VIPASSANA AND DIVERSITY: COURAGE TO LOVE

VIPASSANA AND DIVERSITY: COURAGE TO LOVE

From wise awareness spring love, joy, and the courage to meet and dissolve suffering. In the safety of retreat, we will draw from the Buddha's teachings to explore the practice of awareness and its key role in the process of awakening. As we work together to transform the pains of our lives—from feeling excluded, early life wounds, or unfinished grief—care will be taken to hold this intensive work within an atmosphere of heartfelt kindness and compassion. All are welcome to attend this retreat, and all are invited to bring a meaningful object for our community altar.

The daily schedule will consist of alternating periods of sitting and walking meditation with morning instructions, questions and discussion before lunch, and an evening dharma talk. It will also include chanting and some chi-kung. Each student will have the opportunity for individual interviews and small-group meetings with the teachers. The retreat will be held in contemplative silence.

Ralph Steele, M.A., L.M.F.T. has degrees both in Religious Studies & Marriage and in Family & Child Therapy, as well as in-depth training and experience in Buddhist psychology, religious studies, family systems, cultural psychology, cognitive behavioral therapy, and somatic experiencing. He practiced as an ordained monk for one year in the monasteries of Burma and Thailand and has received training from Tibetan meditation masters including Kalu Rinpoche and Lobsang Lhalungpa. Ralph began teaching meditation retreats in 1987 and was instrumental in establishing people-of-color retreats at Spirit Rock Meditation Center and at the Insight Meditation Society. He is a PTSD Vietnam Veteran, founder of the first Hospice Care Associates Degree program, and founder of Life Transition Therapy Trauma Healing Center in Santa Fe, NM. See www.lifetransitiontherapy.com for more information.

Thanissara started Buddhist practice in the Burmese school in 1975 and spent 12 years as a Buddhist nun in the forest school of Ajahn Chah. She has taught meditation retreats for 25 years in the U.S., Europe, Israel, and South Africa, where she co-founded Dharmagiri Hermitage and Outreach. Thanissara has an MA in Buddhist Psychotherapy Practice from Middlesex University and Karuna Institute in the UK. She is currently a co-facilitator of the Community Dharma Leader Program at Spirit Rock Meditation Centre and resides in East Tennessee. See www.dharmagiri.org or www.dharmagiri-outreach.org for more information.