I did a 7 day retreat at Deer Park Monastery (affiliated with Thich Naht Hanh) in San Diego. It was pretty laid back, you could talk, fraternize at will between

I did a 7 day retreat at Deer Park Monastery (affiliated with Thich Naht Hanh) in San Diego. It was pretty laid back, you could talk, fraternize at will between sessions. I don't think any sitting session was longer than 30 minutes. There were also talks on mindfulness, and training in different forms of meditation. The day started at 5 am, but they warned us not to try to adhere to such a schedule at home (they said it would just cause pain). Overall it was a really positive, peaceful experience.