In-Person and Online: Six-Day Non-Residential Urban Meditation Retreat
with Leslie Booker and Dalila Bothwell
Saturday, July 26th – Thursday, July 31st, 2025 | 9:30am – 5:00pm ET
(with an option for weekend-only participation: Saturday, July 26th – Sunday, July 27th)
In-Person Location: New York Insight at 115 West 29th Street, 12th Floor
We often think of retreat as a chance to get away—traveling to a quiet meditation center in a serene natural setting. But for those of us who live in cities, this can create a split: retreat happens there, life happens here. And as soon as we’re back in the noise and pace of the busy city, all the calm and clarity we cultivated on retreat evaporates into thin air.
That’s why we’re excited to introduce a new kind of urban retreat experience we’ve been planning for several years: New York Insight’s first annual Six-Day Non-Residential Meditation Retreat.
Rather than stepping away from life, we’ll explore what it means to deepen our meditation practice right in the heart of it. Practicing together in the same city where we live, work, and navigate daily challenges creates a powerful opportunity: we can begin to carry the clarity and presence of retreat into the rhythms of ordinary life—not just afterward, but right as it’s happening.
While much of the retreat will be held in silence, NY Insight Guiding Teacher Leslie Booker and NY Insight former Deputy Director Dalila Bothwell will lead daily discussions on the Ten Paramis, or Ten Perfections, a set of qualities that can steady us in the floods of life. They include generosity, ethical conduct, renunciation, wisdom, effort, patience, truthfulness, resolve, metta and equanimity. Over the course of the week, you’ll engage with this framework for cultivating the qualities of the heart that lead to liberation. Together we’ll learn how to nurture our innate ability to be calm and steady despite challenges and difficult thoughts and feelings.
We hope you can join us! Open to all levels of practitioners, anyone may attend the whole week or join the retreat for just the first weekend.
Please note: Participants are encouraged to fully unplug from their email and mobile devices during the hours of the retreat and maintain the atmosphere of retreat practice when returning home each night.
FAQs about the Urban Meditation Retreat
Do I have to be a Buddhist?
No. People of all backgrounds and traditions are welcome. We expect the group to be diverse in experience level, age, and identity.
Do I need to have a meditation practice?
Not necessarily, though some prior experience helps. The retreat begins gently and becomes more in-depth as the week unfolds. If you’re new to meditation, we recommend starting with the weekend and seeing how it feels—you can always extend your retreat. Our teachers will check in with you throughout and are always available to support you.
Do we sleep at the meditation center?
No. Each evening you’ll head home to rest and return the next morning for the next day of practice.
What do we do for meals?
We will share lunch together in community. You can bring food from home or step out to pick something up nearby.
Can I join the retreat online?
Yes. The entire retreat will also be offered via Zoom, so you’re welcome to participate from the comfort of your own home. Whether you’re across the city or in another part of the world, you’ll be able to fully join the retreat community and follow the daily schedule remotely.
What if I can’t afford the full price?
Our weeklong retreat is designed to be much more accessible than residential retreats, but if you need it, we have a generosity policy that helps participants with the cost of the retreat. We will also be happy to set up payment plans to help break up the price of the retreat. Please contact us at registration@nyimc.org for more information.
What if I can’t take a full week off?
A full week of meditation with expert and highly-trained teachers is a rare and valuable opportunity—but we’re New Yorkers too and know how hard it can be to take a week off to do a retreat. That’s why we’ve made it possible to join just for the weekend, so you can still benefit from retreat practice even with a busy schedule.
Daily Retreat Schedule
9:30am -10:30am – Morning Instruction
10:30am -12:pm – Morning Practice Session & Small Group Discussion
12:00pm – 2:00pm – Meal Break
2:00pm – 3:00pm – Afternoon Practice Session
3:00pm – 4:00pm – Dharma Talk
4:00pm – 4:30pm – Group Discussion
4:30pm – 5:00pm – Instructions for Taking Practice Home
Still have questions? Consider signing up for our Free Urban Retreat Info Session and Q&A on June 20th.
In-Person Registration:
Our weeklong retreat is designed to be much more accessible than residential retreats, but if you need it, we have a generosity policy that helps participants with the cost of the retreat. We will also be happy to set up payment plans to help break up the price of the retreat. Please contact us at registration@nyimc.org for more information. *Please note: Tuesday, July 1st, 2025 is the deadline for registering for the retreat with a payment plan.
If you are registering via a mobile device such as a phone or tablet, you can scroll right and left and up and down within the below form if it is partially obscured or cut off.
CLICK HERE to open the registration form in a new browser window.
Online Registration:
If you are registering via a mobile device such as a phone or tablet, you can scroll right and left and up and down within the below form if it is partially obscured or cut off.
CLICK HERE to open the registration form in a new browser window.
Volunteering
All of our programs rely on volunteers to support our teachers and staff with various tasks and responsibilities. Volunteering allows you to participate in our programs at no cost. To inquire about volunteering opportunities, please fill out our inquiry form, and we will get back to you as soon as possible.
Teacher(s)
Leslie Booker
Booker is a heart – centered, spirit – driven activist and meditation teacher committed to creating a culture of belonging through her teaching and writing. She completed Spirit Rock’s 4 year Retreat Teacher Training in 2020, and shared the practices of yoga and mindfulness with New York City’s most vulnerable populations for over a decade. Booker has co – authored and contributed to several publications including the trauma – informed anthology Practicing Liberation and its accompanying workbook, for folks working towards social justice. She is a co-founder of the Yoga Service Council at Omega Institute and the Meditation Working Group of Occupy Wall Street. In 2020 she was invited to be a Sojourner Truth Leadership Fellow through Auburn Seminary and was voted by her peers as one of the 12 Powerful Women in the Mindfulness Movement.
Booker moved to Philadelphia in August of 2020 to vote in a swing state, and currently serves as the Guiding Teacher of New York Insight.
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Dalila Bothwell
Dalila Bothwell’s (she/her) Dharma-meditation practice lives at the intersection of love for community, land, wholeness, and 12-step recovery. The granddaughter of Claudia and Gussie Pearl, she finds refuge and hope in the liberation teachings of revolutionary lovers – from the Buddha to bell hooks. During her nearly decade-long tenure as a director for New York Insight Meditation Center, she learned the priceless value of sangha and the role relationships play in embodying the teachings and in creating kinder human beings.
Dalila is a graduate of the Spirit Rock Community Dharma Leaders Program, formally educated in nutritional science and food studies and has served with the Buddhist Peace Fellowship, Insight Meditation Society, and Dharma communities throughout the US. She loves dancing furiously in her kitchen and taking long walks in the desert with her handsome pup, Brisco. Dalila believes freedom is a holistic art. Learn more about Dalila at www.dalilabothwell.com.