Metta Wisdom Way
A one-year study and practice program
April 2026 - March 2027
Taught by Daryl Lynn Ross, True North Insight Co-founder and Guiding Teacher,
with guest teachers Tatiana Castellanos, Muriel Ahmarani Jaouich, Arti Mehta, Rose Mina Munjee and Coral Short
Overview
Metta Wisdom Way is a 12-month study and practice program for those who want to deepen in Dharma wisdom and Metta (kindness). It’s an opportunity to bring open-heartedness and mindfulness into all aspects of our lives. Together we will create a practice community that will support us during the year-long program and beyond.
The approach of this program is to integrate Metta into every part of practice. Wisdom and Metta are essentially not separate; connection is at the heart of awakening. Practicing in a combination of daily-life and retreat settings gives us times for supported intensive practice and also 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
How can this learning and practice program help us embody change toward greater respect and kindness in our communities? We turn with metta and insight to inquire into the nature of habitual reactivities within ourselves; these patterns are the same forces which are embedded in the suffering in the world. This sacred turning of the mind and heart transforms our suffering into compassion, discernment and courage. In small yet significant ways we can be someone who offers an authentic alternative to polarization, grasping, enmity and bias in our circles of relations; we can come from a place of knowing inter-connection and impermanence. This is an ever-deepening path of a lifetime. These transformative Dharma teachings continue to immeasurably change the lives of people worldwide.
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. 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
- Understanding dukkha – unsatisfactoriness/suffering
- Metta – kindness permeating our lives
- 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
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.
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.
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
- Retreats:
- One non-residential: Hybrid (in-person and online) retreat in Montreal, April 4-5, 2026 (to be confirmed)
- Two Residential retreats, at Kio-o, Ste-Lucie des Laurentides, QC
- August 30- September 4, 2026 (5 nights)
- March 25-31, 2027 (6 nights)
- Meetings:
- Monthly 2-hour group meetings with Daryl, hybrid form, in Montreal, at 10:00-12:00 the first Saturdays of most months, May 2026 to February 2027.
- Monthly online group meetings with guest teachers the third Saturdays of most months, at 10-30-12:00, May 2026 to February 2027.
- Individual meetings with Daryl at residential retreats, plus two between retreats, to be scheduled at a mutually agreed time.
- Study and practice:
- Audio recordings with transcript of short Dharma talks by Daryl sent monthly.
- Additional optional written and recorded teachings by respected 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 aka Dharma buddies) from among their fellow participants with whom they will meet in person or by phone/zoom on a monthly basis to reflect on their practice and be a listening support.
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
- 8 days of residential retreat experience in the Early Buddhist/Theravada tradition. Could be in more than one retreat
- 2 years of regular insight/vipassana meditation practice
- We ask for a reference from someone who is a teacher or Dharma leader who is familiar with your 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
- Tuition: $975
- Retreats: $2,190
- Total: $3,165
Sustaining level
- Tuition: $1,375
- Retreats: $2,790
- Total: $4,165
Scholarship
- A limited number of reduced rate spaces are available. Please contact TNI for more information.
What's included in the registration fees
- Program development and basic operational costs
- Direct retreat costs
What's NOT included in the registration fees
- Dana for teacher and program manager during retreats
- Your dana (voluntary offerings) directly support the teacher and manager, who receive no other compensation beyond participant dana.
- Dana for monthly meetings
- Dana is welcomed at all hybrid and online monthly group meetings. While TNI has included minimal stipends in the program budget, participants are invited to offer additional support to teachers.
- Dana for individual meetings
Please consider giving dana to be part of your program costs.
Dates for registration and fee payments
- All payments are non-refundable
- Applications due date Dec 1, 2025
- Responses to applications by the end of January, 2026
- Payment #1 confirms your registration, due within five days of your acceptance into the program. Base: $500; Sustaining: $650.
- Payment #2 due April 1, 2026. Base: $550; Sustaining $700
- Payment #3 due August 1, 2026. Base: $700; Sustaining: $950
- Payment #4 due November 1, 2026. Base: $700; Sustaining: $950
- Payment #5 due March 1, 2027. Base $715; Sustaining: $915
- Payments may be combined and paid earlier, in fewer installments if you prefer.
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 bursary 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 comfort.
- I meet my basic needs* without major stress and have expendable income*.
- I can save, take time off, and make spending choices freely.
Scholarship — I face financial challenges.
- I sometimes struggle to meet basic needs* and have 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