The Spark of Freedom: A Silent Meditation Retreat (Hybrid)
Dive into the deep waters of awareness this summer as we explore and recognize the nature of the heart/mind. This retreat focuses on the Mahamudra techniques of Vipashyana – practices designed to enhance our capacity to experience reality directly and completely, beyond the veils of misunderstanding and conceptuality that usually mediate our experience.
This retreat will include teachings, meditation sessions, group discussion and movement practices. We will learn what it means to examine the still mind and the moving mind to relax into the vast openness of our being, the space of present-moment awareness out of which all appearances arise and back into which they dissolve. Through the practice of Vipashyana, we put in place the conditions for a direct experience of the nature of mind – an experience of spacious, awake, compassionate, and loving responsiveness to the world of suffering around us.
Please join us to:
- Explore the nature of your own awareness
- Experience reality directly through the practice of Mahamudra
- Connect with fellow practitioners
- Benefit from the wise teachings of Lama Willa Blythe Baker and Lama Gursam
Throughout this retreat, we will emphasize how to integrate natural awareness meditation into ways of speaking, listening, moving and being that can help us to merge these practices with daily life. By joining primordial wisdom to our everyday activities, we can discover a bottomless source for resilience, effective action, and compassionate responsiveness to this troubled world.
Retreatants will have opportunities to share within a small discussion group throughout the time together. The voices and kind presence of multiple Margha Program Mitras will bring depth and variety to our evening meditation sessions.
Please Note: This retreat is open for all. And for those participating in the Margha Program, this retreat is an essential part of the program.
This Hybrid retreat is offered in person at Wonderwell (Residential option) and Live via Zoom (Online option).
Typical Retreat Schedule
(All times are Eastern time zone)
First Day — Hybrid evening session begins around 7:00 pm.
Full-Day Schedule — Morning meditation 7:00 am; Breakfast break 8:00-9:30 am; Lunch break 12:00-2:00 pm; Dinner break 5:30-7:00 pm.
Last Day — The closing session typically ends by 12:00 pm.
These times are just for reference. An expanded schedule will be provided in pre-retreat information emailed during the week prior to the event.
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