Our 2014 Retreats
Living Fully, Loving Well: An Insight Meditation Retreat with David Chernikoff January 31 - February 2, 2014
What does it really mean to live an awakened life? In a caring, supportive environment, we’ll explore this essential question. We’ll practice sitting and walking meditation in Noble Silence. There will be meditation instructions, dharma talks, and periodic opportunities for discussion. Celebrating the profound simplicity of our lives, we’ll learn to live our way into an answer.
David Chernikoff, M.Div., L.C.S.W., began the study and practice of meditation in 1971 and started teaching insight meditation in 1988. He trained as a yoga teacher at the Integral Yoga Institute and completed the Community Dharma Leader program at Spirit Rock Meditation Center. His teaching has been influenced by senior teachers from the Insight Meditation Society and Spirit Rock, Tibetan teachers with whom he studied during a 3-year stay in Nepal, and spiritual guides from other contemplative traditions, most notably Ram Dass, Father Thomas Keating, and Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi. David taught psychology and meditation for many years at Naropa University. He currently serves as one of the guiding teachers of the Insight Meditation Community of Colorado and has a private practice as a spiritual counselor and psychotherapist in Boulder.
The Fearless Heart – A 7-Point Mind Training with Bhikkhuni Pannavati April 11-13, 2014
Study is not practice, seated meditation is not practice. These are the preliminaries to practice. And, they can be considered refueling stations for our practice. But, proper practice necessarily includes someone to practice on! Would you trust the competency of a surgeon who had never operated on a real patient? So, actually, living for others should be our practice.
This retreat will lay the foundation for bodhicitta – the awakened, expansive heart that is able to be a refuge for all beings. Our focus will be on 7 ways of training the mind to cherish others, not in a clinging way, but a liberating way. And, what will spontaneously arise are feelings of contentment and immense joy. This kind of cultivation is the only basis upon which a truly spiritual foundation can be built. It chokes out seeds of apathy, envy, jealousy, sadness, anger, competitiveness and greed…effortlessly!
Bhikkhuni Pannavati is a yogini, former Christian pastor, founding Co-Abbot of Embracing Simplicity Hermitage, and a founding director of Sisters of Compassionate Wisdom (a 21st century trans-lineage Buddhist order), ordained in Theravada and Chan Schools. A Zen Dharma Holder and Vajrayana practitioner as well, Pannavati’s insight is rich with compassion, wit and humor. She is, in a word, approachable; known for her ordination of Thai and Cambodian nuns, work with homeless youth in Appalachia, and ministry to the "untouchables" in India.
Dharma, A Beautiful Vessel For Our Lives: The Cultivation of Skillful Living, Meditation and Wisdom with John Orr May 30-June 1, 2014
It is the natural impulse of our hearts to want to live in peace, kindness and freedom from suffering. During this retreat we will work with three areas of dharma practice, which enable us to experience a beautiful vessel for our lives. We will explore skillful speech and action, the development of Insight (Mindfulness) Meditation practice and the cultivation of the wise heart.
Chanting from various traditions, guided heart-centered meditations, optional hatha yoga and individual meetings when requested are included in the retreat.
John Orr received Theravada Buddhist ordination and training for a period of eight years while living as a monk in the 1970’s in Thailand and India. His Asian teachers are Ajahn Chaa, Ajahn Buddhadasa and S.N. Goenka. He has been teaching meditation and leading retreats around the country since 1980. John is the guiding teacher of the New Hope Sangha , which is a nondenominational community located in Durham, North Carolina that respects the wisdom of various spiritual traditions. He is on the faculty of Duke University.
Freedom from Fear and Anger with the Four Foundations of Mindfulness with Bhante Buddharakkhita June 20-22, 2014
Do you have difficulties in finding peace, happiness and balance in your daily life?
Do you experience difficulties in relationships?
During this retreat we will explore various ways of cultivating mindfulness and loving-kindness in order to overcome fear and anger. When mindfulness and Loving-kindness practice gain momentum, they serve as supporting factors for developing inner-peace, true happiness and wisdom.
The weekend will include mindfulness of walking, sitting, standing, discussion group, guided insight meditation (vipassana) instructions, question and answer session, and Dhamma talks.
