Action Wake Up
Action Wake Up (AWU) is a new 15-month residential training program in Buddhist spiritual practice, applied ethics, community living, mindful service, and leadership development. Deer Park Monastery will welcome the first Action Wake Up cohort of young people (aged 18-35) to live and train in Escondido, California in October 2025.
- Thich Nhat Hanh, The Heart of Understanding“When you produce peace and happiness in yourself, you begin to realize peace for the whole world."
The Action Wake Up Program
Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh and Sister Chan Khong forged a vision of engaged youth working side-by-side with communities in 1960s Vietnam. Based on Buddhist principles of non-violence and compassionate action, this vision became a reality with the School of Youth for Social Service. It continues today in Wake Up, a worldwide movement of young people building healthy and compassionate societies.
Three Phases of the Action Wake Up Program (15 months)
Phase 1: Rains Retreat (October 2025 - January 2026)
For the first three months, participants will attend the 2025-2026 Rains Retreat at Deer Park Monastery to deepen their mindfulness practice.
Sample Daily Schedule
5:00 AM Wake up bell
5:45 AM Sitting med.
6:45 AM Exercise time
7:30 AM Breakfast
9:00 AM Working med.
11:30 AM Walking med.
12:30 PM Lunch
2:00 PM Rest period
3:00 PM Class or meeting
4:30 PM Walking med.
6:00 PM Light dinner
7:30 PM Class/personal time
9:30 PM Noble silence
10:30 PM Lights out/bedtime
Note: med. = meditation
Phase 2: Community Engagement and Ongoing Mindfulness Training (January 2026 - October 2026)
Mindful Service & Applied Ethics: After the initial 90-day Rains Retreat, AWU participants will work on action-oriented projects for 9 months on initiatives like the Happy Farm, Wake Up Retreat, and the Thich Nhat Hanh School of Interbeing. They will also work on action-oriented projects with community-based organizations in San Diego, California
Spiritual Practice & Community Living: Monastics, lay Dharma teachers, and Order of Interbeing core members will continue to provide mentorship throughout this phase. Participants will continue taking classes and engage in mindful service at Deer Park Monastery. They will have opportunities to connect with existing Plum Village sanghas (“community”) and learn how to build and facilitate their own.
Phase 3: Rains Retreat 2.0 (October 2026 - January 2027)
Leadership Development: At the end of the 9-month service period, participants will finish the program through the 2026-2027 Rains Retreat. Participants will evaluate the impact of their work, reflect on their personal transformation, and help guide the next generation of Action Wake Up participants.
Successful participants may also be invited to receive the Fourteen Mindfulness Trainings and become a core member of the Order of Interbeing, subject to the discretion of the advisory team and monastic community.
– The Twelfth Mindfulness Training of the Order of InterbeingAware that much suffering is caused by war and conflict, we are determined to cultivate nonviolence, compassion, and the insight of interbeing in our daily lives and promote peace education, mindful meditation, and reconciliation within families, communities, ethnic and religious groups, nations, and in the world...
Join Us!
Program Eligibility:
- 18-35 years old by the first day of the program
- Able to commit to 15 months of full-time residential mindfulness practice and service.
Cost:
- $1,500 per month, including room and board. Need-based scholarships are available based on eligibility.
Application Process:
- Rolling admissions between March 21 and September 15, 2025
- Please email awu@deerparkmonastery.org with a letter of interest.
Explore Online Courses
From time to time we offer multi-week courses related to mindfulness, the teachings and life of Thich Nhat Hanh, and a variety of similar subjects. Please see our schedule of upcoming courses.
Plum Village App
Take the Deer Park Monastery and Plum Village community with you wherever you go. The Plum Village app is designed to cultivate mindfulness, compassion, and joy through guided meditations, deep relaxations, practice poems, bells of mindfulness, and other practices — all through a mobile device.
