We can’t promise October’s display of northern lights as shown in the photo above, but we hope you will join us at this time of deepening nights and trees bare to the skies.

The Calendars for November and December offer something for everyone to participate in, either online or in person. Retreats, Open Meditative Dialogue, Quiet Weeks, an All Day Sitting and a Saturday Program. See the Calendar  for events remaining this year. 

You may attend as many days as you like during this period, either as a guest or volunteer. Please see Visit  for more information. All participants will be guaranteed a private room. 

 During these weeks, specific areas in the house are kept in silence while the rest of the house continues to function as usual during staff working hours. During staff off-days (Sunday and Monday) silence will be kept all day. This provides a quiet, meditative atmosphere with the opportunity to design your own retreat. The spacious sitting room is open at all times for meditation, there are group dialogues, and opportunities for individual meetings with teachers in residence.

Everyone is invited online this Saturday November 16 for a 25 minute quiet sitting followed by a recorded talk by Toni Packer and a one-hour group dialogue. The sitting begins at 1:30 pm Eastern Standard Time and the event concludes around 4 pm.

We will listen to a talk by Toni titled:  Is there a Separate Entity Within Ourselves? An entity that needs to be exterminated, fought and conquered, as all religions in one form or another talk about? Could we see right now that it is just thinking; that the whole creation of a separate entity is a mind-constructed idea to be believed? Can we just begin to watch? The work of this moment points to simple listening, revealing what is here.

Thank you for supporting this program that informs us all what meditative inquiry is about.

See below for Zoom Access information. 

Please join us online to hear this month’s guest speaker Luis Chiesa. Luis has been an enthusiastic participant in retreats and programs at Springwater Center for many years, where he now serves as a trustee. Born in Puerto Rico and now splitting his time between Buffalo, NY, and Stowe, VT, he leads online meditation groups and teaches meditation and meditative inquiry to law students at the University at Buffalo. 

The schedule for the online OMD is as follows (in Eastern Standard Time):

1:30 – 2:00 pm – 25 minute timed sitting followed by short break
2:00 – 2:20 pm – Guest Speaker
2:30 – 3:45 pm – Open Meditative Dialogue

Speaking and dialoguing is different from a lecture or a discussion group where we share what we already know. The spirit of Meditative Inquiry infuses talks and Group Dialogue at Springwater Center with a sense of exploration and discovery, of being open to the freshness of not knowing. Join the program online Saturday, November 23 and experience this for yourself!

DIRECT LINK
or
Zoom.us Meeting ID: 289 037 6188
Passcode: 7179 
Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kdsftvqRwr

Although both the November 16 and November 23 Saturday events are freely offered, donations in appreciation help to support them. Please use the Donate button below and choose the “Online Sittings/Programs” option.  

Wayne Coger will facilitate this All Day Sitting which is in  person and online. If you are coming in person please register early to ensure a place, as our last ADS filled and had a wait list. Online registration is unlimited. 

All Day Sittings are one of the most popular ways to participate in the work of Springwater Center. We come together for a day of sharing silence, sitting, listening, and meditative dialogue. The day begins at 8:30 am Eastern Standard Time with silent sitting, includes a talk by Wayne Coger, a group dialogue, and social time before concluding at 4 pm. This provides a daylong retreat-like environment without the time or financial commitment of attending one of our retreats.

If you would like to attend this All Day Sitting, either in person or online, please use one of the buttons below. A modest contribution is requested for attendance.

Some limited guest space is available if you would like to stay as a guest before or after the All Day. Please contact the receptionist at info@springwatercenter.org for availability. 

There has been a change to the schedule of the daily timed online sittings via Zoom. Morning sittings are now Friday-Monday, running from 7-7:55 am EST. Evenings are still Tuesday-Thursday from 8-8:55 pm EST. Join the sittings using this  Direct Link.

The Center closes at the end of the day on December 14. It will reopen the morning of December 26. Any emails and phone calls received will be responded to when the Center reopens. If you have an urgent message please put this in the subject line of the email or in your voicemail. 

This has been, in the past, a popular retreat. There are a few in-person spaces left.  If you are planning to attend in person please register early and, if possible, by December 13, as the Center closes for Christmas break on December 14. Any applications that are received after the retreat is full will be put on a wait list in case there are cancelations. Online registration is unlimited.

Wayne Coger has led retreats since 2001. For more than 30 years he worked with Toni Packer, and previously he studied at the Rochester Zen Center. Wayne has been on staff at Springwater Center since 1983, and in December 2015 was appointed to the position of  Administrator by the Board of Trustees.

In a talk given during the July 2024 retreat, “A stray cat comes to a talk,” Wayne explores the matter of cause and effect, wondering if we can be free from painful and pain-causing reactions.  The weather was beautiful that day and we held the talk on the Center’s deck. We were joined by a stray cat, later to be called Sunny, for his brightly colored coat and his warm personality. The talk grew out of our shared experience beneath the locust tree that shades the deck. (Note: the talk begins at 2:03 on the recording.)

Wayne today adds: “We most probably will not be using the deck this January, but I look forward to meeting the New Year once again in the warmth and silence of our December/January Retreat. It would be wonderful to share this silence with old and new friends.”