TMF Alumni Training Retreat
TMF Alumni Training Weekend
with Diana Winston & Marvin G. Belzer
May 9 - 12, 2025
Training Weekend Details
Join us for a training weekend in the beautiful natural setting of the Big Bear Retreat Center, only two hours from Los Angeles. We haven’t been in person together in a long time, and now more than ever, we need each other.
This TMF Weekend will be an opportunity to practice in community, build teaching skills, network, share resources, and learn from each other.
Diana and Marv will be your hosts and will offer teaching, along with a few guest teachers, and they will design the program with your input. Ideas include teaching mindfulness in challenging times, the latest science of mindfulness, working with your teaching edge, among others. Expect opportunities for self-organizing groups, participant-led discussions, and teaching each other.
This program is hybrid so if you can’t attend in person you can join us through Zoom, with special additional activities set up for Zoom participants.
COST INCLUDES MEALS, LODGING, TUITION, AND TEACHER COMPENSATION *No dana for this retreat is expected*
IN-PERSON COST DETAILS
- Single Room, Private Bathroom – $1,250.OO
- Single Room, Shared Bathroom – $1,100.00
- Double Shared Room, Shared Bathroom – $800.00
ONLINE COST DETAILS
$500.00
We remain deeply committed to equity and accessibility. We invite you to apply for financial assistance if you can not afford the minimum fee and want to participate.
Tentative Retreat Schedule:
Approx. Time | Fri, May 9 | Sat, May 10 | Sun, May 11 | Mon, May 12 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 am | Early morning Sit | Early Morning Sit | Early Morning Sit | |
| 7:30am | Breakfast | Breakfast | Breakfast | |
| 9am | 10am-12pm Registration and Arrivals | Morning Program | Morning Program | Morning Program |
| 12:30pm | Lunch | Lunch | Lunch | Lunch |
| 2pm | Afternoon Program and free time | Afternoon Program and free time | Afternoon Program and free time | |
| 5:30pm | Dinner | Dinner | Dinner | |
| 7:30 pm | Evening Program | Evening Program | Evening Program |
Accommodations
The Center consists of several single-story buildings and cabins for dining, meditation and sleeping. Our residential cabins and rooms are simply furnished with a balance of comfort and simplicity. All beds are twin, and all bedding is provided by the center.
The Meditation Hall
Big Bear’s beautiful meditation hall is a large room with supplies for most participants, but guests are always welcome to bring their own supplies (not required). Guests can typically expect to have access to a zabuton (large cushion), zafu (small cushion), yoga mat, blocks, a meditation chair, a blanket and a selection of other yoga and meditation props with limited supplies. If you’re unsure, please contact us or visit Big Bear’s welcome guide for more details.
Meals
The Center provides fresh, healthy meals made with seasonal and organic ingredients to support a nourishing time in retreat. All meals will be vegetarian, and we accommodate most major dietary restrictions. Snacks will be available in the dining hall 24/7, including teas and coffees. The Center has refrigerators in the cabins and dining area for guests to store their own snacks – please bring any foods that might support your time here.
Rideshare & Accommodation
For this program, we will be setting up a self-organized rideshare page that you can visit at any time before. We will send email reminders closer to the retreat. We encourage ridesharing when possible. You may choose to arrive the day before; however, you will have to find accommodations in Los Angeles or Big Bear area as there are no early arrivals at Big Bear Retreat Center. Maybe one of your classmates can host you, we will also have a self-organized accommodation share page.
Covid Policy
For this program we are requiring a proof of a negative rapid test on arrival day for all participants, teachers and staff. Masking and vaccines are optional. Guests are asked, when possible, to bring their own rapid tests or test before travel on arrival day. Tests will be provided by the center by request only.
For Any Questions
Please contact UCLA Mindful's Program Coordinator, Serena Hoenig [email protected].
Training Weekend Leaders
Diana Winston
Diana Winston is the Director of UCLA Mindful, the author of The Little Book of Being: Practices and Guidance for Uncovering your Natural Awareness, and the co-author, with Susan Smalley PhD, of Fully Present, the Science, Art and Practice of Mindfulness. She has taught mindfulness for health and well-being since 1993 in a variety of settings including the medical and mental health field, and in universities, businesses, non-profits, and schools. At UCLA she has developed the evidence-based Mindful Awareness Practices (MAPs) curriculum and the Training in Mindfulness Facilitation (TMF), which trains mindfulness teachers worldwide. She is also a founder of the International Mindfulness Teachers Association. Her work has been mentioned in the New York Times, O Magazine, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, Allure, Women’s Health, and in a variety of magazines, books, and journals. The LA Times calls her “one of the nation’s best-known teachers of mindfulness.” Diana has been practicing mindfulness since 1989, including a year a Buddhist nun in Burma (Myanmar) and is the mom of a teenager.
Marvin G. Belzer, Ph.D
Marvin G. Belzer, PhD, has taught mindfulness meditation for twenty years. He is an Adjunct Associate Professor in the UCLA Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences. For many years he taught a semester-long meditation course in the Department of Philosophy at Bowling Green St. University, where he was an Associate Professor of Philosophy. He teaches an undergraduate course at UCLA (Psychiatry 175: Mindfulness Practice and Theory) and teaches mindfulness in many different venues.