We bring the desires, the unfulfilled ones. We start to put [desires] down little by little, as we unfold, as we soak in this land, in this practice. ... It starts to work. Trust. It happens. It will happen. We start to become more mindful, we start to feel lighter, we start to feel freer, little by little, moment by moment by moment. Sometimes it feels like we’re enchanted with our suffering. This word “enchantment, ” it’s like the fairy tales where someone gets a spell put on them. We’re sometimes enchanted in the world with our suffering. We hang on to it. We hang on to all this stuff we have from the past. Me, mine, my history, myself, my F’s in chemistry quizzes, mine! We start to let go and become disenchanted, unenchanted. This fairy tale, this spell breaks, sometimes, and we have a moment of clarity. And we see things differently. We see things more clearly when we allow it, when we allow ourselves to really be with the practice. Freedom is possible, and it does happen. It can happen anywhere.
Nikki Mirghafori, PhD
Residential Retreat Teacher
Nikki Mirghafori, PhD, is a Buddhist teacher and Artificial Intelligence (AI) scientist. She is a lineage holder in the Theravada tradition, empowered by the living Burmese meditation master Venerable Pa Auk Sayadaw, with whom she practiced the jhanas and detailed analytical (Abhidhamma-style) vipassana. She also received empowerment from the Spirit Rock Meditation Center, Insight Meditation Society, Insight Meditation Center, and is a Stanford-trained compassion cultivation instructor.
At Spirit Rock Meditation Center, Nikki serves as a Stewarding Teacher as well as on the Board of Directors. She also teaches at the Insight Meditation Center in Redwood City, CA. Nikki’s teaching style combines clarity and warmth, and she delights in exploring deep Dharma topics with practitioners as well as mindfulness in daily life. Mindfulness of death, in particular, is one of the areas of her interest and expertise.
Additionally, Nikki has been a researcher and inventor in AI, holds multiple patents and author of scientific research articles. She has directed international research programs as the Principal Investigator, mentored postdocs and PhD students, taught graduate courses at UC Berkeley, and been a scientific advisor to Silicon Valley technology startups.
As an Iranian-American, Nikki has taught contemplative practices internationally and aspires to serve as a champion for wisdom and compassion in our world, as well as ethical AI in our zeitgeist.
Nikki Mirghafori's Upcoming Programs
Retreat | Online
Sunday, December 1 | 9:30 AM - 12:30 PM
Embodying Ease: Practicing with Contentment and Joy
Join us to explore wise engagement—a practice that embodies ease, contentment, and joy. Instead of over-efforting, we'll cultivate a joyful, relaxed approach to mindfulness, aligning with the Buddha’s teachings that happiness is essential for the mind’s liberation. Through guided meditations (including laying down practices) and reflections on suttas, we’ll discover how happiness and contentment are not luxuries but vital companions on the path to freedom.
Nikki Mirghafori
Retreat | On-Land
December 8 - December 18, 2024 | Sunday - Wednesday | 10 nights
December Insight Retreat: Cultivating Calm, Contentment, and Confidence
Spaces Available. In this retreat, we tend to the three qualities of stability, well-being, and confidence, all of which support insight into the three characteristics of existence. Then we explore and befriend these characteristics—namely, aniccā (impermanence, inconstancy), dukkha (stress, unsatisfactoriness, suffering) and anattā (not-self, impersonality, ungovernability)—in our own lived experience. When we understand and make peace with these characteristics, we have more ease, compassion, and freedom in our lives, and we can be of more benefit to ourselves, others, and the world.
Retreat | Online
Saturday, January 4 | 10:00 AM - 3:00 PM
Renew Your Practice: Begin the Year with Clarity and Calm
Begin the year by renewing your connection to the path of mindfulness practice. This daylong retreat offers a fresh start, inviting reflection on intention, values, and the power of community (saṅgha). Together, we’ll explore borrowed trust—the support gained from teachers and fellow practitioners—and verified trust, found by contemplating the ways mindfulness has sustained us. Through meditation and reflection, we’ll nurture commitment and dedication to our practice, opening ourselves to inner clarity and vision for the year ahead.
Nikki Mirghafori
Training | Online
February 8 - June 7, 2025 | 7 Sessions | 12:00 AM - 12:00 AM
Mindful Leadership Training
This certificate training program is open to and designed for leaders and aspiring leaders in both the nonprofit and for-profit sectors. With a mindset of service to community and the world, together we will cultivate mindful leadership skills and practices to embody our care for ourselves and others. Through lectures, group discussion, guided meditations, readings, reflections, experiential exercises, and personal meditation practice, we will cultivate skills and behaviors that can be applied directly to our personal and professional lives.
Retreat | On-Land
October 1 - October 5, 2025 | Wednesday - Sunday | 4 nights
Buddha’s Teachings on the Body: The 32 Parts Practice
Registration Opens - February 19. As outlined in the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta, the practice of contemplating the 32 parts of the body calms and grounds the mind, which supports the development of concentration and insight into not-self. By observing the body’s impersonal nature, we cultivate the wisdom of non-attachment, allowing the body to become a profound path to freedom. Guided by the Buddha’s teachings, in this retreat we will turn mindful attention to the body using an approach that is grounded in gentleness, ease, and lovingkindness.
Upcoming Drop-Ins
Drop-in | Online
Monday, December 2 | 7:15 PM - 9:15 PM
Monday Night Meditation & Talk
For over 35 years, the Monday Night sitting group at Spirit Rock has been a welcoming refuge to gather, hear the teachings of the Buddha, and practice Insight Meditation together as a community. The program includes a 30-40 min guided meditation, a short break, and a Dharma talk.
Nikki Mirghafori
Dharma Library
Can't join us live online or on the land? Study and practice at your convenience with Nikki Mirghafori through our new library of recordings, articles, and self-paced online courses.
