Boundless Refuge is an independent and unaffiliated spiritual organization founded by North Burn. In the fire of 2020, he had just returned from serving as the resident teacher of a Buddhist hermitage in South Africa to weather the pandemic in a cabin in the San Juan Islands, Washington. It had been his dream since the start of his teaching journey to lead long intensive retreats, and the time felt right to try. He received the blessing of his closest mentors to lead his first 3-month retreat. The first iteration was held in that same cabin for a handful of yogis, who slept in tents in the forest. Based on the success of this, a second 3-month retreat was held there the next spring. Over two years, twenty people participated in the retreat with many reporting positive, life-changing, transformations. Many people also donated money, supplies, and their time to support the operations of these retreats.

With the increasing interest and desire to serve people, the boundless refuge team began the search for a new space to host the retreats going forward. At the end of a three month retreat that North was sitting at Insight Meditation Society, a conversation with a fellow yogi led to finding the current space for the retreats in an old house on beautiful land in Mendocino, California. We held our third annual three month retreat in this space in 2024. Due to the increased size of the retreat, this retreat included a part time co-teacher as well as practice positions of greater responsibility such as head cook and groundskeeper. 

North has found this form of long retreat to be an excellent vehicle for teaching and intends to offer this annually as long as there is energy and interest to do so. His vision for Boundless Refuge is as a venue for deep practice of the dharma, which means offering additional training opportunities beyond the three month retreat. We offer alumni sangha gatherings a handful of times a year for the growing community of practitioners to meet with North.  In addition, he offers practice discussions year round. The volunteer operations team as well as the ongoing work periods on the land in Mendocino are opportunities for practicing and training in dharma in the context of work.