Staying Power:
A Daylong Retreat with Gina LaRoche & nico hase
Saturday, June 13th
10 am to 4 pm pacific time
What allows you to stay present when everything in you wants to run away?
Khanti parami—patience—is often misunderstood as passive endurance. But true patience is an active practice: the warrior's capacity to remain present with what is, even when what is feels unbearable.
This isn't about becoming a doormat or tolerating abuse. It's about developing the inner stability to respond rather than react, to choose your actions from wisdom rather than impulse. It's patience as power, not patience as powerlessness.
What We’ll Explore Together
In this one-day online retreat, Gina & nico will explore khanti parami through direct experience—the warrior's capacity to stay present with what is.
The day will begin with an hour of conversation and an opening talk around the theme. We'll then sit and walk for four hours in lightly guided practice, before reconvening for a closing talk and further dialogue.
A Full Path of Practice—Rooted in Community
🪴Monthly Daylongs – This is the sixth in an annual series of ten online daylongs offered by Refuge of Belonging, a dharma community rooted in presence and open to all.
🪴The Paramis – The ten paramis are heart qualities that range from kindness and equanimity to resolve and letting go. They offer a time-tested path for cultivating what truly benefits both ourselves and others.
🪴Community – Refuge of Belonging is an online community offering a WhatsApp group, weekly dharma talks, monthly daylongs, quarterly classes, and an annual residential retreat—all designed to nourish and sustain your practice.
what people are saying
"Gina brings a rare blend of clarity, compassion, and grounded wisdom to every teaching. In her presence, I felt deeply welcomed—not in spite of my complexity, but because of it. Her guidance helped me soften the voice of my inner critic and return to the truth that I am already enough. Practicing with Gina is an invitation to wholeness."
— B.D.
"nico embodies a unique mix of experience, humor, and humility which helped make meditation accessible to me. Thanks to his generous guidance and example, I've been able to open more fully to the joys and mysteries of life and found a better calm in my day-to-day, too."
— Elliot August, Microfinance exec, Austin, TX
Registration & Payment
Date: June 13th
Time: 10am to 4pm pacific time
Format: Online via Zoom
We offer these daylong retreats on a dana model. The suggested donation is $50 to $150 per session. We gratefully accept contributions of greater or lesser amounts, based on your resources.
Gina LaRoche (she*/her*) is an Insight Meditation practitioner and teacher. Gina has participated in several IMS retreats, sitting the annual People of Color retreat as well as other retreats with teachers such as Gina Sharpe, Larry Yang, Sharon Salzberg and DaRa Williams. She was a teacher at the New Haven (Connecticut) Insight Sangha now called Elm Community Insight and now serves as their board chair. In 2014, Gina was nominated by Sharon Salzberg for the Community Dharma Leaders Program at Spirit Rock where she graduated in 2017. She has completed the eight-week MBSR training. She is currently on the Board of Insight Mediation Society in Barre, MA, is one of the leaders for Cambridge Insight Meditation Center (CIMC) POC affinity group. And co-led a Dharma Talk Series for Tricycle Magazine called, “Living in Our Money-Driven Society: Navigating a Path to Awakening.”
nico hase lived in a monastery for six years before earning a PhD in counseling psychology and becoming an Insight Meditation teacher full time. He currently mentors mindfulness teachers, teaches online and in-person retreats, and speaks with students in one-on-one sessions. He and his beloved life partner devon are the authors of How Not to Be a Hot Mess: A Buddhist Survival Guide for Modern Life.
