PZI REGISTRATION POLICY for OVERNIGHT RETREATS:

We ask you to reserve your space in overnight events by paying in full when you register. This makes sense because of the financial commitments PZI must make far in advance of retreats. The PZI treasurer recommended this policy and the Board approved it in 2003.

One month prior to the start of retreat is the last time we are able to make even a slight adjustment to the minimum number of people we commit to pay rent for in full, whether they show up or not. Our minimum attendance guarantee impacts the rooms and buildings we can hold available. Not knowing how many people will be there until the last minute can result in pzi paying for more people than actually attend, or conversely, our not having enough space to accommodate people.

There is a practice side to this too. Once you make the commitment to attend a retreat, it is helpful if you make that commitment wholeheartedly. Your commitment becomes an integral part of the retreat's psychic and fiscal containment.

The deepening effects of a retreat on your practice begin before you arrive and continue after you leave -- even if sometimes you never actually get there.

THE BOTTOM LINE:
Payment Policies:
o There is a $50 non-refundable late fee for people who sign up after the registration deadline, which is one month prior to the start of the event.
o People must pay in full (can be by credit card) at registration.
o For cancellations more than a month ahead of the event, a full refund will be granted.
o For cancellations made from one month to one week prior to the event, PZI retains a 25% processing fee and the remainder of the fee will be held by PZI to be applied to any other PZI event within one year's time. If it is not used within one year, it will be considered a donation to PZI.
o For cancellations within one week of the event, no refunds are granted.

Scholarships:
Scholarships are available to cover up to 50% of the full cost of retreat. Members receive priority consideration for scholarships. Applications are available on-line (see printable materials section on this page) and from the registrar.

Part Timers:
We depend upon people's full participation up to and including the last day of retreat, including the final clean-up. If you can't be there for some reason, fair enough; but no discount is offered for missing either the final day or the first day of retreat.

Overnight meditation retreats are one of the fundamental elements of our mission and we want to make them available to as many people as we can. We are trying to balance that desire with our responsibility to keep the group healthy so we can continue to offer these valuable opportunities for years to come.

Part-time attendance requires quite a bit of juggling for PZI and it has an impact on the experience of everyone at retreat. It makes food planning and work practice allocation more complicated and demanding, it impacts the energy of the meditation hall, it puts pressure on the flow of work-in-the-room and it complicates the sleeping situation and our arrangement with St. Dot's (since most part-timers tend to be there at the same time, we need to reserve more rooms than we're asking people to pay for).

While we want to encourage full-time attendance, we understand that sometimes that is not an option and we will continue to welcome part-timers.

Families:
PZI wants to include families in retreat practice. If you are interested in attending a retreat with members of your family, children or spouses, please talk with the registrar before submitting your registration form.