Metta Wisdom Way  

A nine-month study and practice program

September 2026 - May 2027

Taught by Daryl Lynn Ross, True North Insight Co-founder and Guiding Teacher,
with guest teachers Tatiana Castellanos, Melina Bondy, Muriel Ahmarani Jaouich, Arti Mehta, Rose Mina Munjee and Coral Short

Overview

True North Insight is relaunching Metta Wisdom Way in a revised format, to adapt to responses we received to the program as it was introduced last fall; originally it was longer and included two residential retreats. We are sensitive to the feeling of having limited resources experienced by many in our practice community at this time, due to uncertainty and world events. This is a shorter program, without any required retreats, which still offers an immersion in Dharma teachings, practices and relationships.

Metta Wisdom Way is a 9-month study and practice program to support you in deepening in Dharma wisdom and Metta (kindness). It’s an opportunity to bring open-heartedness and mindfulness into all aspects of our lives. An integral focus will be creating a practice community of friends which will be a network of support during the months of the program and beyond.

In this course we’ll integrate Metta into every part of practice. Wisdom and Metta are essentially not separate; connection with all of life is at the heart of awakening. Practicing in daily-life settings with times for non-residential retreat and group meetings gives us opportunities for supported group practice and an emphasis on living and learning Dharma in the myriad encounters of daily life.

So many of us wonder, how can we respond to painful and distressing events in the world with skill and kindness? Whatever our unique gifts and callings in our lives, deepening in Metta wisdom enables us to engage with a quality of being that embodies kindness and openness. This invites something new to emerge.

“A deep calling of being alive now is to tend the quality of our presence in this breaking, hurting world to foreshadow and make the world we want to inhabit in the beyond of it.”
—Krista Tippett, host of On Being podcast, newsletter Oct 4, 2025

In practicing “the sacred turn”, inquiring with Metta and insight into the nature of habitual reactivity within ourselves, we understand that these are the same forces which are embedded in the suffering in the world. This turning of the mind and heart transforms our suffering into compassion, discernment and courage. We can show up in ways that offer alternatives to polarization, grasping, enmity and bias in our circles of relations, coming from insight into inter-connection and impermanence. This is an ever-deepening path of a lifetime.

We’ll be exploring teachings drawn from Early Buddhist discourses and other Buddhist traditions. Rob Burbea’s teachings, as expressed in his book “Seeing That Frees: Meditations on Emptiness and Dependent Arising,” are influential in the framing of this course. Another major source is “Awakening Through Love; Unveiling Your Deepest Goodness” by Lama John Makransky. Other teachers’ contributions are also included and will be credited during the program.

The main topics which will be explored:

• We are drawn to freedom: motivations and pitfalls in approaching practice
• Establishing practice in daily life
• Understanding dukkha – unsatisfactoriness/suffering
• Metta – kindness permeating our lives, our relationships, our attitude towards self
• Karuna – turning toward suffering with kindness
• Mindfulness in the Body
• Mindfulness and Kindness through Sila - ethical training 
• The three marks of existence:
  • Seeing anicca (impermanence) deeply
  • Seeing dukkha (unsatisfactoriness) pervasively in experience
  • Experientially understanding anatta (non-self, non-separation)
  • Exploring these three characteristics as doorways to freedom
• Exploring and deepening understanding of emptiness
• Brahma viharas – boundless states of heart – as practices to live from

Teacher

Daryl Lynn Ross (she, her) lives and transmits the Buddhist teachings from the heart with a sensitivity to the unique path of each person. She has been teaching meditation for over 30 years and is grateful to have long-time teachers and mentors from several Buddhist lineages and also within mystical Christian practice. Daryl is currently engaging in Jewish kabbalistic studies, reconnecting to her religious roots. For 22 years as a University Chaplain at Concordia University in Montreal she offered meditation practices and spiritual leadership. Co-founder and guiding teacher for TNI since 2003, Daryl teaches local groups and intensive courses, mentors and counsels in personal meetings and offers a wide range of retreats. In recent years she has completed two programs in contemplative end-of-life accompaniment, and is available to offer spiritual guidance for this important time in one’s life. Daryl is known for her clear, gentle, compassionate engagement which is both accessible and profound.

