There can be joy in meeting our difficult experiences. Once we touch into our capacity to turn towards our difficult emotions, we can learn more about how they operate to keep us caught in suffering, and how we can let go. And we don't have to do the letting go—our mindfulness can do that for us, because our desire to be free is baked in.
Tara Mulay, JD
Board Member
Tara Mulay has been practicing Insight Meditation since 2003. She was trained and authorized to teach by the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts, and serves on the Board of Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Woodacre, California. Of South Asian heritage, Tara was initially drawn to the Dharma by the Buddha’s teachings rejecting caste as a measure of worth and capacity for awakening. Tara's journey into Dharma practice began during her 20-year career as a criminal defense attorney. Her teachings are rooted in the Mahasi Sayadaw lineage, enriched by influences from other Theravadan traditions and teachers, including Howard Cohn, Kamala Masters, and Joseph Goldstein. For more information, visit taramulay.com.
Tara Mulay's Upcoming Programs
Retreat | On-Land
December 1 - December 5, 2026 | Tuesday - Saturday | 4 nights
The Natural Clarity of Awareness: Courage, Connection, and Compassion
Spaces Still Available! This retreat explores refined qualities of attention that deepen mindfulness and support insight into the nature of experience. By inclining the mind toward restful, non-reactive awareness, we open to tranquility, clarity, and joy. Moment-to-moment presence reveals our entanglement with changing conditions and guides us toward freedom. These natural capacities are seeds of awakening and help integrate mindfulness, compassion, and wise action into daily life. The retreat includes Dharma teachings, meditation instructions, mindful movement, and guidance in the practice of lovingkindness.
Retreat | On-Land
January 27 - February 1, 2027 | Wednesday - Monday | 5 nights
Turning Toward Freedom: The Four Noble Truths
Registration Open. Explore the Four Noble Truths as a direct path of freedom. In this retreat, we look closely at how suffering and dissatisfaction show up in everyday life, and how reactivity can be understood rather than followed. Grounded in lovingkindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity, this is a training in meeting each moment with clarity and care. No prior experience required—only a willingness to begin.
Retreat | On-Land
February 2 - March 28, 2027 | Tuesday - Sunday | 54 nights
2027 Insight Meditation 2-Month Retreat - Application
Application Open! An extended period of retreat offers the rare opportunity for sustained, dedicated practice. This retreat emphasizes quieting the mind, opening the heart, and developing profound clarity and depth of Insight practice. Instruction will follow the traditional Four Foundations of Mindfulness combined with training in lovingkindness and compassion, and practice will be structured around a daily schedule of silent sitting, walking, Dharma talks, and practice meetings with teachers.
Tara Mulay
Tempel Smith
Tuere Sala
Anushka Fernandopulle
Devin Berry
Guy Armstrong
Susie Harrington
Mei Elliott
Kodo Conlin
Kirsten Rudestam
Rasika Link (Movement Teacher)
Teresa Todoroff (Movement Teacher)
Namu (Teacher in Training)
Rae Houseman (Teacher in Training)
Mia Monos (Teacher in Training)
Adam Stonebraker (Teacher in Training)
Retreat | On-Land
February 2 - March 1, 2027 | Tuesday - Monday | 27 nights
2027 February Insight Meditation 1-Month Retreat - Application
Application Open! In this rare opportunity for sustained, dedicated practice, this extended retreat emphasizes opening the heart and developing profound clarity of insight. The teachings will encompass training in the Four Foundations of Mindfulness and the heart qualities of lovingkindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity, with a daily schedule structured around periods of silent meditation, guided instructions, Dharma talks, practice meetings with teachers, and optional mindful movement.
Tara Mulay
Tempel Smith
Tuere Sala
Anushka Fernandopulle
Devin Berry
Rasika Link (Movement Teacher)
Namu (Teacher in Training)
Rae Houseman (Teacher in Training)
Retreat | On-Land
April 23 - May 2, 2027 | Friday - Sunday | 9 nights
April Insight Meditation Retreat
Registration Open. The emphasis during this retreat will be on the continuity of awareness in all activities, which stabilizes and balances the mind. Relaxed acceptance of our moment-to-moment experience will become the platform for investigation and wisdom. Particular attention will be paid to the attitudes in the mind that condition our understanding. This retreat is suitable for both beginner and experienced meditators, and we welcome people from all life experiences, backgrounds, and communities.
Kamala Masters
Tara Mulay
Vance Pryor
Winnie Nazarko
Joseph Goldstein
Aishah Shahidah Simmons (Teacher in Training)
Adam Stonebraker (Teacher in Training)
Dharma Library
Can't join us live online or on the land? Study and practice at your convenience with Tara Mulay through our new library of recordings, articles, and self-paced online courses.