Our 2019 Retreats
Living a Mindful and Compassionate Life with Spring Washam March 15-17, 2019
During this silent retreat we will explore how the Buddha's teachings offer a path to inner peace, freedom and the compassionate heart. Awareness as developed through mindfulness practice and love (Metta) are the essential ingredients to any spiritual life. Awareness leads to clarity, insight and understanding. Love opens the heart, allows a kind embrace of ourselves and connects us intimately with all of life. The fusion of love and mindfulness supports a compassionate response to the pain that we encounter in ourselves and in life. In this retreat of meditation practice we will discover how these qualities are intimately related and mutually supportive and why they are necessary in any journey of awakening in learning to live wisely and kindly in the world. This retreat will include comprehensive meditation instruction for sitting and walking meditation, as well as talks, group discussions and mindful movement. Suitable for beginning and experienced students.
Spring Washam is a well-known meditation teacher, author and visionary leader based in Oakland, California. She is the author of A Fierce Heart: Finding Strength, Courage and Wisdom in Any Moment. Spring is considered a pioneer in bringing mindfulness-based healing practices to diverse communities. She is one of the founders and core teachers at the East Bay Meditation Center, located in downtown Oakland, CA. She is also the co-founder of a new organization called Communities Rizing, which is dedicated to providing yoga and meditation teacher training programs for communities of color. She received extensive training by Jack Kornfield, is a member of the teacher’s council at Spirit Rock Meditation Center in northern California, and has practiced and studied Buddhist philosophy in both the Theravada and Tibetan schools of Buddhism for the last 20 years. In addition to being a teacher, she is also a shamanic practitioner and has studied indigenous healing practices for over a decade. She is the founder of Lotus Vine Journeys, an organization that blends indigenous healing practices with Buddhist wisdom. Her writing and teachings have appeared in many online journals and publications such as Lions Roar, Tricycle, and Belief.net.
Awakening Intuition: An Insight Meditation Retreat with David Chernikoff April 19-21, 2019
Insight meditation teaches us a radical new way of knowing ourselves and the world we live in. This retreat will be an invitation to cultivate intuitive wisdom, a faculty of inner guidance that plays an essential role in the process of spiritual awakening. Our primary focus will be the practice of sitting and walking meditation in Noble Silence. There will be dharma talks and meditation instruction. In addition, there will be some guided meditations and interactive exercises designed to deepen our understanding of this innate capacity to experience what the Buddha called “the sweet joy of the way.”
David Chernikoff , M.Div, LCSW. A student of meditation since 1971, David has completed the Community Dharma Leader training at Spirit Rock Meditation Center and has been teaching Insight Meditation since 1988. His teaching has been influenced by senior teachers from the Insight Meditation Society and Spirit Rock, Tibetan teachers he studied with 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 meditation and psychology at Naropa University for many years and currently has a private practice as a spiritual counselor and life coach in Boulder. He is one of the guiding teachers of the Insight Meditation Community of Colorado and teaches retreats throughout the U.S. For more information about David’s teaching, please visit www.davidchernikoff.com
What can we do as to effect change in turbulent times? Join together in a weekend of dharma teachings, light mindful movement, loving kindness and walking meditations.
Venerable Manikanto Bhikkhu was born and raised in Bangkok, Thailand. He entered into monkhood on 12/1/87, in the order of Thai Buddhist monks of the Dhammakaya Temple, whose main branch is in Pathumthani, Thailand. Ven. Manikanto has a Bachelor's Degree in Buddhist Philosophy from Thailand and a Master's Degree in Buddhist Studies from Bristol University, United Kingdom. He has been the Abbot (leading monk) of multiple Dhammakaya Temples in London, UK, Belgium, New Jersey and Seattle USA. He is currently the Abbot of the Dhammakaya Meditation Center in Boston, Massachusetts.
Ven. Manikanto has taught meditation for over 25 years in Thailand, Europe and the United States. He has been a meditation instructor for 4 years in Europe, 5 years in New Jersey and 9 years in Seattle until moving to Boston last year. He wishes to spread world peace through inner peace.
A Retreat for World peace with Venerable Manikanto Bhikkhu
June 14-16, 2019
July 19-21, 2019
Awakening the Four Immeasurables and innate wisdom
with Dawn Barie
July 19-21, 2019
How can we find more inner peace and happiness in our everyday life? Join us for a weekend of meditation, loving kindness, dharma talks and light mindful movements. Learn to incorporate the immeasurable virtues of Loving kindness, Compassion, Empathetic Joy and Equanimity in your daily life. Experience meditation techniques for discovering your innate wisdom.