Guest teachers

Tatiana Castellanos (she/they) is a Colombian born and Canada-rooted artist and mindfulness/yoga educator. She believes creative expression is a key to healing and self awareness. It is through the path of self exploration and spirituality that Tatiana found meditation and yoga in 2008, later focusing on studying and practicing Insight Meditation circa 2013. Since then, she has made art, meditation and healing her life path, using them as a tool for trauma healing, community care and transformative justice. For several years Tatiana has worked facilitating workshops for children and adults in different settings: community centers, hospitals, seniors homes among others, integrating nature and indigenous spiritual practices in her teachings. This experience motivated her to work towards the goal of decolonizing holistic pathways in making this medley of practices available to all, especially BIPOC people in underserved communities. Tatiana has a Mindfulness training, is currently pursuing a training in the Insight Buddhist tradition and attends residential retreats periodically.

Melina Bondy (they/them) began meditation and Dharma practice in 2003 in both Plum Village and Vipassana traditions, taking monastic vows under Thich Nhat Hanh in 2012 with the name HaiAn (Sister Ocean.) After six years in the monastery, and a few more outside, Melina returned to lay life in 2021, sharing traditional Buddhist practices with a contemporary spin by blending Insight and Plum Village practices with an orientation to somatics, social justice and creativity. As a white, queer, genderfluid, neurodivergent settler, Melina both is grateful and heartbroken to live on the colonized land of Tkaronto where they are helping to grow True North Insight Toronto.

Melina completed the True North Insight Community Meditation Leader Mentorship program, the Dharmapala Program with Thanissara and Kittisaro, a Masters in Buddhist Spiritual Care and the Somatic Experiencing trauma therapy training, all of which combine into their Dharma and psychotherapeutic offerings. They love finding more ways to care for people, to find the sublime in the mundane, and to welcome the 10 000 joys and 10 000 sorrows of the world at once.

Muriel Ahmarani Jaouich (she, her) is engaged in a Buddhist practice since 2006. Muriel has attended over thirty silent meditation retreats including a 6 week long retreat. She has completed seven years of Buddhist studies as well as a MBSR training with Jon Kabat-Zinn. Muriel is a first generation Lebanese-Armenian-Canadian, having come from a family directly affected by the Armenian Genocide. At True North Insight, Muriel is under the mentorship of Pascal Auclair & Daryl Lynn Ross. She teaches in hospitals, schools, corporations and other urban settings, helping meditation practitioners integrate mindfulness into daily life. In another life, Muriel has worked at Cisco Systems & VeriSign back in the height of Silicon Valley as well as at UNICEF. She now shares her passion for the Dharma by working for True North Insight. Muriel has a warm and gentle presence. She is also presently pursuing a Master's in Fine Arts (MFA) at Concordia university in painting.

Arti Mehta (pronounced arthy, they/them) is a South Asian, trans and queer, neurodivergent, chronically ill artist and community Dharma leader. Arti has been practicing meditation since 2006, and completed True North Insight's (TNI) Community Meditation Teacher Mentorship Program. Their offerings often focus on relational Dhamma, social justice, and the gifts that marginalized people's experiences offer the Dhamma.

Arti has trained in Somatic Experiencing and Relational Psychotherapy, and has a deep interest in embodied approaches to trauma work. Their Dhamma offerings are a mix of trauma-informed somatic practices, devotional practice, and traditional Theravadan teachings. Arti has been teaching Dhamma for 5 years including mentoring in Dhamma courses, offering 1:1 mindfulness support, and teaching at identity-specific sanghas. They are on a continuous inquiry of understanding the somatics of the Middle Way.

Rose Mina Munjee (she/they) has practiced mindfulness meditation, mindfulness-based interventions for mental health, compassion focused therapies, and somatic therapies for over 20 years. She works with higher education technology, she is a psychotherapist and is pursing a research PhD in Adult Education on Mindfulness and Compassion-informed, Anti-oppressive Education and Care. She discovered long ago that living in accord with her values, influenced by deep cultural, ancestral, and Buddha dharma roots, in connection and reciprocity with the natural world fostered safety, interconnectedness, love, and belonging. She is passionate about her research and Eco-dharma and trauma-informed mindfulness and compassion work.

Coral Short (they/them) is a non-binary community dharma leader in the Insight/Theravada tradition with nearly two decades of practice. Born in 1973 on Lkwungen land (Victoria, BC), Coral brings a unique perspective to dharma teaching informed by their sober punk anarchist roots and commitment to addressing systemic oppression through compassionate awareness.

Coral's teaching integrates Buddhist wisdom with somatic practices, drawing on training in Generative Somatics and Somatic Experiencing. For nearly a decade, they have been building inclusive spiritual communities as co-founder of Queer Sanghas in Montréal and Berlin, creating warm, welcoming spaces where 2SLGBTQ+ practitioners can find refuge.

