About This Retreat
RESIDENTIAL RETREAT · OREGON COAST · AUTUMN 2027
How To Stop Suffering is a Satori Springs residential retreat: six days together on the Oregon Coast, built around a single question that matters more than almost any other. Is it actually possible to stop suffering? Not to manage it, medicate it, or think positively about it, but to see through it at the root?
Our guide for the week is the book How To Stop Suffering by Mokshadas, available in print and as an audiobook at mokshadas.com. Over six days we will read it together, slowly and out loud, the way contemplative texts were meant to be met. Between readings we will do what the book asks of its reader: sit the meditations it teaches, run the experiments it describes, and then talk honestly about what we found. Reading, practice, and conversation stay close together the whole way through.
No prior experience with meditation is required, and you do not need to belong to any tradition. All you need is the willingness to look at your own experience directly, and a few days set aside by the ocean to do it in good company.
Dates To Be Announced
Exact dates, the venue, and full logistics will be announced as planning is finalized. Pre-enrollment is free and reserves your seat: pre-enrolled guests hear first when dates are set and get first choice of the limited spots. Pre-enrolling costs nothing and commits you to nothing.
The Book We Will Read
Our text for the week is How To Stop Suffering by Mokshadas. It is a short, direct book that refuses to console you and instead hands you something to try. Rather than arguing that suffering can end, it asks you to test the claim yourself, chapter by chapter, through a series of plain experiments in your own experience.
That is exactly why it makes a good retreat companion. We will read it aloud together at an unhurried pace, sit the meditations it teaches, run its experiments in the quiet of the coast, and then compare what we actually found. The book supplies the questions. The retreat supplies the time, the silence, and the company to answer them honestly.
The book and audiobook are both available at mokshadas.com. Please bring a copy in whatever format you prefer. If the cost of the book is a barrier, mention it when you pre-enroll and we will do our best to get one into your hands.
What We Will Do Together
- Read How To Stop Suffering by Mokshadas together, chapter by chapter, at an unhurried retreat pace.
- Practice the meditations the book describes, with guided group sittings each day.
- Try the book’s experiments for yourself, then compare notes on what you actually found.
- Sit with the ocean: unstructured time on the Oregon Coast for walking, resting, and reflection.
- Join discussion circles where each person’s questions and insights support the whole group.
- Leave with a simple, sustainable practice you can carry into daily life.
The Shape Of The Retreat
Five parts · one book · one question
- Welcome, Orientation, And Meeting The GroupCommunity
- Setting Intentions For The RetreatReflection
- First Evening Sitting TogetherPractice
- Guided Morning MeditationPractice
- Group Reading From The BookStudy
- Silent Practice PeriodPractice
- The Book’s Experiments, Tried First HandExperiment
- Walking And Rest By The OceanRest
- Journaling And Quiet ReflectionReflection
- Discussion Circle: Questions And Shared InsightsCommunity
- Quiet Close Of DayPractice
- Final Sitting And Group ReflectionsPractice
- A Practice Plan For Daily LifeIntegration
This outline shows the intended rhythm of the retreat. The final schedule will be shared when dates are announced, and there will be generous unstructured time throughout.
How Pay What You Can Works
In the contemplative traditions, teachings are offered freely, and retreats are made possible by the generosity of the people who attend them. This retreat follows that model. When registration opens, you will choose your own contribution from a sliding scale, and every tier buys the same seat, the same room at the table, and the same care.
Scholarship
For anyone whose finances would otherwise make this impossible. One seat is held at this tier for every retreat, funded by the Benefactor tier.
Supported
Below what your seat costs us. Choose this if the base rate would mean real strain.
Base
Roughly what the retreat costs us to run per person. If you can cover your own seat, this is the tier to choose.
Sustaining
Above cost. Covers your seat and part of someone else's, and helps keep this model possible for future retreats.
Benefactor
Funds the scholarship seat outright. At a group this small, one benefactor changes what is possible.
Each rate covers the full six days: five nights of shared lodging, all meals, and every session of the retreat. Travel to and from the coast is your own. These amounts are estimates while the venue is being finalized, and they will be confirmed when dates are announced. The scholarship tier is for people who cannot contribute at all. Seats there are limited and we allocate them in the order requests arrive, so if you need one, please say so when you pre-enroll rather than waiting for dates. Sustaining and Benefactor contributions are what make those seats possible in the first place.
When registration opens, a $150 deposit holds your place and applies toward whichever tier you choose. Satori Springs is a limited liability company rather than a nonprofit, so contributions at any tier are not tax deductible.
At the close of the retreat there will also be an opportunity, entirely optional, to offer dana, the traditional practice of generosity toward the teachings themselves.
Who This Retreat Is For
This retreat is for anyone who is tired of suffering and sincerely curious whether it can end: complete beginners, longtime meditators, skeptics, and seekers alike. If you can read a book, sit quietly for short periods, and speak honestly in a small group, you are qualified.
Because the retreat asks you to look closely at difficult experience, it is not a fit for someone in acute crisis. Please read the important note below, and reach out to us beforehand if you are unsure whether now is the right time.
If you would like to start practicing before then, all four of our online courses are free or pay what you can, and Meditation 101 takes about half a day.
Who Is Leading It
Zachary A. Perlman
Zachary is a meditation teacher who would rather you test something than believe it. He trained in Vedanta, Dzogchen, and Mahamudra, teaches on Insight Timer, and wrote the free courses on this site.
His job for the week is not to teach at you. It is to keep the reading unhurried, the sittings on time, and the conversation honest enough to be worth having.
Pre-Enroll For Free
Enter your name and email to reserve your seat and express interest. It is completely free, there is no account to create, and you can change your mind at any time. When dates and details are announced, you will be the first to know.
Your Seat Is Reserved
Thank you for pre-enrolling. We will email you as soon as dates and details are announced, and you will have first choice of the available spots.
An Important Note
This retreat, along with the book, meditations, and experiments explored during it, is an educational and contemplative program. It is not psychotherapy, medical treatment, or mental health care, and it is not a substitute for care from a licensed physician, therapist, or other qualified provider.
If you are experiencing acute psychological distress or a mental health crisis, or if you are currently under care for a mental health or medical condition, please consult your provider before enrolling and continue to work with qualified professionals. Participation is voluntary and at your own discretion, and nothing on this page or at the retreat constitutes medical, psychological, or legal advice.