Dawn Barie is a meditation and Dharma teacher, licensed psychotherapist and founder of the Center for Mindful Living in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. Dawn traveled to Thailand in 1997 and immersed herself in meditation study with Thai Buddhist monks at The Middle Way Meditation Institute. Dawn was a recipient of a scholarship by the Dhammachai International Research Institute to pursue graduate studies in Buddhism at the University of Sydney with the purpose of teaching Dharma in the West. Dawn uses her training in meditation to provide mindfulness-based therapies in her psychotherapy practice. Dawn has led national and international meditation retreats and taught in major cities in the United States. Dawn also had the opportunity to teach at the United Nations headquarters in New York. She regularly teaches classes and leads retreats at the Meditation Center of Alabama.
Retreat Location:
St. Mary's of the Pines
3167 Old Highway 51 S.
Chatawa, MS 39657
Retreat Location:
St. Mary's of the Pines
3167 Old Highway 51 S.
Chatawa, MS 39657
Transforming Suffering Into the Brightness of Wisdom with Venerable Pannavati
August 16-18, 2019
Suffering and wisdom are intricately connected. There are issues that are common to all of us in life. But, it depends on how we approach, understand and resolve the issues as to whether we suffer or not. This weekend, we will investigate short cuts to transform the way we see obstacles that will allow us to go through adversity joyfully. Connecting a clear, unattached mind to the authentic heart leads to personal and communal transformation; and ultimately, enlightenment. This retreat will include instruction on sitting and walking meditation, talks and Q&A. Bring ear-plugs and your list of "worries"!
Venerable Pannavati, known for her wit and joy is Co-Abbot and Director of Heartwood Refuge, a Buddhist training community and non-sectarian retreat center near Asheville NC. She works internationally training Dharma teachers, lay practitioners, and monastics. Responsive to contemporary issues, she advocates for under-privileged communities, makes the depth of the Dharma accessible to all and guides in meditation cultivation. She is on the visiting faculty of Naropa University and Barre Institute for Buddhist Studies and teaches at Vipassana, Theravadan, Mahayana and Tibetan centers throughout the country.
The Seven Factors of Awakening: Cultivating Balance and Caring Attention
With Rebecca Kronlage
September 13 – 15, 2019
The path of liberation and freedom laid out by the Buddha is not one of judgment or grasping, but rather one of balance and caring attention. The Seven Factors of Awakening are 7 mental capacities that are so valued in meditation they are known as practices of “inner wealth.” The 7 factors are mindfulness, investigation, effort, joy, tranquility, concentration and equanimity. By bringing caring attention to these qualities, balance is cultivated along with freedom, love and compassion. This weekend we will join kindly with ourselves and one another in the powerful practices of noble silence, self-reflection, dharma talks, mindfulness instructions, walking meditation. There will be periods of gentle movement and stretches. New meditators and all levels are invited.
Rebecca Kronlage E-RYT 500, YACEP has been a practitioner and student of Buddhism, healing yoga, mindfulness and energy work for over three decades. She is a dharma teacher who blends mind and body, metta and compassion in both yoga and meditation. She is a Senior Kripalu teacher, former resident at Kripalu Yoga Center and is on staff as the yoga teacher at Spirit Rock for 7-day Vipassana Retreats with Gil Fronsdal, Mary Grace Orr, John Travis and other leading Spirit Rock dharma teachers. She leads Women Self Care Retreats yearly at Kripalu and leads Women Adventure Retreats to Italy, France and Morocco. Her home base is Bay St. Louis, Mississippi where she teaches at Treehouse Yoga, which she cofounded more than 9 years ago.
Leading with Being: A Social Meditation Retreat with Nick Kranz | October 4-6, 2019
"How we are is an agent for changing our world in a wakeful way regardless of what we do."
The foundation of wakeful community is being unashamed of who you are. Empowering this quality in ourselves and others creates a culture of sanity and well-being. Join visiting teacher Shastri Nicholas Kranz for a special weekend workshop on creating a culture of nowness through the unique practices of social meditation. Participants will explore how we actively create culture in each moment, and learn ways we can bring authentic communication and leadership into our workplaces, relationships and communities.
