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We work to protect the safety of all students. We reserve the right to remove any student from any class, sitting group, retreat, or any event if the student is disruptive to the safe learning environment we maintain for all.

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We reserve the right to cancel a class or event due to low enrollment or other circumstances which would make the event non-viable. If InsightLA cancels an event you’ve registered for, you will be offered a full refund. If an event has to be postponed for any reason, you will have the option to either receive a full refund or transfer your registration to the same event at the new, future date.

Donations are not refundable.
 

 

Non-Residential Retreats (Multi Day Retreat)

(Hybrid: In-person) Beyond Distraction: Five Practical Ways to Free the Mind from Distracting Thoughts

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Melissa McKay Teacher

  • Location Benedict Canyon Retreat House
  • Experience Levels All
  • This class is a donation based class. No one will be turned away for lack of funds.
  • Date Starts Saturday, June 6, 2026
    Ends Sunday, June 7, 2026

    1 night

Refund and Event Policies

This event is the in-person version of a hybrid retreat which will take place both in-person and online. To register for the online version, please click here.

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Note: This weekend’s retreat will be led by Melissa, who is stepping in for Shaila Catherine.

Mental restlessness is an insidious and pervasive hindrance that most practitioners struggle to overcome. We can refine our skills for working with the modes of thinking that distract us from being mindful: critical thoughts, planning, worrying, lustful fantasies, judging, memories, internal commentaries, to name a few. Inspired by two discourses in the Middle Length Discourses (suttas 19 and 20), this event will offer a sequence of practical strategies to free the mind from obstructive patterns.

Participants will develop mindfulness-based meditation practices while overcoming habitual distractions.

This retreat is suitable for both new and experienced practitioners.

Preparation: Please read Beyond Distraction: Five Practical Ways to Focus the Mind by Shaila Catherine and the following two discourses prior to the event.
https://suttacentral.net/mn19/en/bodhi
https://suttacentral.net/mn20/en/bodhi

Schedule: June 6 and 7, 2026, 10am-4pm PT at the Benedict Canyon Retreat House

Suggested donation: $225

 

Melissa McKay Teacher

Melissa began her path of meditation in 1998 with a small group of dedicated practitioners in Oakland, CA with her beloved, though not known, teacher named Barbara Janus who introduced her to the teachings of Sayadaw U Pandita of Burma. Her first retreat was with Sayadaw U Pandita and the profound changes she saw in... Read more

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