Forest Refuge Schedule 2024

Please note: Arrivals and departures are not possible January 24 – 31, 2024.

In the quiet of winter morphing into the vibrancy of spring, Rebecca and Roxanne will share a somatic and heart centered orientation to meditation practice. By grounding ourselves in our sense world with kind hearted presence, we develop compassion and wisdom leading to the unbinding of the heart mind.

Awareness and Wisdom Retreat

The teachings for this month will explore the four foundations of mindfulness with open awareness and receptive attention, with an emphasis on recognizing the attitude of mind and cultivating the perspective of wise view. The teachings will be influenced by both teachers’ practice with Sayadaw U Tejaniya. We request that you agree to work with the instructions offered during the retreat.

Practice discussion meetings will primarily be in small groups, meeting twice a week. The teachers will offer some sign-up interviews, so there will be a chance for a private meeting if there is something you don’t feel comfortable bringing up in the group.

A minimum stay for the full month of June is required.

A lottery will be conducted for this course; applications are due by October 1, 2023

Cultivating Metta Samadhi: Supported By and In Service of Wisdom

The role of samadhi (unification of mind, concentration), however it is accessed, is essential in our spiritual journey. So is the cultivation of metta bhavana (benevolence, lovingkindness). This retreat offers an opportunity rarely offered to practitioners in the West, namely, deepening metta samadhi for one month. Our purpose is reinforcing the qualities of stability, harmony, and luminosity of mind-heart that characterize samadhi, and a care and connection that characterize metta, in particular. States of meditative absorption, known as jhana, will also be supported within a framework of healthy, non-grasping development.

Cultivating samadhi is not a goal in and of itself, but it is the establishment of a necessary awakening factor. Developing samadhi requires mindfulness, understanding, and balance. To this end, wisdom teachings will be offered as a foundation to sustain continuity and depth, and to support the flourishing of other awakening factors. We hope that through the practice of metta samadhi, supported by and leading to wisdom, beautiful qualities of our heart and mind are awakened both on the cushion and especially in the way we live our lives and serve.

Priority will be given to those applying for the full month or longer.

Participants are expected to observe the eight precepts, if they are able to do so.

Emptiness and Awareness

The teachings on emptiness have been a central theme in Buddhism since its very early days. Through talks and guided meditations, we will see how to discover the truth of emptiness in the fabric of our immediate experience, all of which is known directly in consciousness. As we inquire further, it becomes apparent that the very nature of consciousness, or awareness, is itself characterized by emptiness. As the heart of sentient life, awareness is always with us, yet we may not have learned how to use it as a focus in meditation. As we deepen our connection to this mysterious capacity for knowing, it becomes a powerful gateway to inner freedom and liberation.

The teachers will offer regular meditation instructions, talks about the teachings, and individual meetings. Collecting and unifying the mind is a powerful support for exploring these themes, so there will be instructions for concentration practice in the first half of the retreat. Participants are expected to follow the sequence of instructions as they are given.

 A minimum stay for the full month of September is required. Participants must have previously attended one or more of Guy & Sally’s Emptiness & Awareness Retreats, and fulfill the Forest Refuge retreat prerequisites. Please document this when you apply.

Applications are due by January 14, 2024.  All applications will be reviewed for pre-requisites and you will be notified of your application’s status by January 31, 2024.