Shastri Nick Kranz was appointed as a Shastri (Senior Buddhist Teacher) by his teacher and head of the Shambhala Buddhist lineage Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche in 2013. Nick is an experienced and dynamic meditation teacher with a passion for sharing authentic wisdom who has eveloped an approach to cultural transformation in the practice of Social Meditation. He is interested in the power of meditation to influence how we create culture of compassion in each moment. After 20 years of deep training in the practice of meditation, Nick has a profound belief in everyone’s potential to explore and benefit from the practice, and is devoted to guiding people along the path with friendliness and skill. Nick developed the practice of social meditation, which is practiced in Shambhala centers around the globe. He has worked with youth development in the Shambhala sangha for the last decade. Nick speaks in front of hundreds at universities, hospitals, businesses, and online. His humor and relaxation inspire people to come into the present moment and enjoy.
Beach Retreat in Biloxi, Mississippi!
Register soon for your opportunity to practice in another beautiful, natural setting, where the oak trees and sea breezes and white sand creates a peaceful, restorative, transformative weekend meditation experience. Dorm style rooming, bring your own bed linens, blankets, and towels.
Retreat Location:
Seashore United
Methodist Assembly
1410 Leggett Drive
Biloxi, Mississippi
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Loss, Grief and Love with Terry Ray
November 8-10, 2019
Loss and grief are profound and real emotions that can offer us an opportunity to also experience the deep healing effects of LOVE - love for our experiences of grief and loss - for others and for ourselves. In this retreat, through meditation instruction and practice as well as talks, we will expand our hearts and minds to the healing power of love
Terry Ray is a licensed psychotherapist who has been practicing Vipassana meditation since 1974, and teaching for over 30 years. She completed the first Community Dharma Leader’s program at Spirit Rock, leads retreats and teaches through the Insight Meditation Community and at Naropa. Terry also studied intensively with Charlotte Selver in Sensory Awareness, and is certified to lead this somatic based mindfulness practice. Terry is the author of Embodied Presence, A Spiritual Memoir.
The Power of Mindfulness in Working With Difficult Emotions with Micheal Grady | December 6-8, 2019
What makes difficult emotions so difficult?
Within the framework of Insight practice and inquiry, we will explore this question and the very real potential for transforming our relationship to specific emotions that can generate so much suffering when we attach to or identify with them.
By understanding and practicing Wise Effort and Wise Mindfulness we can discover greater ease and inner freedom when emotions such as fear, anxiety, self-judgement, anger, or shame arise,
We will examine ways to cultivate a more skillful, compassionate attitude towards difficult emotions while abandoning unskillful habitual patterns of relating to these challenging emotions.
The weekend will include sitting and walking meditation along with talks and ample space for discussion.
Michael began practicing Insight Meditation with Joseph Goldstein and Sharon Salzberg in 1974 when they first returned from Asia. He has also been a student of the late Chan master Sheng Yen who taught the practice of Silent Illumination – a practice which emphasizes relaxing the body and mind while practicing awareness without expectations or an agenda.
Michael is a core teacher at IMS in Barre, Massachusetts, and was a Guiding Teacher at the Cambridge Insight Meditation Center for more than 20 years.
Having taught extensively in both intensive retreats and in an urban dharma center, Michael encourages an attitude towards practice which is wholistic – that all of life is viewed as an opportunity for awakening to freedom.
Bringing in the New: A Four Day Insight Meditation Retreat with Mushim Patricia Ikeda December 29-January 1
The passage between the old and the new year is a particularly beautiful time to affirm our spiritual aspirations through silent meditation retreat in warm and supportive spiritual community. Insight (mindfulness) meditation, loving kindness (metta) meditation, and compassionate dialogue in spiritual community offer powerful tools for experiencing wholeness and healing by acknowledging how the past shows up in the present, and planting seeds of wisdom and compassion for the future. Meditation instruction for all levels including beginners, Dharma talks, and facilitated mindful sharing.
Mushim Patricia Ikeda is a Buddhist teacher, writer, diversity consultant, author, mentor, and community activist. She teaches meditation retreats for people of color, women, and social justice activists nationally. Mushim has become widely known for her down-to-earth, humorous, and penetrating approach to Dharma and social transformation. Mushim has taught residential meditation retreats for people of color, social justice activists, and women nationally, and her work is based in values of cultural humility, acknowledging the wisdom that is ever-present in individuals and collectives, and the need for expression, empowerment, and co-creative self-determination in marginalized communities. Mushim has been featured in the award-winning documentary film Between the Lines: Asian American Women’s Poetry and as one of three subjects in the documentary Acting on Faith: Women’s New Religious Activism in America, distributed by the Pluralism Project at Harvard University. She is based in Oakland and teaches primarily at the East Bay Meditation Center in downtown Oakland, where she also served on the board of directors, known as the Leadership Sangha, for seven years. She now works part-time on EBMC’s staff as the community coordinator.
Please Note: A $75 registration fee is required
for this four-day retreat.