BUILDING OUR PRACTICE, BUILDING OUR COMMUNITY:
A LAY PATH TO AWAKENING
A Madison Vipassana Meditation Retreat
In person only | Pine Lake Retreat Center, Westfield, WI
October 9–12, 2025
If you're able to set aside a fall weekend for sustained meditation practice in a beautiful setting, we invite you to join us for our October retreat. On Friday, October 10, our practice will be guided via Zoom by monks from Clear Mountain Monastery, an aspiring Buddhist forest monastery in the greater Seattle area. Their focus on deepening practice in lay life will flow directly into peer-led community practice on Saturday and Sunday, October 11 and 12.
The retreat will be held at Pine Lake Retreat Center in Westfield, Wisconsin. Situated on beautiful Pine Lake and surrounded by rolling hills, farmland, and oak savannas, the center offers peaceful walking trails and a supportive environment for practice.
RETREAT DESCRIPTION
This weekend retreat is designed to support lay practitioners in deepening their commitment to the path of practice.
Friday’s session will be led virtually by Ajahns Kovilo and Nisabho, monastics in the Theravāda Buddhist tradition. They will explore how the Buddha’s teachings can be fully embodied within household life. Through guided meditation and Dhamma talks, we will reflect on the role of virtue, concentration, and wisdom in daily life. Drawing on the Pali suttas and their years of monastic training, they will invite us to recognize our own capacity for awakening and to walk the path with clarity, compassion, and resolve.
Building on this foundation, the Saturday and Sunday sessions will be peer-led, with no teacher guidance. This format provides space for us to support one another’s practice as a community. The schedule will include alternating sitting and walking meditation periods, with rest periods following meals. Saturday evening will offer an opportunity for those who wish to share reflections on our aspirations as lay practitioners.
This retreat is suitable for both new and experienced practitioners.
Please note: Those new to meditation retreats are sometimes surprised by the whole days of silence, unguided meditation periods, and the sleepiness, restlessness, and emotional swings that can accompany solitary inward investigation. We want everyone who registers to have a sense of what retreat is like. If you have any questions, please contact the registrar at registrar@madisonmeditation.org and plan to attend the orientation session at 6:00 pm on Thursday, October 9.
To learn more about the teachings of Ajahns Kovilo and Nisabho, please visit the Clear Mountain Monastery website.
COST
Registration fees are offered on a sliding scale. The scale ranges from 50% to 150% of actual cost. Please choose the amount that best fits your circumstances. We ask those who are able to pay at the higher end of the scale to do so, helping make the retreat accessible to others. If even the lowest rate poses a hardship, please offer what you can.
Fees cover room, simple vegetarian meals, and fixed retreat costs (teacher transportation, accommodation, and meals; facility rental; and miscellaneous expenses).
In keeping with Theravāda tradition, there is no charge for the teachings, and no portion of your registration fee goes to Ajahns Kovilo and Nisabho, our teachers for Friday, October 10. However, toward the end of the retreat, there will be an opportunity to offer dāna (a voluntary donation) in gratitude for their teachings.
HEALTH PRECAUTIONS
This is an in-person, residential retreat. To support the health and well-being of the community, the following policies are in place:
COVID testing is not required beforehand. However, if you are feeling unwell, please stay home and notify the registrar at registrar@madisonmeditation.org.
Masks are optional.
If you develop symptoms during the retreat, testing will be available. Anyone who tests positive for COVID will be asked to return home or isolate.
Hand sanitizer will be available in high-traffic areas, and its use will be required before meals.
All retreatants must agree to a waiver of liability as part of registration.
RESERVED SPACES FOR YOUNG PEOPLE AND PEOPLE OF COLOR
In keeping with our commitment to diversity and inclusion, we reserve the last few spots before the retreat fills up for young people (age 25 and under) and people of color who haven’t yet registered. These spots will be held until three weeks before the retreat (September 18). After that, any remaining reserved spaces will be offered to those on the waiting list.
If you identify with one or both of these groups, please check the appropriate box(es) on the registration form. To inquire about space availability, contact registrar@madisonmeditation.org.
MEALS
On each full day of the retreat, a vegetarian breakfast, lunch, and dinner will be served in the dining hall. The retreat concludes after lunch on Sunday, October 12.
Please note: We are unable to accommodate special dietary needs.
SPECIAL NEEDS
If you’d like to use one of our assistive listening devices, please indicate this on your registration form. For best results, we recommend using them with your own earbuds or headphones. For device-related questions, contact Brandon Warner at warnerbrandon24@gmail.com. For other special needs, contact the registrar at registrar@madisonmeditation.org.
CHEMICAL SENSITIVITY
Out of consideration for those with chemical sensitivities, please refrain from using perfumes or scented shampoos, ointments, or lotions during the retreat.
RIDESHARING
If you’d like to request or offer a ride to or from Pine Lake Retreat Center, please indicate this on the registration form or contact registrar@madisonmeditation.org.
SCHEDULE
Thursday, October 9
5:00 pm – Check-in
6:00 pm – Orientation (for those new to retreat)
7:00 pm – Retreat begins
Please arrive no later than 6:30 pm to allow time to check in, get settled, and be present in the hall when the retreat begins.
Sunday, October 12
1:00 pm – Retreat ends
TO REGISTER
Please complete online registration by Monday, October 6. We recommend registering early, as our retreats fill quickly. If the retreat is full, you may request to be placed on the waiting list. If we are unable to offer you a spot, your payment will be refunded in full.
Please note: Your place in the registration queue is not secured until we receive both your completed registration form and your payment.
CANCELLATIONS
Cancellations by September 11 will receive a refund minus a $50 processing fee.
Cancellations after September 11 will be refunded only if we are able to fill your spot.
ONLINE PAYMENT
Once your registration form is complete, you will be prompted to pay online. If you prefer not to pay electronically, contact the registrar at registrar@madisonmeditation.org to make other arrangements.
If you’re unable to pay when you register, you may return to this page later and use this payment link.
Once your registration and payment are received, you’ll receive a confirmation email. Additional retreat details will be sent closer to the retreat.
For registration questions, please contact: registrar@madisonmeditation.org
ABOUT THE TEACHERS
Ajahn Kovilo first encountered meditation through the Goenka tradition and entered the monastery in 2006, receiving full ordination from Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro at Abhayagiri Monastery in 2010. He spent the next decade training in Ajahn Chah monasteries in the U.S. and Thailand, completing all levels of the Nak-Tham Exams in Thai while there. In 2020, after a year at a Pa Auk Sayadaw monastery, he enrolled at Dharma Realm Buddhist University to study Pāli and Mahāyāna practices. Ajahn Kovilo served as the editor of Stillness Flowing and Gold Wrapped in Rags, and is the compiler/translator of Thus Should You Train Yourselves and The Wellbeing Cascade. Ajahn Kovilo now lives in Seattle, devoted to Clear Mountain full time.
After finishing college in 2012, Ajahn Nisabho left his native Washington to go forth as a Buddhist monk in Thailand. He received full ordination the following spring under Ajahn Anan, a senior disciple of renowned meditation master Ajahn Chah, and spent the following years training in forest monasteries around the world with contemporary masters such as Ajahn Anan, Ajahn Pasanno, and Ajahn Jayasaro. Over these years, he came to believe the tradition represented a faithful embodiment of the original Buddhist path, able to yield great fruit even amidst the complexities of modern life. In the summer of 2021, he returned to Seattle to plant the first seeds of Clear Mountain Monastery.