A Weekend Retreat with Lama Rod Owens & Zac Ispa-Landa
The Creative Campus at Goddard College · April 2027
Join Burlington Dharma Collective for a residential weekend retreat with Lama Rod Owens and BDC teacher Zac Ispa-Landa in the beautiful setting of Plainfield, Vermont.
Beginning Friday evening and continuing through Monday at lunchtime, the retreat will offer two full days of teachings, meditation, and shared practice. Lama Rod and Zac will guide participants through extended periods of teaching and practice, with space for rest, reflection, shared meals, and community throughout the weekend.
Lama Rod's work brings together Buddhist practice with embodied approaches to liberation, healing, and our relationships with ourselves, one another, and the world around us. Lama Rod and Zac will bring forward a deeply embodied, justice-rooted approach to liberation that draws from Buddhist practice, earth-based traditions, and lineages of collective healing.
In this retreat, we will explore both personal and collective liberation through somatic based mindfulness practice, grief work, chanting, and prayer. We will explore themes of spiritual abolition, liberatory care, grieving as care work, as well as what it means to be a love centered agent of liberation in this moment. We will rely on the wisdom of Tantric Buddhism, African spirituality, the Black Prophetic tradition, American Indigenous traditions, and sacred herbalism to understand and experience that any state of freedom must center tending to our broken hearts while calling real joy to hold the labor.
Please join us to:
This retreat offers a precious opportunity to engage these teachings in a supported, practice-centered environment—one that honors both the depth of what we are facing and the possibility of real transformation. Whether you are seeking renewal, community, or a deeper way of meeting this moment, this retreat offers a grounded and compassionate container for practice. We invite you to join us. All are welcome.
Beginning Friday evening and continuing through Monday at lunchtime, the retreat will offer two full days of teachings, meditation, and shared practice. Lama Rod and Zac will guide participants through extended periods of teaching and practice, with space for rest, reflection, shared meals, and community throughout the weekend.
Lama Rod's work brings together Buddhist practice with embodied approaches to liberation, healing, and our relationships with ourselves, one another, and the world around us. Lama Rod and Zac will bring forward a deeply embodied, justice-rooted approach to liberation that draws from Buddhist practice, earth-based traditions, and lineages of collective healing.
In this retreat, we will explore both personal and collective liberation through somatic based mindfulness practice, grief work, chanting, and prayer. We will explore themes of spiritual abolition, liberatory care, grieving as care work, as well as what it means to be a love centered agent of liberation in this moment. We will rely on the wisdom of Tantric Buddhism, African spirituality, the Black Prophetic tradition, American Indigenous traditions, and sacred herbalism to understand and experience that any state of freedom must center tending to our broken hearts while calling real joy to hold the labor.
Please join us to:
- Explore grief and broken-heartedness as pathways of healing and transformation
- Engage chanting, prayer, and ritual as supports for personal and collective liberation
- Deepen your connection with the land and the more-than-human world
This retreat offers a precious opportunity to engage these teachings in a supported, practice-centered environment—one that honors both the depth of what we are facing and the possibility of real transformation. Whether you are seeking renewal, community, or a deeper way of meeting this moment, this retreat offers a grounded and compassionate container for practice. We invite you to join us. All are welcome.
Location
The Creative Campus at Goddard College
301 VT-214, Plainfield, VT
301 VT-214, Plainfield, VT
Date & Time
April 2 - 5, 2027
5:00 pm -1:00 pm
5:00 pm -1:00 pm
Tentative Schedule
(Schedule is subject to change as the retreat program is finalized)
Friday
5:00-6:30 pm - Dinner and settling in
6:30-8:00 pm - Opening session with Lama Rod Owens
Saturday & Sunday
7:00-7:45 am - Morning practice with Zac
8:00-9:30 am - Breakfast break
9:30 am-12:00 pm - Lama Rod Owens
12:00-2:00 pm - Lunch break
2:00-3:00 pm - Practice with Zac
3:00-5:30 pm - Lama Rod Owens
5:30-7:00 pm - Dinner break
7:00-8:30 pm - Evening program
Monday
7:00-7:45 am - Morning practice with Zac
8:00-9:30 am - Breakfast break
9:30 am-12:00 pm - Closing session with LRO
12:00-1:00 pm - Lunch
Our Teachers
Lama Rod Owens
Lama Rod Owens is a Black Buddhist Southern Queen, international influencer, and author with a Master of Divinity degree in Buddhist Studies from Harvard Divinity School.
He is the author of The New Saints: From Broken Hearts to Spiritual Warriors and Love and Rage: The Path of Liberation through Anger, and co-author of Radical Dharma: Talking Race, Love, and Liberation. His teachings center on freedom, self-expression, and radical self-care.
