Families are carrying so much right now. Many parents are navigating overwhelm, disconnection, technology overload, and the challenge of finding moments of true presence together. At the same time, we know how deeply healthy relationships, mindfulness, and compassionate community can support the well-being of children and families.

This month, we are joyful to share Happy Families Change the World, a new online course rooted in decades of family mindfulness practice in the Plum Village tradition of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh and developed in partnership with researchers from Dartmouth College. Alongside the course, Dr. Diane Gilbert-Diamond, Dr. Orlaith O’Sullivan, Brother Pháp Lưu, and Sister Phú Nghiêm will offer a free webinar exploring how these practices can become more accessible to families around the world.

This offering is especially meaningful as it is the first wider-world offering connected to the Thích Nhất Hạnh School of Interbeing, our new Plum Village-inspired elementary school opening near Deer Park Monastery this fall. We are also deeply grateful to celebrate a beautiful fundraising milestone: together, our global sangha has now raised $700,000 toward bringing this vision to life, including more than $100,000 raised through the Rhythm of the Earth Mindful Music Festival.

As we continue to support children, teens, and families through retreats, mindful education, and intergenerational practice, we are reminded that peaceful, connected families truly can change the world.

We invite you to enjoy your breathing as you read through the May issue of Coyote Tracks.

With gratitude and warmth,
Your Brothers and Sisters at Deer Park

Happy Families Change the World: June 3 Webinar

Join Dr. Diane Gilbert-Diamond, Dr. Orlaith O’Sullivan, Brother Pháp Lưu, and Sister Phú Nghiêm for a conversation exploring the rich tradition of mindfulness practice for families—and the aspiration to make these beloved practices more accessible to families around the world. Register here.

Happy Families Change the World: Online Course

This online course is an invitation for families to come together in mindfulness in the midst of everyday life. Rooted in the legendary Plum Village children’s program, the course is for those who wish to embrace this practice within their own homes. This course is for families, caregivers and children. Click here to register your family.

Hidden Mountain Record Issue #3 Now Published

We are happy to announce that Hidden Mountain Record issue #3, which recaps the year 2025 at Deer Park, is now available for your download here. This publication is the result of loving work from our monastic sangha, Parallax Press, the Thich Nhat Hanh Foundation, and lay friends.

$100K Raised at Rhythm of the Earth Mindful Music Festival

With deep gratitude, we would like to thank everyone who joined us for the Rhythm of the Earth Mindful Music Festival and everyone who has already offered their support to the Thích Nhất Hạnh School of Interbeing. Because of your generosity—through ticket purchases, onsite offerings, YouTube donations, volunteer service, and countless acts of support—we have raised $100,000 through the festival fundraiser so far, bringing our total funds raised up to $700K!

Hundreds Walk Mindfully “In the Footsteps of Thay” in New York City

More than 200 lay practitioners and monastics from Deer Park, Magnolia Grove, and Blue Cliff Monasteries gathered in New York City for a rainy morning of walking meditation down the newly renamed Thích Nhất Hạnh Way. Read the full article.

Colorado Mindfulness Retreat

The Sun My Heart Retreat • August 9–15 • Estes Park, CO

Join us for a nourishing week of mindfulness practice in the Plum Village tradition. This family-friendly retreat invites us to slow down, reconnect with nature, and cultivate healing in ourselves and our communities. Learn more & register here.

Compassion in Action: The Science of Caring Replay

Hear from Dr. Walter Willet, Jon Kabat-Zinn, Brother Pháp Lưu, and other mindfulness experts inside the 2026 symposium Compassion in Action: The Science of Caring with the Thich Nhat Hanh Center for Mindfulness in Public Health.

The Buddha the Scientist Retreat & Symposium [New Dates]

The Buddha the Scientist Retreat will now be held Oct 1-4, 2026 at Deer Park Monastery, offering participants a chance to deepen mindfulness practice alongside scientists and scholars. Following the retreat, a symposium will be held on Monday October 5 at UCSD. Registration will open for both events on June 12, 2026.

Love Letter: Gratitude for Joy, Music, and the TNH School of Interbeing

Read the full story

Looking Ahead:

• May 23, 2026 - Happy Farm Community Work Day

• May 24, 2026 - Online; Celebrating Living Gems

• May 28, 2026 - Online; Joyful TNH School of Interbeing Parent Gathering

• May 31, 2026 – Vesak Celebration

• June 3, 2026 - Happy Families Change the World Free Webinar

• June 5 - 7, 2026 - Art & Mindfulness Theme Weekend in Clarity Hamlet

• June 11, 2026 - Online; Joyful TNH School of Interbeing Parent Gathering

• June 13 - Aug 9, 2026 - Happy Families Change The World Online Course (registration now open)

• June 23 - 28, 2026 - Teen Retreat

• July 9, 2026 - Online; Joyful TNH School of Interbeing Parent Gathering

• July 12 - 18, 2026 - Family Retreat (waitlist only)

• July 25, 2026 - LA Day of Mindfulness (save the date; more information coming soon)

• Aug 9 - 15, 2026 - The Sun My Heart Retreat (Estes Park, Colorado)

• August 27 - 30, 2026 - Alaska Mindfulness Retreat (Almost full)

• Oct 1 - 4, 2026 - The Buddha the Scientist Retreat (New dates)

• October 5, 2026 - The Buddha the Scientist Symposium @ UCSD (New Date)

View All Events on our Events Calendar here.