Bhante Buddharakkhita was born and raised in Uganda, Africa. He first encountered Buddhism in 1990 while in India, and he began practicing meditation in 1993. After living in Asia for seven years, Bhante decided to continue his Dhamma practice in the U.S.A. In June 2001, he began monastic training, and in November 2002 he received Higher Ordination by his Preceptor the late Venerable U Silananda at Tathagata Meditation Center, California. He continued his meditation practice under the guidance of Bhante Gunaratana for eight years at the Bhavana Society, West Virginia. Author of Planting Dhamma Seeds: The Emergence of Buddhism on African Soil, and founder of the Uganda Buddhist Center, Uganda, he has been teaching meditation in Africa, Brazil and the United States. Besides spending time at the Buddhist Center in Uganda, Bhante is a teacher at Bhavana Society and the Spiritual Head of Flowering Lotus Meditation and Retreat Center.
Fifth Annual Gulf Coast Kundalini Yoga Retreat: Celebrating Resilience and Creating Responses to Life's Challenges July 18-20, 2014
Kundalini Yoga as taught by Yogi Bhajan is a yoga of awareness and energy.
A Kundalini Yoga session comprises mantra (chanting and music), pranayama (breathing), mudra (hand gestures), bandha (body locks), asana (body postures and exercises), savasana (relaxation) and dhyana (meditation). A session typically flows through a sequence of tuning in, warming up (breathing and/or exercises), kriya (a series of asana), relaxation, meditation, and closing.
This will be the fifth year that folks from around the Gulf Coast states and elsewhere come together to experience the benefits of Kundalini Yoga. We will be led and inspired by musician and teacher, Ashana [www.ashanasophia.com], and her tabla accompanist Udaya, as well as several local teachers. The cost of the entire weekend of yoga, music, wholesome food and elegant accommodation is just $250.
Kindly register here and also contact William Savage [williamsava@gmail.com or 504-881-6566] for more information and to make payment arrangements. (Do not send a deposit to Flowering Lotus.)
Magnolia Grove Monastics: Zen Mindfulness as Taught by Thich Nhat Hanh taught by by 7 monks and nuns from Magnolia Grove July 25-27, 2014
We have the ability to work wonders. If we live mindfully in everyday life, walk mindfully, are full of love and caring, then we create a miracle and transform the world into a wonderful place. —Thich Nhat Hanh
Magnolia Grove Monastery is a residential monastery and is simultaneously, Magnolia Village, a Mindfulness Practice Meditation Center in the tradition of Plum Village, founded by Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, who was nominated for a Noble Peace Prize by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Magnolia Grove Monastery in Batesville, Mississippi is the realization of a dream held by a compassionate community intent on establishing a center for mindfulness in the tradition of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh. Deer Park Monastery in California and Blue Cliff Monastery in New York uphold his tradition. Now, his teaching and methods of practice are taking root in Mississippi.
The Journey to Awakening: Walking the Eightfold Path with Carla Brennan September 19-21, 2014
“If we don’t change our direction we will end up where we are headed.”
-Chinese Proverb
Where are you headed? Toward more anxiety, stress, confusion, anger, depression, conflict, isolation and fear . . . or toward greater love, joy, peace, contentment, ease, openness, connection and clarity? Our life is meant to be a journey of discovery, to find out who we really are, what the nature of reality is and to learn how to live fully with wisdom and compassion.
While each of us has to walk our own individual journey to awakening, there are eight elements that are universal for everyone. These have been described as the Eightfold Path. To begin the path, we must have an understanding of basic wisdom and continually re-align ourselves with our deepest intentions. We must also learn to act with integrity in daily life, making kindness and non-harming a priority. Finally, we each need to train our heart-mind through meditation and other helpful practices. Unless we create the optimal conditions for awakening we will continue to be lost in old habits and patterns that keep us stuck and unhappy. Ultimately, we learn that we are not journeying somewhere else or to be someone else, but returning home to who we are at the deepest level.
This weekend schedule will be a combination of formal teachings, sitting and moving meditations, reflection exercises, Q & A, and small and large group discussions. The foundation meditation practice for the weekend will be mindfulness, that is, practicing staying aware in the present. Other than discussion times, silence will be kept. This retreat is for both those new to meditation and those who wish to deepen their current practice.
