DaeJa Napier
The Practice of Love:
Insight Meditation and the Brahma-Viharas
August 20-26
5 Nights
$325 ($165 deposit) Dana
This retreat will focus on the cultivation of mindfulness and the four brahma-viharas, both as tools for skillful living and foundations for insight. The brahma-viharas are the boundless qualities of loving-kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity. They are the most beautiful aspects of our human nature for they protect the mind from reactivity and transform the bewildered heart into a refuge of calm focused awareness – allowing for the experience of true connection with oneself and with others.
The daily retreat schedule will be held in noble silence and include morning instructions, sitting and walking meditation, individual meetings with the teacher, an optional afternoon discussion period, and an evening dharma talk.
Both beginning and experienced students are welcome. Beginning students will receive instructions and guidance in developing a practice that can be maintained at home.
DaeJa Napier teaches insight meditation with a particular emphasis on the brahma-viharas: metta: loving-kindness, karuna: compassion, mudita: joy, and upekkha: equanimity. She has studied and practiced in various Buddhist traditions for over thirty years and been teaching for nearly twenty years. Her root teacher was the late Zen Master Seung Sahn. In recent years her own practice has been enriched through intensive retreats under the guidance with Sayadaw U Janaka, Sayadaw U Pandita, Pa Auk Sayadaw and Joseph Goldstein. Dedicated to the balance of the ancient Buddhist teachings and their applications in daily life, DaeJa maintained a formal practice while raising five children. As a teacher DaeJa considers herself a kalyana-mitta or spiritual friend.