Hawai'i Insight Meditation Center - Education

Our goals are to help provide educational opportunities that enhance people's lives and appreciation for the land as well as the community. This includes facilitating our own meditation retreats as well as partnering with various local non-profits who can benefit from access to our facilities and agricultural acreage.

We have already begun offering residential retreats in our rustic setting. Meditators from around the islands and the mainland converge for contemplative practice of guided mindful living. As the center is built in phases we will offer retreats of varying lengths throughout the year for all levels of students, including young adults. To satisfy the special need for long-term practice, HIMC will offer 2- and 3-month retreats for experienced students in a hermitage-like setting. Seminars and day-long retreats will be held in support of local community needs as well as providing for groups seeking a suitable gathering space. In general our retreats will feature smaller enrollments, intimate settings, and fuller access to, and attention from, teachers, including one-on-one interviews.

Young adult retreats hold a special place in our hearts. One of the best ways we can nourish our children's lives is by helping them discover their spiritual "roots" and "wings" — the wisdom and compassion they have within that will come forth as skillful action in the world. At the urging of Sayadaw U Pandita, who included young adults in meditation programs at his monastery in Burma, Steven Smith and Michele McDonald began offering young adult retreats in 1989, and with each succeeding year the number of participants grew. With support, young people can readily discover, develop, and value their natural spirituality. Intensive mindfulness practice leads to an intimate self-knowledge and an atmosphere of trust wherein many young people experience truly close friendships for the first time.