Carla Brennan is an Insight Meditation teacher in Santa Cruz, CA. She is the guiding teacher with Bloom of the Present Meditation Group and a visiting teacher with the Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Woodacre, CA. Carla began meditation practice in 1975 in the Zen tradition. A few years later she began attending the newly formed Insight Meditation Society in Massachusetts practicing with Jack Kornfield, Joseph Goldstein and others. Later she added Tibetan Buddhist practice and is a teacher of Natural Wisdom and Compassion Meditation with the Foundation of Active Compassion. Carla has taught Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction for 20 years, training with Jon Kabat-Zinn at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center. In the early ’90’s, Carla began attending wilderness retreats with John Milton and Sacred Passage, completing 2 one-month solo retreats near Crestone, CO, and training to be a Sacred Passage Guide. As part of her regular teaching Carla offers meditation in nature and encourages her students to open to the wisdom of the natural world. She has also worked as an artist and illustrator and is a former psychotherapist. Her personal spiritual practice also includes qi gong and hatha yoga.
The Way to Happiness: 6 Day Retreat with Venerable Pannavati and Venerable Pannadipa October 11-16, 2014
The cost of this retreat is $350 plus a donation to the teachers.
“For the cessation of suffering, eight things are given the meditator. It is called the eight fold path, as a sequential breakdown. But, in reality, [these eight] occur IN A SINGLE MOMENT on the occasion of the path.” -Visudhimagga XVI.75
Nibbana (total freedom from suffering) is uncreated, not arousable by the path. Yet it is reachable by the path! This retreat will focus on Nibbana as the object of meditation; to actually experience the path’s wisdom as it neutralizes the inherent mental imperfections that block our ability to be happy. As long as a man is vague about the “world,” about its origin, about its ceasing, about the means that lead to its cessation, he cannot recognize the truth—and he cannot be free from suffering. But, Nibbana is existent and apprehendable here and now by the right means. We can abide in a state of joy that the world cannot give and cannot take away. This retreat is open to spiritual practitioners of any level or any religious practice, particularly Judeo-Christian as we will recognize the complementary nature of Buddha’s delineation of “the Way.” Come with an attitude of confidence that real contentment and happiness is attainable by emergence of one’s own wisdom, regardless of external conditions. It just depends upon how one sees the “world.”. The cost of this retreat is $350. A $200 registration fee is required to hold a space in the retreat. The $150 balance for the retreat must be paid in full by October 5, 2014 to secure your space. Dana to the teachers is not included in this fee.
Bhikkhuni Pannavati is a yogini, former Christian pastor, founding Co-Abbot of Embracing Simplicity Hermitage, and a founding director of Sisters of Compassionate Wisdom (a 21st century trans-lineage Buddhist order), ordained in Theravada and Chan Schools. A Zen Dharma Holder and Vajrayana practitioner as well, Pannavati’s insight is rich with compassion, wit and humor. She is, in a word, approachable; known for her ordination of Thai and Cambodian nuns, work with homeless youth in Appalachia, and ministry to the "untouchables" in India.
Bhikkhu Pannadipa is Co-Abbot of Embracing Simplicity Hermitage, located in North Carolina. His clarity, stillness and finely honed skills will add unspeakable depth to the practitioner’s experience. Powerfully present with penetrating awareness, he guides meditators towards jhanic attainment (a concentrated mind), teaching them how to use this empowerment in all circumstances of practical life. He is a Theravadan monk, formerly Chan, and a Tien Shen Pi Shr Fu.
Trusting Emergence: The Wisdom of Insecurity with Mary Rees November 7 - 9, 2014
The reality of life is the truth of constant change; life is movement. This does not mean we should never stop moving. In fact stopping is necessary so we can bring conscious engagement to the flow of activity, to see how automatic most of our behaviors and thoughts are and how most of our choices are pre-programmed through habit and conditioning
When we stop, we pause to look at experience with fresh eyes. With a skillful meditation practice, we learn to recognize this fluid nature of life and to open to that fluidity instead of being afraid or resistant. We learn to trust what unfolds, to trust our capacity to be present in the moment, and to skillfully welcome the wisdom that may arise. The result is not only greater wisdom, but also an increased capacity to dance with life, to find life interesting, vital, and alive.
Mary will be teaching a vipassana (mindfulness and insight) retreat, with a focus on opening to insight.
Mary Rees has been teaching Insight and Mindfulness Meditation since 1989 and Relational Meditation since 2001. Her first vipassana teacher and mentor was Rodney Smith whose focus on spaciousness remains her primary context for practice. Though Mary has worked with many teachers in several traditions, she is now a participant in the Integrated Study and Practice Community at Barre Center for Buddhist Studies. She is the author of Being Prayer—Transforming Consciousness and currently a PhD student in Psychology and Interdisciplinary Inquiry at Saybrook University.