Elements of the program

• Opening and closing non-residential hybrid retreats:
  • Sept. 5 & 6, 2026 in Montreal and online
    May 29 & 30, 2027 in Montreal and online
• Meetings:
  • Monthly 2-hour group meetings with Daryl, in hybrid form, in Montreal, at 10:00-12:00 the first Saturday of the month (except for January), October, 2026 to May, 2027. (In-person attendees are welcome to bring a lunch and stay till 12:30.)
    • 2026: October 3, November 7, December 5
    • 2027: January 9, February 6, March 6, April 3, May 1
  • Monthly online 1 ½ hour group meetings with guest teachers the third Saturdays of the month, at 10-30-12:00, September, 2026 to May, 2027.
    • 2026: September 19, October 17, November 21, December 19
    • 2027: January 23, February 20, March 20, April 17, May 15
  • Individual Meetings with Daryl: A minimum of two individual meetings with Daryl, scheduled at a mutually agreed time.
• Study and practice:
  • Monthly audio teachings and practices from Daryl, with written transcripts, plus optional written and recorded teachings from established teachers.
• Daily practice: Participants are encouraged and supported to maintain a personal daily practice including at least a 30-45 minute sitting of meditation.
• Practice community: Each participant will be invited to partner with two or more "kalyana mitta" (spiritual friends, or Dharma buddies) from among their fellow participants. These small groups are encouraged to meet monthly to reflect on their practice and offer mutual listening support, whether in person, by phone, or by video call.

Acceptance into the program requires a commitment to participate in all of its elements.

Who is this program for?

• This program is intended for people with some basic experience in Dharma learning and practice 
  • A minimum of four days of residential or online retreat offering an introduction to vipassana/insight meditation
  • Two years of regular insight meditation practice

Registrations 

Registration - Equitable pricing model

We offer a sliding scale to make the program accessible while sustaining our teachers and covering basic program costs.

• Base level:  $825
• Sustaining level: $1325
• Benefactor Level: $1825
        

Scholarships

• We want this program to be accessible. A limited number of reduced-rate spaces are available on a first-come, first-served basis. Scholarship spaces may be added if there are enough registrations at the two higher levels of the sliding scale.
• Please contact True North Insight, if you have any questions

Wondering how to choose your sliding scale level?

Click for Guidelines for deciding which level to pay. 

Payment Calendar

Payments may be combined and made earlier if you prefer fewer installments.
Please note that all payments are non-refundable after their due date.

What's included in the registration fees

• Registration fees cover program development, basic operational costs, and costs associated with non-residential retreats.

What's NOT included in the registration fees

• Dana for teacher and program manager for non-residential retreats.
• Dana for monthly meetings
  • Dana is invited for teachers at all hybrid and online monthly group meetings. TNI has included small stipends in the program budget; participants are invited to engage in the traditional practice of generosity in offering support to teachers.
• Dana for individual meetings with Daryl

Please consider the practice of giving dana to be part of your program costs.

Application Dates

Applications are open now until we reach our maximum number of participants, at which point applications will close. We review applications on an ongoing basis and aim to respond within one to two weeks of submission. Applicants who meet the program criteria will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis.

Once you receive your acceptance confirmation, an initial payment is required within one week to secure your place. Applying early helps us confirm the number of participants and allows us to plan and prepare the program with care — thank you for that!

Apply to Metta Wisdom Way

Your generosity makes this program possible

Your generosity and financial support makes this program possible, sustains the teachers who offer their time and expertise, and allows us to offer subsidized scholarship rates to those who need them. Please consider the sustaining registration level if it's possible for you. 

Guidelines for deciding which level to pay

Base — I meet basic needs with some effort.

• I may worry about finances but usually get by and have some expendable income*.
• I can occasionally afford extras like holidays or new items. 

Sustaining — I live with financial sufficiency.

• I meet my basic needs* without major stress and have expendable income*.
• I can save, take time off, and make balanced spending choices.

Benefactor — I can give more to support wider access.

• I have significant expendable income* and long-term financial security.
• I can afford to give, travel, and invest in causes I care about.

Scholarship — I face financial challenges.

• I sometimes struggle to meet basic needs* and have very limited expendable income*.
• I sometimes rely on assistance, have little savings, and forgo time off or purchases.

* Basic needs = food, housing, healthcare, transportation
* Expendable income = money left after covering basic needs