Latest Events in Nanaimo(December Updated)

We are gladdened to offer this 5-night, New Year's Residential Silent Meditation Retreat with Rachel Lewis and Kristina Baré at the Bethlehem Retreat Centre in Nanaimo, BC, from Dec 28, 2025 to Jan 2, 2026. Retreat Description Letting go and opening to possibilities Coming on retreat at the end of the year is a beautiful opportunity to release a little of some of the difficulties and burdens we’ve been carrying these past months. As we practice mindfully sitting, walking, and resting with what is, with kindness, there’s a natural unfolding and releasing so that we can see more clearly. As we let go a little, we can find there’s more space, ease, and a sense of possibility in our lives. There will be practice instructions at the beginning of each day and alternating sitting and walking periods. There will be practice discussion groups and time for questions and answers each day. On New Year's Eve, which falls in the middle of this retreat, there will be the option of an extended practice period with periods of sitting, walking and chanting through to midnight. This silent retreat is suitable for both people new to practice and those with experience and is a wonderful way to end one year and begin the next. Retreat Information PLEASE READ CAREFULLY BEFORE REGISTERING. Registration: This retreat will go on sale September 26, 2025 at 10am PST. We anticipate tickets will sell quickly. We recommend you register as soon as possible once the tickets go on sale. In-Person COVID-19 Safety Measures: All health guidelines in place at the time of the retreat for group gatherings will be followed and communicated to attendees. Click here for BCIMS' COVID Safety webpage. We encourage attendees to be fully vaccinated including booster vaccinations. We will not be asking for proof of vaccination during sign in. Please do not attend if you have any symptoms of a fever, cough or a cold, or have had recent contact with anyone with COVID. Masking: Masks are optional and encouraged in shared indoor spaces. If a yogi has or develops a cough/runny nose/cold symptoms, they will be asked to take a COVID test and mask while in shared indoor spaces. COVID Testing: ALL yogis will be asked to take a home-COVID test sometime 24 hours BEFORE arriving at the retreat and indicate they have tested negative at check in. All yogis will also be asked to take a COVID test on day 3 of retreat. Commuters will be asked to take a COVID test daily. Room Rates/Fees: Private Room - $1,400 Shared Room - $1,200 Commuter (includes meals) - $925 If you are in the position to offer a Benefactor Rate, please consider a donation to BCIMS' Donations Page (Canada Helps). We are deeply grateful for any amount you are able to contribute to support BCIMS and the sangha, as donations help us to honour requests for financial assistance. Donations via the link above will receive an automatic tax receipt from Canada Helps. If you select the Shared Room option, please indicate your room-sharing preferences in the order form (ie: wish to share with a partner or friend also registered for this retreat, gender preference, etc.) Fees do NOT include a financial offering (dana) to the teachers. There will be an opportunity to offer dana to the teachers once you are at the retreat. Financial Assistance: We are gladdened to offer Financial Assistance for this retreat. You may apply by filling out this online form , or by emailing jess@bcims.org . For this retreat, we are offering financial assistance any amount up to 50% of the retreat fee. If you require additional assistance, please share your request on the form. DEI Financial Assistance: We also offer financial assistance from our DEI fund (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion). This is intended to offer support to folks from underrepresented and systemically marginalized communities to attend residential retreats. For this retreat, we are offering DEI financial assistance of any amount up to 50% of the retreat fee. If you require additional assistance, please share your request on the form. We encourage folks who identify as BIPOC (black, Indigenous, and/or people of colour), 2SLGBTQIA+, have a visible or invisible disability, or are from other underrepresented and systemically marginalized communities, to apply by filling out this online form , or by emailing jess@bcims.org. Please specify in your email that you are interested in applying for the DEI fund. BCIMS Cancellation Policy: 30 days or more before the start of retreat: refund offered, less a $125 cancellation fee. Between 30 days to 10 days before start of retreat: 50% refund offered. Within 10 days of the start of retreat: no refund guaranteed. Please note, our BCIMS Cancellation Policy applies to all ticket holders, including those with discounted tickets. Accessibility Needs: There will be an opportunity on the Registration Order Form to specify any special needs or accommodations, including any needs or requests on washrooms, dietary, and access needs. We may not be able to meet everyone’s preferences but we will do our best to accommodate needs and make the retreat as safe and accessible as possible. We encourage you to please reflect on the difference between needs and preferences for your stay as you fill out the Form, as this allows us to more easefully accommodate all retreatants. Ridesharing: The information collected during registration regarding ridesharing will be distributed by email to all interested retreatants about four weeks prior to the retreat. Each individual is then responsible for directly making any ridesharing arrangement. Teacher Dana: In the Buddhist tradition, teachings are given freely because they are considered priceless; in the Buddhist tradition we also practice dana, or generosity, by making monetary offerings to the teachers. Dana is not payment for goods or services rendered; it is given from the heart. Your generosity is a gift that supports not just the teachers, but also the Sangha, the larger Dharma community, and your own practice. More info on Dana is shared below. About the Venue: Please visit the Bethlehem Retreat Centre for more info. About the Teachers Kristina Baré is an insight meditation teacher, therapist, and Somatic Experiencing practitioner. She has trained primarily in the Burmese lineages of Ven. Mahasi Sayadaw and Ven. Pa Auk Sayadaw. She enjoys supporting students in deepening samadhi, loving-kindness and insight. Opening the door to an expansion of the heart and to liberating wisdom. In support of the Buddha’s teachings, Kristina also draws on knowledge from western psychology and Somatic Experiencing. She invites a kind, patient, and embodied approach as a base for samadhi and insight meditation practices. Kristina graduated from a four year Dharma Teacher training program mentored by Marcia Rose, Sally and Guy Armstrong. She teaches insight meditation retreats in Canada, Spirit Rock CA and Insight Meditation Society MA. She lives in Victoria, BC from where she offers dharma support to students via zoom in North America and Europe. Rachel Lewis began practicing insight meditation in 2003, while completing her physics PhD at Yale. Since 2011, she has taught dharma and meditation classes and retreats in British Columbia and beyond. She completed the IMS/IRC 4-year teacher training in 2021, and is a guiding teacher of the British Columbia Insight Meditation Society. Her dharma teaching interests include the power of music, humour, and creativity to increase our capacity for learning, as well as the way that practice supports and is supported by social justice work. See her other events at http://rachelmeditates.ca/ With heartfelt gratitude, BCIMS acknowledges we are based in what is now known as Vancouver, BC, the beautiful, traditional, and unceded lands of the Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) peoples, who live on and have stewarded this land for thousands of years. Information Source: BC Insight Meditation Society | eventbrite

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