How can we transform our understanding of the world and decenter ourselves? How do we create an integral spirituality—one that includes the transcendent? Because there's beauty beyond the limits of what we can know, beyond being with what's typical, beyond the constraints of predetermined ways of knowing.
JD Doyle, MA
Residential Retreat Teacher
JD Doyle (they/them) served as Core Teacher at the East Bay Meditation Center, where they co-founded the Alphabet (LGBTQIA+) Saṅgha. They graduated from Spirit Rock Meditation Center’s Retreat Teacher Training in 2020 and teach at saṅghas across the US and in Canada. JD began studying and practicing Buddhism in 1995, at Insight Meditation Society and at Spirit Rock, and continued with extensive retreat practice in Thailand and Burma in the Theravadan lineage. For over twenty-three years, they worked as a public school teacher. JD holds a BS in Environmental Studies from Cornell University, a bilingual multicultural teaching certificate from UC Santa Cruz, and a Masters in Language and Literacy and Sociocultural Studies from the University of New Mexico. They are committed to celebrating the diversity of our human saṅgha, transforming the impacts of racism on our communities, honoring all genders, and living in ways that affirm the sacredness of the Earth.
JD Doyle's Upcoming Programs
Short Program | On-Land
Saturday, May 31 | 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Pride 2025: Touching the Heart of Joy as Spiritual Medicine
Open to all self-identified LGBTQIA+. In this critical moment in history, it is urgent and essential to recognize what it truly means to be alive. As we acknowledge the heartbreak and the multi-layered challenges faced by today’s LGBTQIA+ communities, it is crucial that we also cultivate an intimate connection with the qualities of beauty and joy. Our time together will include Dharma talks, meditations, guided and accessible movement, chants, and interactive sessions. All experience levels are warmly welcome.
Short Program | Online
Saturday, May 31 | 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Pride 2025: Touching the Heart of Joy as Spiritual Medicine
Open to all self-identified LGBTQIA+. In this critical moment in history, it is urgent and essential to recognize what it truly means to be alive. As we acknowledge the heartbreak and the multi-layered challenges faced by today’s LGBTQIA+ communities, it is crucial that we also cultivate an intimate connection with the qualities of beauty and joy. Our time together will include Dharma talks, meditations, guided and accessible movement, chants, and interactive sessions. All experience levels are warmly welcome.
Retreat | On-Land
August 17 - August 21, 2025 | Sunday - Thursday | 4 nights
Five Spiritual Powers: Cultivating Resilience, Balance, and Love
Registration Open. The Buddha’s teaching on the five spiritual powers (confidence, effort, mindfulness, concentration, and wisdom) offers a path to cultivate these capacities of the heart and transform habits that no longer serve us. Grounded in these teachings, together we will learn powerful and sustainable ways to restore our humanity and bring freedom to all beings. This retreat offers silent meditation, opportunities for movement meditation, Dharma talks, and time to be in nature and honor the natural rhythms of your own practice.
Retreat | On-Land
February 3 - March 28, 2026 | Tuesday - Saturday | 53 nights
2026 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.
Dawn Scott
Vance Pryor
Tuere Sala
JD Doyle
James Baraz
Brian Lesage
Tara Mulay
Tempel Smith
Kristina Baré
Anushka Fernandopulle
Greg Scharf
Rasika Link
Retreat | On-Land
February 3 - March 2, 2026 | Tuesday - Monday | 27 nights
2026 February Insight Meditation 1-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.
Upcoming Drop-Ins
Drop-in | Online
Wednesday, June 11 | 5:30 PM - 7:00 PM
Rainbow Saṅgha
Open to all self-identified LGBTQIA+.
The Rainbow (LGBTQIA+) Sangha is a weekly gathering designed to support self-identified practitioners within marginalized gender and sexuality groups such as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual, two-spirit, and gender non-conforming.
JD Doyle
Dharma Library
Can't join us live online or on the land? Study and practice at your convenience with JD Doyle through our new library of recordings, articles, and self-paced online courses.