Est. 2014 · Northern New Mexico

A high-desert silent retreat

Maricopa Silence

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i. Prologue

For a thousand years, the people of this mesa have walked these arroyos in quiet. We did not invent the silence here. We only learned how to hold the door open for a week at a time, so that someone passing through might rest inside of it.

Meditation hall interior at dusk Adobe flotation chamber exterior Mesa walking trail, single figure Windowless dark chamber adobe
№ 01 · Seven nights

The Long Quiet

A traditional silent vipassana week. No reading, no writing, no speech beyond the daily interview with your guide. Meals are taken on the meditation hall floor. The hours hollow themselves out by the third day; what remains is a particular attention to the wind moving over the juniper.

A day
  • 04:30  rising bell
  • 05:00  sitting
  • 07:00  walking, broth
  • 09:00  sitting
  • 12:00  midday meal
  • 14:00  sitting, interview
  • 18:00  evening meal
  • 20:00  sitting, retiring
Guide
Joan Reyes-Cota

Theravāda lineage, Spirit Rock
Twenty-six years of practice

Group

Limited to eight

№ 02 · Seven nights

Sensory Deprivation & Return

Mornings in our two flotation chambers, carved into the adobe and warmed to body temperature; afternoons walking the dry wash with eyes half-closed. The week is constructed as a slow erasure of input, ending on the seventh day with a single shared meal taken outside under stars.

A day
  • 06:00  rising, tea
  • 07:30  flotation, 90 min
  • 10:00  integration sit
  • 12:00  silent meal
  • 14:00  arroyo walking
  • 17:00  flotation, 60 min
  • 19:30  evening sit
Guide
Daniel Aguilar

Zen & somatic, Tassajara
Float practitioner, 14 years

Group

Limited to six

№ 03 · Seven nights

The Walking Week

Each morning a slow eight-mile traverse of the mesa, performed in single file and total silence. Afternoons are given to bodywork and the hot-springs soak. For those who find seated meditation difficult and the body restless; the practice is the gait itself.

A day
  • 05:30  rising, broth
  • 06:30  walking traverse
  • 11:00  rest, silent meal
  • 14:00  bodywork
  • 16:00  springs soak
  • 19:00  sitting
  • 21:00  retiring
Guide
Marisol Tewa

Tewa walking tradition
Diné lineage, 18 years

Group

Limited to ten

№ 04 · Seven nights

Dark Retreat

Five of the seven days are spent in a single windowless adobe chamber lit only by your own attention. A guide visits each morning at sunrise, the only event by which time may be measured. Reserved for practitioners with prior silent retreat experience.

A day
  • rising by inner clock
  • sunrise interview
  • meal slot one
  • meal slot two
  • lights at dusk
Guide
Tenzin Ösel

Dzogchen, Mindrolling lineage
Thirty-one years of practice

Group

Limited to four

Adobe casita huts at desert dawn
iii. The land

Forty acres of stillness

— a note on the land —

The property sits at the end of a six-mile dirt road, on a south-facing shoulder of the Jemez. There is no cell signal here. There has not been one since the gate was built. The wind comes through the piñon at evening and sounds, faintly, like a long inheld breath being let go.

The casitas — twelve adobe huts, each with one bed, one window, one chair, no clock.

Joan Reyes-Cota, Theravāda meditation teacher
v. Guides

Joan Reyes-Cota

Theravāda · Spirit Rock lineage

Joan trained for nine years at the Insight Meditation Society and has held silent retreats across the southwest since 2002. She lives outside Abiquiú and tends the casita gardens.

v. Guides

Daniel Aguilar

Sōtō Zen & somatic practice

Daniel was ordained at Tassajara in 2011 and has trained in float-tank facilitation for fourteen years. His work integrates sensory reduction with the body's slower forms of knowing.

Daniel Aguilar, Sōtō Zen and somatic guide
Marisol Tewa, walking tradition guide
v. Guides

Marisol Tewa

Walking traditions · Diné & Tewa

Marisol was raised at Ohkay Owingeh and apprenticed for a decade with elders of the walking tradition. She leads our long traverses and the mesa orientations.

v. Guides

Tenzin Ösel

Dzogchen · Mindrolling lineage

Tenzin trained for sixteen years in Bir, India, and has held dark retreats at five centers across North America. He visits the property each spring and autumn equinox.

Tenzin Ösel, Dzogchen teacher