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Teen Camp 2025

July 8 @ 2:00 pm – July 12 @ 2:00 pm PDT

Teen Camp at Deer Park Monastery

Breathe and Shine – Five Days of Presence, Peace, and Play

The Monastic Sisters and Brothers of Deer Park Monastery are thrilled to be hosting Teen Camp, a unique opportunity for ages 13-18 to practice mindfulness in nature, surrounded by other young people who want to grow in understanding and love.

At Teen Camp we will learn the art of taking care of ourselves through the practices of mindful sitting, walking, and eating in noble silence. Other activities include:

  • Guided meditations
  • Hiking
  • Games
  • Circle sharing 

This year’s theme is “Breathe and Shine – Five Days of Presence, Peace, and Play.”

Register Here

At Teen Camp, we practice as a family to be truly alive, empowering the people around us to do the same. We learn skills to help us embrace and transform our feelings of fear, anger, and despair, and to be happy, healthy, and free. Most importantly, we have the opportunity to connect with old friends and make new ones, forging meaningful relationships to last a lifetime.

SAMPLE SCHEDULE

6:00am Wake Up
6:30am Walking Meditation
6:45am Guided Sitting Meditation & Reading
7:45am Exercise or Movement Practice
8:15am Breakfast
9:15am Games & Joyful Service
10:45am Dharma Activity
12:30pm Lunch
2:00pm Deep Relaxation
3:30pm Dharma Sharing Groups
5:30pm Dinner
7:00pm Program Activity
9:00pm End of Day, start of Noble Silence until after breakfast

Hear from past participants

“I would return to teen camp because the phone cleanse is needed and I love being in the outdoors so that is already exciting enough. Making new friends there is also nice and that motivates me to come back.”

“I would love to return to Teen Camp because of many reasons. For one I love the practices and teachings being taught at Teen Camp. I also enjoy getting to meet new people and making friends. I really enjoy the environment that Deer Park creates, it feels safe and open. I want to come back to continue learning from the monastics and enjoying the lessons being taught. I also like all the activities that are prepared for the teens. I’m really excited to return next summer!”

“I really enjoyed getting to meet so many cool people and hanging out with them. I think the bhodisattva games were super fun and memorable. I also really enjoyed the hike and the view we reached.”

“The hike, the games, and all the team bonding that we had made teen camp so memorable. Even without the activities, the free time we had was great as we spent time getting to know each other more and more.”

“The most memorable part was probably the dharma talks with our dharma family because everyone showed the vulnerable side to themselves and they were accepted by everyone as they shared their story and let their heart out.”

“I really liked creating the skit with my dharma sharing group and the following dharma sharing. It allowed me to recognize my own and others struggles. My family was able to get very close and raw, allowing for connection between all of us.”

“I had an amazing time, and everyone there is so nice! I also want to see the friends I made again next year.”

Teen Camp FAQs

Participants must be at least 13 years old at the start of Teen Camp and the upper age limit is 18 years old.

Teen Camp is designed for teens only and parents are respectfully not allowed to attend.

All teens will be tent camping during this retreat, alongside adult volunteers and also some of the monastic members of our community who will be supporting this retreat.

The tents will be provided and teens are asked to bring their own bedding. Teens will be arranged into our two different hamlets arranged by gender, which are about a 10-minute walk apart. Teens will share tents with other teens of the same gender, with typically 3 or 4 teens per tent.

Nonbinary teens who do not identify with a specific gender are asked to stay in the hamlet which aligns with the gender they were assigned at birth. Unless otherwise indicated, transgender boys will stay in Solidity Hamlet with other boys and transgender girls will stay in Clarity Hamlet with other girls. If you have any Q’s or concerns about where your transgender or nonbinary teen will be camping, please contact us via email here. 

Please know that typically we do not allow teens to bring their own tent. We ask that teens share the tents that we provide and arrange. If there are special needs that require your teen to have their own tent, please reach out to our registration office here to discuss further. 

As long as your teen is attending with siblings/cousins/friends of the same gender, we will do our best to lodge them together in the same tent. But as teens are arranged by gender into our two different hamlets, we cannot put mixed gender teens together in the same tent. When registering, please be sure to add a note as to who your teen would like to be in the same tent with. 

We ask that all teens who register to attend Teen Camp be able to arrive on the scheduled start date of the retreat, which is on Tuesday June 8, between 2-4 PM. Arriving on a different day of the week will not be possible. 

Do you have another question that is not answered on this page? Please reach out to our registration office here.

Monks and Nuns of Deer Park

760-291-1003

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