Welcome

Someone asked the teacher Zhaozhou, “What is meditation?”
Zhaozhou replied, “Well, it's not meditation.”
The student was puzzled. “Why is it not meditation?”
“It’s alive! It’s alive!”

About Nic

Nicola Redfern is an Insight Dialogue Retreat Teacher with an extensive background in both Zen and Vipassana meditation. With a strong belief that awakening is not a solo endeavor, Nic is particularly interested in getting meditation off the cushion and fully integrated into life, work, social justice and relationships.

She has taught multiple courses on the climate emergency, unlearning racism, and Nonviolent Communication, as well as programs for LGBTQIA+. Nicola is originally from the UK and now lives near Santa Fe, NM.

About Insight Dialogue

Insight Dialogue (ID) is a meditation practice designed to help us be awake in our engaged lives, and to integrate Dharma teachings in a direct and immediate way. In ID, we bring together meditative awareness, the wisdom teachings of the Buddha, and the brightening power of human connection to deepen our cultivation of mindfulness, compassion and insight.

Supported by the six Insight Dialogue guidelines, we bring wakeful awareness right into the heart of speaking and listening, often in pairs. These guidelines help establish and sustain the meditative qualities while contemplating the Dharma together, supporting deep inquiry and experiential insight into the Buddha's teachings. It creates the potential for a powerful braiding together of the three jewels of Buddha, Dharma and Sangha.

  • “I am astonished by Nic's depth of presence when conveying the Dharma. It consistently beckons me to land and linger with her in the present moment. In her offerings, I experience the teachings being held in a container of a depth and integrity that never fails to move my heart.”

    Anonymous, participant in multiple courses

  • ”Nic and Rosie's online climate course was deeply engaging. There was never a moment when I was bored or tempted to multitask. It was a good mix of spacious time for deep contemplation and connection, excellent audio and video resources, and fun community building. I learned a huge amount and was surprised to find it uplifting and empowering rather than depressing or heavy as I had feared.”

    Wren Willow, Doctor of Oriental Medicine

  • “The sequence of contemplations and structure of the retreat had a beautiful simplicity and harmony that were perfectly conducive to remembering what matters. I was frankly astonished by Nic’s skill in creating a virtual dharma hall. It was amazing to me that Insight Dialogue could be so effectively conveyed in online interaction. Additionally, I tend not to like guided meditation very much, but the instructions were so impeccably attuned that they brought my mind to stillness.”

    Marjorie Schuman, Ph.D. Mindfulness-Informed Psychotherapist

  • “The two Insight Dialogue courses I took with Nic were incredibly beneficial for my own personal growth and wakefulness. I love her energy—so warm, real, and inviting. Instead of facilitating or lecturing, she holds sacred space for collective wisdom to arise. I find her to be authentic, present, vulnerable, joyful, with the refreshing quality of inquisitiveness and ‘don’t know mind’. I would take any course or workshop with her skillful holding.”

    Christine King, Certified Trainer, Nonviolent Communication

  • “The online retreat didn't feel like ‘just zoom.’ It was alive with our hearts, practice, and spiritual energy. The weaving together of the four foundations [of mindfulness] so skillfully offered deepened my practice to see all the connections between body sensations, feeling tone, and mind states so clearly. So clearly that it stays with me strongly. I’m so grateful!”

    Ozum Ucok, participant in the annual Cascadia Retreat

Recordings

  • Guided meditation: Pause

    Nic’s introduction to the Insight Dialogue Guideline, “Pause,” from the Voices of Awakening Retreat, December 29, 2021.

    Listen now

  • Listen Deeply and Speak the Truth

    Nic offering Insight Dialogue Guidelines, “Listen Deeply” and “Speak the Truth,” from the Voices of Awakening Retreat, January 2, 2022.

    Listen now

Donate

For thousands of years, Buddhist teachings have been made freely available and have moved through the world as a direct result of people giving freely. This ensures that the teachings are available to all of us, no matter what our financial situation might be. It’s a beautifully inclusive system, known as “dana”, where we are each invited to give as we can, according to our means.

Since teachers are not paid for their time and work, they rely on voluntary donations in order to be able to continue sharing the teachings. Their livelihood rests on the generosity of others.

In offering dana, we not only support the basic needs and livelihoods of our teachers, we also ensure the continuity of these teachings for the next generation, and the next and the next. It all hinges on generosity to keep the ball rolling.

Donate via PayPal

Contact Nic

Questions about a retreat? Inquiries about a 1:1 session? Send Nic a message.