Meditation Mentoring Program (MMP)

Chris is currently working individually with students through his Meditation Mentoring Program, which now includes a monthly group meditation practice period and discussion.

This group is intentionally kept small, and requires an application. Currently there are a few spaces available.

Meditation Mentoring Program

Gateways to Freedom: Exploring the many Paths to Awakening
A Pariyatti Program

Full-day Program
Dec 6, 2025
9:00 am – 4:30 pm
Info & Registration at WIMC

Pariyatti (Pali) means to study or learn. Pariyatti Programs offer unique opportunities to systematically integrate Buddhist teachings into the path of meditative development, directly supporting the maturation of wisdom. Cumulatively, these thematic programs help build a practical framework of Buddhist teachings, serving as a foundation for one’s meditation practice. Offered a few times annually, all students are encouraged to attend.

Program Description
Where there is a gate there are two sides, the place we are currently, and the place we are entering, or going. Dharma Gate, a concept common to Mahayana Buddhism, and suggestive of the many ways to wake up to the truth and understand the Dharma, reflects more broadly a characteristic promise of all Buddhist lineages, that freedom is possible here and now in this very life. 

In this workshop, periods of silent meditation will be integrated with teaching sessions exploring ways to understand – and apply – the notion of “dharma gate” in one’s meditation practice and daily life, greatly expanding the range of practice made available to us on the Dharma path in the insight tradition. “Dharma gates” are everywhere and as we come to recognize this we open ourselves to a deeper understanding of oneself and the true nature of all things. Seen in this way everything become practice–our mind and body, our relationships, our work, our health, our communities–and thus the ways to become free are numberless.  

No prior experience necessary; everyone is welcome–beginners and experienced meditators encouraged to attend.

Coffee, tea, and light snacks will be provided. Please bring your own lunch. Full use of WIMC kitchen will be available.

Meditation class and dharma discussion. Beginners and experienced meditators welcome.

Dec 13, Saturday. 9:30-11:00 pm

Wenham Insight Meditation Center (WIMC)

72 Grapevine Rd. Wenham, MA 01984

Meditation class and dharma discussion. Beginners and experienced meditators welcome.

Dec 17, Wednesday. 7:00-8:30 pm

Wenham Insight Meditation Center

72 Grapevine Rd. Wenham, MA 01984

Overcoming Difficult & Persistent Thoughts
One Day-retreat

Wenham Insight Meditation Center (WIMC)
Feb 7
9:00am-4:30pm

Registration and Info click here

Retreat Description
The mind is capable of wonderful and powerful achievements. The mind is also a source of distress and its habits present as obstacles to meditative development and greater freedom in daily life. Even the Buddha reported that before his awakening his own mind harbored unhelpful and unskillful patterns of thoughts. Later, the Buddha outlined a step-by-step model for addressing the most chronic and stubborn habits of the mind. These simple and impactful teachings offer crucial insight to anyone who wishes to be more focused and free of common distractions of the mind, and are a critical set of instructions to meditators aspiring to develop – and eventually master – the practice of insight (vipassana) meditation. In this retreat we will explore step-by-step guidelines from early Buddhist teachings to recognize, curb, and eliminate difficult and persistent thoughts. 

Additional Information
Everyone is welcome and encouraged to attend, beginners and experienced meditators alike.

Coffee, tea, and light snacks will be provided. Please bring your own lunch (full use of WIMC kitchen will be available).

If you are traveling to attend this retreat and want to discuss staying in the self-retreat quarters at WIMC, or want help finding accommodations near the WIMC please reach out to WIMC’s Operations Manager, Andrew, at andrew@wenhaminsight.org

Seeing and Knowing: The Practice & Study of Insight Meditation
Residential Retreat

Barre Center for Buddhist Studies
Feb 17-22

Program description
The path of practice laid out by the Buddha known as insight, or vipassana, meditation offers an approach to cultivating the mind which leads to “clear seeing.” To “see” is to know for oneself through direct experience the truth of how suffering is created and alleviated, revealing ever deepening levels of awareness and greater freedom overall. Ultimately, what we come to know through the practice of insight is rooted in an understanding of the true nature of the self, yet it pertains to our whole life (aspirations, relationships, health, existential longings, societal engagement).

In this program we will integrate periods of insight meditation with classroom sessions focused on core Buddhist teachings pertaining to the development of insight. We will explore the role Buddhist teachings play in the investigation of experience, as well as how experience serves as the testing ground of the teachings. Emphasis will be placed on blending the study of traditional teachings with personal discernment to craft an approach to dharma practice that is both personally relevant and consistent with the Buddhist ideal of liberating insight.

Natural Awakening: Winter Residential Retreat
Co-sponsored by Wenham Insight Meditation Center and Wonderwell Mountain Refuge

March 25-29, 2026

Information & registration Click here

Retreat Description
For centuries, meditators seeking peace and wisdom have retreated to quiet places in nature to observe their mind and body, and to experience for themselves liberating insights transmitted from generation to generation of Dharma practitioners. Early teachings from the Pali canon explain how the path of meditative development progresses naturally under the right conditions, and subsequent literature from diverse Buddhist traditions convey the freedom and confidence that grows through meditation practice. It is in the spirit of tradition – as well as our own freedom – that we continue to seek refuge and understanding in retreat today.

In this silent residential retreat, we will be supported by each other (community), the expansive natural beauty and quietude of Wonderwell Mountain Refuge, and daily instructional dharma talks which draw upon the spiritual literature of Theravada, Tibetan, and Zen teachings. Through these talks, and instructions in insight meditation, we will gain perspectives on our own life and meditation practice from the hermit poet monks of Japan and China, ancient Tibetan masters, and the elder nuns who authored some of the earliest awakening poems in India. We will also recite the Three Refuges and Five Precepts as an exploration of the virtues of renunciation and kindness, and as a basis for sharing space together as a community (sangha).

All are welcome and encouraged to attend, including beginners and experienced meditators, and those from any Buddhist lineage or spiritual tradition.