We invite you to pause, take a deep breath, and gently receive this month’s newsletter, filled with mindfulness offerings and volunteer opportunities at Deer Park Monastery.

A delegation of Dharma Teachers are traveling around the East Coast this month to visit Dartmouth for the fourth year in a row, as well as visits to Harvard a…

Read more

As we welcome the freshness of spring, let this season remind us to breathe deeply, embrace new beginnings, and cultivate kindness toward ourselves and others. We are currently in the middle of the Wake Up Retreat, our annual mindfulness retreat for friends ages 18-35. Over the weekend we offered a Chanting for Peace Ceremony to …

Read more

As the first hints of spring stir beneath the soil, we arrive together at a significant threshold: Tết, the Lunar New Year, and the beginning of the Year of the Fire Horse.

Tết is our tradition’s most cherished celebration. It is a time for togetherness as well as a sacred pause to bow to what has been, to tend what is here, and to…

Read more

As we step together into this new year, we pause to bow in gratitude for all that has been and to open our hearts to what is unfolding. May 2026 be a year of deepened practice, tender connection, and renewed commitment to walking the path of mindfulness — for ourselves, for one another, and for our precious Earth.

We are happy to s…

Read more

As 2025 draws to a close, we pause with joy and gratitude to reflect on our journey together. This year, our community has grown and flourished, welcoming new friends while cherishing long-standing ones. Thank you for your continued support and connection. We look forward to seeing you all in the new year, whether that be in person…

Read more

On this day before Thanksgiving, we pause to honor the land ancestors—the Luiseño people of the Kumeyaay Nation, the indigenous peoples who tended this sacred mountain with wisdom and reverence, and all the plants, animals, minerals, and elements that continue to nourish our lives.

With gratitude for their endurance and teachings, and with …

Read more

As the maple trees ripen to red and the dewy morning air turns crisp and cool, our Sangha continues to gather in gratitude, remembrance, and renewal. Earlier this month, more than two hundred friends joined us for our annual Day of the Dead celebration, honoring our ancestors and all those who have walked this path…

Read more

This week, we pause in mindfulness to honor the Indigenous Peoples of this land on which Deer Park Monastery now rests. Long before we arrived, the Kumeyaay and Luiseño peoples lived, loved, and practiced their ways of harmony—with one another and with the natural world.

Their presence is still alive in the stones …

Read more

A historic moment is approaching for our global spiritual family. Plum Village practitioners around the world are invited to host local “fire-building sessions” to shape our collective future. We invite you to read more about this important initiative in September’s issue of Coyote Tracks.

We are happy to announce a second cohort o…

Read more

The footsteps on the dirt path to the Stupa quietly remain as reminders of our friends who visited last weekend during our annual Vietnamese Retreat. This was a special time of deep practice, cultural celebration, and connection across generations.

In this month’s issue of Coyote Tracks, we are delighted to share several joyful ann…

Read more

Our annual Family Retreat concluded with many joyful footsteps and tender moments of connection. The sound of children’s laughter still echoes through the trees in the Oak Grove in Clarity Hamlet. Now, the monastery is alive with the vibrant energy of Teen Camp, as we welcome many young people who are practicing together with sinc…

Read more

Read more

We are happily celebrating the partial completion of a newly paved road here in the Hidden Mountain. Thank you to all who donated to the Road Repairs fundraiser.

If you are looking for peace and practice, we invite you to come stay with us this year for an upcoming Special Retreat, such as the Vietnamese Retreat or Rains Retreat, o…

Read more

On April 11th, New York City officially named “Thích Nhất Hạnh Way” at the intersection of Broadway and West 109th Street, honoring our teacher and globally revered Zen Master Thích Nhất Hạnh. Read about the events of the day and view photos here.

It is with great joy that we share with you the dawn of a new Deer Park online exper…

Read more

Engaged Buddhism Speaker Series:

Meeting Today’s World with the Bodhisattva’s Eyes and Hands

with Roshi Joan Halifax, PhD

Thursday, April 24, 2025

2:00pm – 3:30pm
U.S. Pacific Time

Held on Zoom

Learn More

Read more

As we welcome spring, we embrace the season of renewal, growth, and transformation. Just as nature awakens, we too have the opportunity to cultivate fresh energy in our practice and our daily lives.

In this issue, we are honored to share that Thích Nhất Hạnh will be commemorated in New York City with the co-naming of West 109th Street as Thí…

Read more

Happy Lunar New Year of the Snake! How auspicious for Deer Park - a transformative year to shed the old and begin anew.

We are excited to introduce Happy Farm, following in the footsteps of Plum Village's regenerative farming tradition. This initiative integrates mindfulness with sustainable agriculture, cultivating both food and …

Read more

As we begin this new year amidst the challenges of natural disasters and other hardships, we are reminded of the preciousness of life and the refuge we find in practicing mindfulness in community, which helps us to cultivate hope, compassion, and peace in the face of adversity.

Last weekend, we honored Thầy’s passing with deep gratit…

Read more

As 2024 comes to a close, we invite you to practice looking deeply at the year that has passed while planting seeds of compassion and mindfulness for the year ahead.

We are over halfway through the Rains Retreat as well as the “Who is Thich Nhat Hanh?” online course, attended by over five hundred friends from around the world. We are…

Read more