/ pronounced MAY'-la /

मेला 
a Sanskrit word meaning 'gathering'

Join us for a weekend retreat to clear your mind, meditate with world-renowned instructors, and form lasting relationships with peers. We will cultivate joy, dip into stillness, and be part of an inspiring community, supporting and uplifting each other. We would love to welcome you.

Apply below to be the first to learn about future Mela events:

Meet your community. 

At Mela people meet lifelong friends. Because when you meditate you go within. You become more authentic and more you. To do this on retreat, away from the stress of daily life, is profound. You open to connecting with people on a deep level. People who met at previous Mela retreats now travel together each summer, invest in each other’s companies and become the closest of confidants. Why? When you go on retreat, enjoying meditation, activities and long-table outdoor meals — you meet people who will change your life.

Gain inspiration & clarity.

For three days you'll wake up to meditation and movement, and close each day with gourmet dinners under the stars. In addition to the peacefulness and inspiration from the guided meditations, you'll enjoy outdoor activities, share in authentic conversations and emerge with a calm mind, rejuvenated spirit and awesome new friends.

Practice with the masters. 

Whether you are new to meditation or experienced, this is your chance to learn from one of the top mindfulness teachers in the world. Will Kabat-Zinn will lead group meditations, offer relatable Buddhist wisdom with humor and warmth, and answer your questions about bringing mindfulness into your daily life.

“A TED-like event for meditators to help people become conscious leaders.”

"In between meditation sessions, the group is treated to luxuriously thoughtful experiences, reminiscent of an expensive destination wedding, but where every guest you might be seated next to is a fascinating conversation partner and a kindred spirit." 

A partial list of past Mela guests includes: 

• Ibrahim Ajami, Head of Mubadala Ventures, a UAE sovereign wealth fund with over $220B in assets under mgmt.

• Christopher Arnold, Apple engineering manager.

• Natalya (Brikner) Bailey, Founder/Board, Accion Systems, making space accessible via new propulsion technology. Investment Partner, XFactor Ventures.

• Sarah Bond, President of Xbox.

• Jason Bordainick, Founder/CEO, Hudson Valley Property Group, over $1b invested to buy and convert buildings into affordable housing. 

• Tim Chang, Frmr Partner, Mayfield Fund, named to the Forbes Magazine’s Midas list for tech’s top investors 3x.

• Claire Curley, Head of Kids & Animation, Hello Sunshine. Frmr Emmy-award winning kids media executive at Nickelodeon, credits including Blue’s Clues, The Electric Company, and the Nick App.

• Michael Clark, Managing Partner, GHC Companies, one of the leading affordable housing firms in the country. Teaches private equity at Columbia. 

• Kristen Dahlgren, NBC News Correspondent.

• Ithamar Enriquez, Actor, credits include WandaVision, A Series of Unfortunate Events, Arrested Development, Lady Bird, The Office, How I Met Your Mother, How to Get Away With Murder.

• Kerry Faherty, President at Faherty Brand, American casual clothes for life’s great moments.

• Ben Feder, Managing Partner, TIRTA Ventures.

• Keith Ferrazzi, Entrepreneur, speaker, author, New York Times bestselling books Never Eat Alone and Who’s Got Your Back?

• Mark Feuerstein, Actor, Sex & the City, The West Wing, Prison Break.

• Jonathan Flesher, VP of Business Development and Partnerships, Reddit.

• Leon Ford, Activist, Author, social entrepreneur.

• Anand Ghandi, CFO, Viator (part of TripAdvisor)

• Lindsay Goffman, Film & TV Producer (Dumbstruck, The Good Doctor).

• Mark Goffman, Producer and Writer (The Umbrella Academy, The West Wing, Law & Order SVU, Limitless, Sleepy Hollow, Bull.)

• Charlie Hartwell, Operating Partner, BridgeBuilders Collaborative, investing in mind-training & consciousness.

• Kerry Healey, President, Center for the American Dream (Milken Institute). Frmr President, Babson College. Frmr Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts.

• Jessica Iclisoy, Founder/CEO, California Baby, 90+ organic products for babies and kids. Launched with $2,000, 2017 sales were $96mm, making her one of "America's most successful women entrepreneurs".

• Deborah Jackson, Founder/CEO, Plum Alley. Entrepreneur, early stage investor, Fast Company "League of Extraordinary Women" (60 women named).

• Dana Klein, supervising producer/writer, Friends. Writer, Becker. Creator, Friends with Better Lives.

• Brigette Lau, Founding Partner, Fireworks Ventures. Owner / Board Member of Warriors (basketball team).

• Nick Lehman, Chief Strategy & Digital Officer, ASCAP.

• Michael Levit, Managing Partner, Dragonfly Partners. Boards: SNAP Interactive, Say Media. 

• Mark Lundstrom, Founder/CEO, Radia (building a ‘Climate Air Force’). Serial big-tech entrepreneur (CEO BioScale, Ripcord). Frmr ski racer and pilot.

• Lesley Mansford, Chief People Officer, Supercell (one of the top women in gaming) / philanthropist.

• Patrick McKenna, Co-founder & Chair, Facet Wealth. Managing Partner, High Ridge Venture Partners.

• Matt Mullenweg, co-founder, WordPress. CEO, Automattic.

• Elliot Noss, President and CEO, Tucows, publicly traded tech company.

• Alicia Parker, CMO, Tishman Speyer.

• Michael Preysman, Founder/CEO, Everlane.

• Annie Roney, Founder/CEO, ro*co Films (distributes award-winning documentaries, including 18 Oscar-nominated films).

• Rene Stewart, Principal, Vista Equity Partners, co-head of $560m growth fund focused on software. Boards: Dispatch, Gather, Kazoo, RADAR + more.

• Senthil Sundaram, CEO, Terns Pharmaceuticals.

• Jason Tan, Co-founder/CEO, Sift, fighting fraud with machine learning. Frmr CTO, BuzzLabs.

• Karin Timpone, CMO of MLB, Frmr Marriott Chief Global Marketing Officer.

• Lawrence Trilling, Producer/director/writer, Goliath, Parenthood, Alias, Scrubs, Roswell, Felicity, Pushing Daisies and many other TV shows (had produced more than 100 hours of television).

• Peter Yared, CEO, InCountry, founded & sold 6 enterprise software companies, including Sapho. Frmr CTO/CIO, CBS Interactive.

• Amy Ziering, Emmy and Academy Award-nominated documentary film producer and director, On The Record, The Invisible War, The Memory Thief, Outrage, The Hunting Ground.

Will Kabat-Zinn is an Insight Meditation teacher. He spent his early practice years at the Insight Meditation Society and later at Panditarama Forrest Meditation Center. Will was deeply influenced by the rigor of his training with the late Sayadaw U Pandita of Burma and the fierce compassion of Chan Master Sheng-Yen of Taiwan. For eight years Will taught meditation and awareness practices to incarcerated youth in New York City and Oakland. Will is a member of Spirit Rock teacher’s council and board of directors and teaches meditation retreats and seminars nationally and internationally. He also holds a master's degree in counseling psychology from the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS). Will lives in the East Bay with his wife and two sons.