Westchester Meditation Center’s 13th Annual Retreat
Including guest teacher Judy Lief
At the Garrison Institute, March 6-13, 2026
Winter is a natural time to deepen our practice
Please join us for our annual retreat
Practitioners of all levels are warmly welcomed
This retreat includes a separate track for vajrayana practitioners
Many people are drawn to meditation as a means to develop more serenity and clarity. But a deeper transformation of our experience is possible. A well-established meditation practice grounds us deeply in an openness that is also clear, flexible and resilient. We are then better able to rise to life’s challenges with the kindness of an open heart.
A week-long immersive retreat is a powerful way to deepen our relationship to meditation and see its benefits. With a settled mind, we can tune into our innate wellbeing and our open heart. Mindfulness-awareness meditation, fully understood, can directly support overcoming our fixed, inflexible patterns, and allow the emergence of a more stable attitude of acceptance and kindness. We hope you can join us in exploring and fine-tuning these qualities that our world needs more than ever.
Surrounded by natural beauty and far from the clamor of our busy lives, Garrison Institute offers the ideal environment for deep contemplative practice. We welcome both new and experienced practitioners to attend this retreat.
The retreat will be jointly led by Judy Lief, a senior teacher in the tradition of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche and master editor of his works, and the senior teachers of the Westchester Meditation Center, Derek and Jane Kolleeny and Gene Bobker.
This mostly silent retreat will be primarily focused on sitting meditation, but the daily schedule will also include walking meditation, dharma talks, discussion groups, two individual meetings with a meditation instructor, yoga, and free time.
A separate vajrayana track* will include talks on the Experiential Song of The View of Luminous Mahamudra Called ‘The Music of Great Bliss’ by Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche.
*Separate shrine rooms for prostrators, ngondro and sadhana practitioners will be available.
SCHOLARSHIPS
We are committed to making our programs affordable to all. Various scholarships are available for this program, each targeted to specific circumstances. If you would like to be considered for financial support please let us know by completing this application.
ABOUT US
For more information about WMC visit the website, westchestermeditationcenter.org and for more information about Judy Lief, visit her website at https://judylief.com/
TEACHERS
Judy Lief is a Buddhist teacher who trained under the Tibetan meditation master, Ven. Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche. She has been a teacher and practitioner for over 35 years, and she continues to teach throughout the world. Judy is known for offering insights and practices stemming from the Buddhist tradition as a support for ordinary people facing the difficulties and challenges of modern life. Judy leads retreats and workshops as well as presenting online teachings. In her teaching, Judy prefers questions to answers, humor to earnestness, delight to solemnity. Judy teaches with clarity and empathy, with deep respect for the wisdom of the Buddhist teachings and the power of Buddhist practice. She especially enjoys sharing insights drawn from her Buddhist training with people simply looking for a way to develop more mindfulness and kindness in their lives. Judy’s teaching is marked by gentleness, humility, and an occasional poke of insight.
Jane Kolleeny, Westchester Meditation Center Senior Teacher, has been studying and practicing Buddhism since the early seventies when her teacher Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche arrived in Boulder, Colorado. A native Coloradan, she moved to New York in 1990 and taught classes at the New York Shambhala Center for many years, organizing and teaching at the Tuesday dharma gatherings for nine years. She serves as volunteer retreats and business development director at Garrison Institute.
Gene Bobker, Westchester Meditation Center Senior Teacher, met Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche as a student at University of Colorado the summer of 1971. She attended the 1974 Seminary and became a meditation instructor in 1976. In the late seventies she became a teacher at the New York Shambhala Center and also served as director of the center from 1977 to 1982. In 1982 she staffed the Bedford Springs Seminary, and later served as Practice Department coordinator in New York. She has been teaching at Westchester Meditation Center for ten years. Genie is an educator in the Westchester public school system. She has led mindfulness/awareness training for educators in school and camps, and has taught meditation to students in classroom settings. Gene is a mother and grandmother.
Derek Kolleeny, Westchester Meditation Center Senior Teacher, became a student of Chögyam Trunpga, Rinpoche, in 1976. He earned a B.A. from Harvard College in the Comparative Study of World Religions focusing in Buddhism in 1982, and a MBA from Columbia Business School in 1989. He served as CFO for various companies and not-for-profit organizations for 25 years and is now a consultant for non-profit organizations specializing in organizational development and financial management. He currently teaches meditation and Buddhist philosophy at Westchester Meditation Center and Rime Shedra NYC to provide practitioners access to the core classical texts of the Buddhist tradition and in 2009 he co-founded WMC (initially called WBC). He teaches a wide range of weekly courses and programs on Buddhist meditation and philosophy with insight, joy and humor.
ACCOMMODATIONS
There are Single, Double and Dorm (3 people) rooms available. Please note, there is no available guest elevator and all rooms are accessible by stairs—except for those reserved for the mobility-impaired on the first floor. Dorm rooms are located exclusively on the fourth floor. There are two communal bathrooms on each residential floor as well as a comfortable lounge with sofas and easy chairs, where tea and instant coffee are available. The lounges also are equipped with wireless, high-speed internet connection. There are several local hotels within driving distance from the Institute, for those who wish to stay off-site, as commuters. Onsite meals are included with commuter registrations.
If you are experiencing issues with our check-out cart loading, please click here to complete your transaction. We apologize for the inconvenience.