A leading voice in a new generation of Buddhist teachers, Lama Rod activates the intersections of his identity to create a platform that is natural, engaging, and inclusive. Applauded for his ability to balance weighty topics with a sense of lightness, he has been featured by national and international news outlets.
Highly sought after for talks, retreats, and workshops, his mission is to show people how to heal and free themselves.
Learn more about Lama Rod at lamarod.com
He is the author of The New Saints: From Broken Hearts to Spiritual Warriors and Love and Rage: The Path of Liberation through Anger, and co-author of Radical Dharma: Talking Race, Love, and Liberation. His teachings center on freedom, self-expression, and radical self-care.
A leading voice in a new generation of Buddhist teachers, Lama Rod activates the intersections of his identity to create a platform that is natural, engaging, and inclusive. Applauded for his ability to balance weighty topics with a sense of lightness, he has been featured by national and international news outlets.
Highly sought after for talks, retreats, and workshops, his mission is to show people how to heal and free themselves.
Learn more about Lama Rod at lamarod.com
Zac Ispa-Landa
Zac Ispa-Landa is a Dharma and mindfulness teacher, Senior Lecturer at the University of Vermont, and founder and teacher of the Burlington Dharma Collective. He has practiced meditation and studied the Dharma for more than 20 years and has been teaching meditation, mindfulness, and Dharma for the past decade.
Zac began his practice in the Insight meditation tradition and draws from an eclectic range of Buddhist teachings and practices. In recent years, his practice has centered on Vajrayana Buddhism with his primary teacher, Lama Rod Owens, and the Bhumisparsha Sangha. His teaching is grounded in a vision of personal and collective liberation and explores the practice of awakening in the midst of contemporary life.
He teaches at the Burlington Dharma Collective, Barre Center for Buddhist Studies, Inward Bound Mindfulness, Cambridge Insight Meditation Center, and the University of Vermont. At UVM, his teaching spans mindfulness, ecology, environmental justice, sustainability, and honeybee biology and beekeeping.
Zac lives in Winooski, Vermont with his partner, son, and tens of thousands of honeybees.
Learn more about Zac at zacispalanda.com
Zac began his practice in the Insight meditation tradition and draws from an eclectic range of Buddhist teachings and practices. In recent years, his practice has centered on Vajrayana Buddhism with his primary teacher, Lama Rod Owens, and the Bhumisparsha Sangha. His teaching is grounded in a vision of personal and collective liberation and explores the practice of awakening in the midst of contemporary life.
He teaches at the Burlington Dharma Collective, Barre Center for Buddhist Studies, Inward Bound Mindfulness, Cambridge Insight Meditation Center, and the University of Vermont. At UVM, his teaching spans mindfulness, ecology, environmental justice, sustainability, and honeybee biology and beekeeping.
Zac lives in Winooski, Vermont with his partner, son, and tens of thousands of honeybees.
Learn more about Zac at zacispalanda.com
Location
Goddard College, Plainfield, VT 05667
Meals
All meals will be lovingly prepared by our volunteer staff and served buffet-style. Meals will feature light and nutritious vegetarian fare and may include dairy and eggs. Coffee and tea will be available throughout the day.
We will offer a variety of foods, including options suitable for many people with gluten or dairy sensitivities. If you have specific dietary needs or significant food allergies, you may wish to bring some or all of your own food. Participants are also welcome to bring snacks or other items to supplement the provided meals. Please note that refrigerator space is limited.
Alcohol is not permitted at the retreat.
We will offer a variety of foods, including options suitable for many people with gluten or dairy sensitivities. If you have specific dietary needs or significant food allergies, you may wish to bring some or all of your own food. Participants are also welcome to bring snacks or other items to supplement the provided meals. Please note that refrigerator space is limited.
Alcohol is not permitted at the retreat.
Accommodations
You have a choice of a single room or double room accommodations.
Bedrooms are modest and simply furnished, typically with two twin beds and dresser.
Bathrooms and showers are shared. Bedding and towels are provided.
Bedrooms are modest and simply furnished, typically with two twin beds and dresser.
Bathrooms and showers are shared. Bedding and towels are provided.
Scholarships
Burlington Dharma collective strives to offer retreats in a manner that is inclusive and accessible. If the full retreat cost would create an undue financial burden, we encourage you to apply for a scholarship. Please send us an email at [email protected] to learn more about financial aid options.
Cancellation Policy
We understand that personal circumstances may require you to cancel your registration. In these cases, please contact us right away at [email protected]. Cancellations affect our ability to offer rooms to others and create additional work for our staff, therefore we charge the following fees to help mitigate these costs.
For cancellations (based on program start date):
- > 45 days: 100% refund minus a $75 admin. fee.
- 31-45 days: 75% refund if registration paid in full.
- 21-30 days: 50% refund of total registration cost
- < 21 days: nonrefundable
If you must cancel due to an emergency or extenuating circumstances, please contact us at [email protected].