Silent Vipassana Meditation Retreats

All retreats include a full program with seated meditations, walking meditation, dharma study, a space for individual consultations, chi kung sessions, and healthy and energizing food (vegetarian or vegan).

In-person retreats are held every year on the same dates at the same locations:

• Gran Canaria (during Carnival, 9 days)

• La Rioja (during Easter, 11 days)

• Lérida (in August, 9 days)

• Cádiz (in September, 7 days)

• La Palma (late September, 28 days)

These retreats are conducted in Spanish.

Keep reading to see the schedule of upcoming retreats. Online retreats are held every two months via live Zoom videoconference.

The Canary Islands have a very special energy for meditation. Dhiravamsa arrived in Las Palmas in 1996, and since then meditation retreats have been organized in Gran Canaria, Tenerife, La Gomera, Lanzarote, and La Palma. Today, retreats continue to be held in Gran Canaria during Carnival week and in La Palma at the newly inaugurated meditation center, after the previous one was destroyed by the volcano.

Since 1993, Master Dhiravamsa has been coming to northern Spain to meditate with others. Many of the participants have known each other for years. Everyone who begins meditation at this retreat will experience the warmth of a seasoned group that practices from the heart and welcomes everyone equally. Although each person is at a different stage in terms of posture and practice, in the end, it is an individual practice. No one can do this work for you. Therefore, the experience of others is not important—only your own attitude and the curiosity to see for yourself and grow as a human being matter.

This is another major retreat held every year at the beginning of August in Lérida (Catalonia). Like the Easter retreat, this was one of the first retreats that Master Dhiravamsa organized annually in Spain, and many of those who continue to attend are friends and companions on the path for many years. If it is your first time meditating, you will feel the strength of the group and the quiet support that arises from sharing the same space with full presence. Master Dhiravamsa taught us a path that balances intensity with gentleness, so we do not become rigid but instead allow ourselves to feel and embrace each moment as it is.

This retreat is one of the most recent, first organized in 2019 with weekend gatherings. Year after year it has grown, and for the past three years it has been a 7-day retreat.

This year we are inaugurating the new meditation center on the island of La Palma (Canary Islands), after in 2021 the volcano destroyed the retreat center where we had been holding our annual gatherings until then.

The retreat organized for this year will last 28 days (from September 28 to October 25, 2026).