Community Events for 2020
Love, Courage and Resilience:
Cultivating Kindness, Compassion and Joy
in times of collective uncertainty and uprising
with Erin Selover & John Martin
Brahmavihara (Divine Abodes) Retreats,
Wednesday, October 7th (8:15 a.m.)—Sunday, October 11th (10:30 a.m.)
Please register here
As we continue to live into this moment of both the global pandemic and social uprising what practices can support our capacity to walk with an open, loving and peaceful heart while also creatively and courageously responding to these times?
In classical texts the Buddha taught Metta, lovingkindness, to monastics afraid of tree spirits who were harassing them during their winter retreat. As we reflect on this moment, one interpretation could be that we are on a collective retreat and being called to let go of individual, interpersonal and structural patterns based in fear to live more imaginative, beautiful and just lives. What Charlies Eisenstien termed, “The more beautiful world our hearts know is possible.”
On this retreat, we will practice cultivating the beautiful heart qualities of Metta (goodwill/loving kindness), compassion, supportive joy and equanimity to awaken inner-resilience and a spacious balanced heart. This further awakens a tenderness that allows us to increasingly discern suffering from non-suffering and gain courage to speak and act with wisdom.
Moreover, through continued practice of the Brahmaviharas over the course of the retreat we will point to the gradual awakening process that paradoxically realizes a peace and contentment that transcends the outer conditions of the world. We are meant to live in the world with an open and loving heart, able to hold all of the joys and sorrows of life in balance.
In this online retreat, we will have the opportunity to bring these qualities forth into our daily lives. The schedule for this online retreat will include a morning meditation instruction and short talk (8:15–9:15 a.m.) an afternoon guided sit and talk (4:30—5:45 p.m.). There will also be small group practice meetings and scheduled online sits through the day to support the practice. Some may choose to sit many hours, others may only attend the periods for instructions, small group practice meetings and talks.
Practice Schedule
8:15 - 9:15 Guided practice
11:00 - 11:45 Optional sit
2:00 - 2:45 Optional sit
4:30 - 5:45 Guided practice & Dharma Talk
7:30 - 8:15 Optional sit
Practice Discussion Group Times
1:00 - 1:45
2:00 - 2:45
Retreat Registration
Please register for the retreat here (www.selfretreat.org/retreatregistration/).
At the time of registration we are requesting a retreat administration fee of $25, with no one turned away for lack of funds.
Dana (donations) for the teachers can be offered during – or at the end of – the retreat.
If you have any questions you can email the Retreat Manager, Kerry Nelson, at kerry(at)selfretreat.org.
Dana
This retreat is offered freely, at no cost to anyone who participates. The support for the teachers will be provided by donations participants offer at the end of our retreat. Generosity is what allows the teachers to continue to share the Buddha’s teachings, and will allow the teachings to be carried forward into the future.
Erin Selover is on the Teachers Council at Spirit Rock, a Somatic-Based Psychotherapist and Spiritual Strategist and Rites of Passage Guide. She has been practicing and teaching meditation for over 15 years. To learn more about Erin go to erinselover.com
John Martin is the Co-Chair for the Spirit Rock Guiding Teachers Committee, and on the Teachers Council. His teachings emphasize the aliveness of practice in everyday life, and the importance of cultivating the brahmaviharas in daily life. He leads a weekly sangha and an advanced practitioner study group and co-leads an LGBTQI sangha.
Wisdom of the Moon: Dharma & Celtic Mythology
with Erin Selover & Jessie Morey
On-line with
Spirit Rock Meditation Center
Sunday November 8, 2020
10am - 4:30pm
Registration for this retreat will open in early September
“Fill yourself with the Dharma.
When you are as full as the full moon - burst open”
~ From the First Free Women: Poems of early Buddhist nuns by Weingast
How do we practice in a way that is aligned with the rhythms of nature? How can dharma practice serve to unearth buried aspects of ourselves essential to an integrated awakening process empowering feminine & intuitive ways of knowing?
At the heart of the Dharma is a profound understanding of the nature of change. In these times of unprecedented uncertainty with the global pandemic, social uprisings and climate catastrophes, the Dharma offers us insight and practices to meet change with dignity.
In this retreat, we will explore this foundational teaching of impermanence through the lenses of two ancient wisdom traditions: Buddhism and Celtic Mythology. We will learn how the symbol of the moon is an ever-present reminder of this cyclical, changing nature. And like the moon, we will (re)discover how to reclaim our seat in our more than human global community as illuminating embodiment's of change, shining our light to the world.
We will offer poems from first Buddhist nuns, The Therigatha and the old Celtic Myth, The Buried Moon as translated by Sharon Blackie in, "If Women Rose Rooted” as a frame for this exploration. Together, we will delve into the intimacy of silent meditation practice with the support of community. We will encourage practice outdoors, inquiry, and close the day with song, dance, and celebration.
Erin Selover & Jessie Morey are long-time friends and both descendants of Ireland in the slow re-claiming process of recovering the stories and culture of their bones. They welcome all people of all ancestries to this day of weaving wisdom traditions.
All genders are welcome.
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