Dwelling in Gladness and Safety: a Brahma Vihara Retreat
With devon & nico hase
at the Barre Center of Buddhist Studies in Barre Massachusetts
October 10 - 15, 2025
Group photo from the 2024 Dharma Gates: Dwelling in Gladness and Safety Retreat led by devon & nico hase at Barre Center for Buddhist Studies
About this Retreat
Through cultivating beautiful qualities of the heart and mind, we can discover a place of safety, rest, and resiliency, right in the middle of everything. Love, compassion, joy, and equanimity are the skillful responses of a wise heart. Known as the brahmavihāras (divine abidings), they are qualities that keep us resourced and inspired to engage with our complex, aching world.
During this program, we’ll explore and deepen into these four heart practices offered by the Buddha. Our sitting and walking schedule will move through each of them in sequence, beginning with the practice of mettā (loving-kindness), and moving through karuṇā (compassion), muditā (appreciative joy), and upekkhā (equanimity). Practice sessions will include relational inquiry, guided meditation, and silent practice.
There will be dharma talks, guided meditation, silent meditation, and relational practices as well as walking and mindful movement.
Program Format: There will be dharma talks, guided meditation, silent meditation, and relational practices as well as walking and mindful movement.
A Note on the Cancellation Policy
This program is freely offered in the spirit of generosity To ensure participant commitment and attendance, there is a $100 registration deposit that can be refunded upon completion of the full program. If you would like to be refunded, please reach out at team@dharma-gates.org. The fee will be refunded upon your attendance at the program
The retreat is run entirely by dāna. Find out more about dāna here
Teachers
devon hase
devon hase is empowered to teach in the Insight and Vajrayana traditions of western Buddhism. Since discovering meditation in 2000, she has put dharma and community at the center of her life: she spent a decade bringing mindfulness to high school and college classrooms before entering several years of silent, solitary retreat in the mountains of Oregon. She now teaches at the Insight Meditation Society, Spirit Rock Meditation Center, and the Forest Refuge, among others. She enjoys supporting practitioners in long and short retreats, and also with personal mentoring, emphasizing relational practice and the natural world. Along with her life partner nico, devon co-authored How Not to Be a Hot Mess: A Buddhist Survival Guide for Modern Life. When she’s not traveling and teaching in their van, she’s most likely in wilderness retreat. For more, visit devonandnicohase.com.
nico hase
nico hase lived in a monastery for six years before earning a PhD in counseling psychology and becoming an Insight Meditation teacher full time. He currently mentors mindfulness teachers, teaches online and in-person retreats, and speaks with students in one-on-one sessions. He and his beloved life partner devon are the authors of How Not to Be a Hot Mess: A Survival Guide for Modern Life. Find out more at www.devonandnicohase.com
Noble Silence
This program includes dedicated periods of both wise speech and noble silence. In addition to some contemplative exercises involving mindful speaking and listening, there will be periods when participants are able to speak freely.
When the whole group enters into Noble Silence we offer each other and ourselves the gift of being with our experience as it is. This practice supports the mind in settling. Noble Silence includes no unnecessary talking, including social courtesies like saying “good morning” or “excuse me”, no reading or writing unless the teacher specifically encourages you to do so, and no tech use.
You will be invited to give your phone to a retreat manager at the beginning of the week so they can keep it in a safe place for you. You can also keep it in your room turned off. Upon being accepted to this retreat, you will receive emergency phone numbers that we ask you to share with your loved ones so that you will not need to be monitoring your own messages. Retreat managers will be present throughout the entirety of the retreat to support the group. If at any point during the retreat you are feeling ill, are injured, or are in distress please speak with one of the retreat managers.
The retreat is run entirely by dāna. Find out more about dāna here