from a heart grounded in respect for mystery and the many faces of awakening.
Her approach to sharing the dharma is influenced by her ongoing experience as a student of the Diamond Approach by A.H. Almaas and by Thanissara and Kittisaro's Dharmapala Training, designed to bring forth an embodied bodhisattva ideal within the lineage of Theravada Buddhism. Erin enjoys working with small groups of committed students over time and regularly offers classes, retreats, and mentoring to students from around the country.
Erin Treat's Upcoming Programs
Retreat | On-Land
January 4 - January 10, 2025 | Saturday - Friday | 6 nights
Winter Insight Retreat
Join the waitlist. The Buddha’s teachings and meditation practices remind us of the ever-present possibility of waking up to a sense of well-being, presence, and true nature that does not depend on circumstances. This silent Insight Meditation (vipassanā) retreat welcomes new and experienced meditators and includes instructions in vipassanā meditation following the four foundations of mindfulness. The retreat will also include lovingkindness meditation, meetings with teachers, and evening talks highlighting the central teachings of the Buddha and their practical application to our lives.
Retreat | On-Land
January 26 - January 31, 2025 | Sunday - Friday | 5 nights
True Happiness: The Heart of Awakening
Registration Open. The nature of awareness lies at the heart of awakening and the experience of true happiness. During this retreat we will explore the nature of mind and awareness and inquire into what supports and what obscures our experience of freedom. Together we will foster steadiness of mind, ease of body, and confidence of heart. By stabilizing our attention in the present moment, we will expand our trust in loving awareness and learn to rest in our innate capacity to awaken.
Retreat | On-Land
September 20 - September 25, 2025 | Saturday - Thursday | 5 nights
Awakening through the Three Characteristics: A Women’s Liberation Retreat
Open to all self-identified women.
We welcome all who identify as women, as well as non-binary folks who feel nourished in spaces centering women.
Registration Opens - February 19. The radical promise of the Buddha’s teaching is that it’s possible to be at ease and free, even in unfree conditions. During this retreat, we will practice mindfulness and compassion, looking at the unfolding of moment-to-moment experience and ways of perceiving that are grounded in the three characteristics of reality (aniccā, dukkha, and anattā). Nourished by the tradition of Buddhist communities abiding in silence, kindness, and clarity, our time will include mindfulness meditation in stillness, movement, and all daily activities.
Dharma Library
Can't join us live online or on the land? Study and practice at your convenience with Erin Treat through our new library of recordings, articles, and self-paced online courses.