Wayne Coger
An Invitation to Open Awareness
July 13-15
2 nights $120 ($60 deposit) Dana
Is it possible to approach meditation and all of our daily activities as beginners? Most of us, with or without retreat experience, carry the burden of expectations, opinions, and preconceptions. Becoming intimate with these expectations – with beliefs and opinions, judgments and comparisons and the attendant bodily reactions – is a vital aspect of meditative work and is something upon which anyone with sufficient interest can touch.
The moment to moment unfolding of this work, free from traditional religious trappings, is simple, but it is not easy. Meeting with what presents itself without our usual defenses can be difficult. This retreat offers the opportunity to touch the incredible silence and joy beneath the surface of our automatic reactions, to be here in the entirety of presence.
In open awareness nothing is considered unworthy of attention, there are no real distractions. Breathing, sunlight, clouds, rustling leaves, a rushing or trickling stream – it is not so much what we hear or see; it is the aware-ing itself that is crucial.
Quiet retreating is a wonderful way to facilitate this looking interest. We share the energy of our stillness and silence. The retreat will be silent except for talks and meetings. There are timed sittings in the morning and evening and there is free time for hiking, reading, rest, and exercise. There will also be small group and private meetings with Wayne. There will be an introductory talk the first evening and a talk each morning. Everything on the schedule is optional except for the work period. There are no formal rituals or practices introduced or encouraged. The retreat is a time to be together in silence, open listening, and free inquiry.
Wayne Coger's involvement with Springwater Center in upstate New York goes back to the early 1980s and to the Rochester Zen Center before that. In Wayne’s words: "In 2001 Toni Packer asked me if I would be interested in sharing the work that we do with others. While I have never had any desire to become a 'teacher,' exploring the work of meditative inquiry has been my deepest joy and passion for many, many years. Sharing this enthusiasm for self-discovery (and self-forgetting) feels very natural."
Wayne lives with his wife, Susan McCallum, in a house near Springwater Center and can be reached through the Center or at home by email at cogermac@frontiernet.net.
Here is the daily schedule of the Wayne Coger 2006 Southern Dharma retreat. The 2007 schedule may be different.
5:30 Wake-Up
6:00 Sitting/Walking
7:30 Breakfast
8:30 Work Period
10:00 Sitting
10:30 Walking
10:40 Talk by Teacher
11:15 Sitting/Walking
12:00 Lunch/Break
1:30 Sitting/Walking
3:30 Break/Exercise
4:30 Sitting
5:00 Dinner
7:00 Sitting/Walking
9:30 End of Day's Activities