Dharma Zephyr Insight Meditation Community

Insight Meditation Community

retreat

Resting in the Dharma with John M. Travis Summer Residential Retreat at Lake Tahoe

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John Travis

 

Resting in the Dharma –

Collecting ourselves through breath And body.
Allowing awareness to unearth, a deep, Sense of ease.
Dharma, can heal the wounds of the past bringing peace to our lives.

 

 

About the Teacher:

The guiding and founding teacher of Mountain Stream Meditation Center, John M. Travis, has been a student of meditation since 1969. His vision and teaching have been instrumental t in the growth and development of Buddhism and meditation in the Northern Sierra Nevada region.

The Dharma Zephyr Community has benefited greatly from John’s personal warmth and his teachings over the last 30 years.

For more detail please visit https://www.mtstream.org/our-teachers .

Accommodation:
Accommodations for sleeping are two person rooms. Your same-sex roommate will be assigned at registration, unless you indicated a roommate preference during the registration process or that you plan on camping, staying in a teepee or have been told that a single room is available for you.  About two weeks before retreat we will know if single rooms are available.

COST:

  • includes lodging and three mails per day
  • $609 camping is still available all rooms are occupied
  • pay in full at registration

Dharma Zephyr has some funding available for partial scholarships for multi-day retreats. For information on retreat scholarships, click HERE.

Dana:
Dana is a Pali word meaning “generosity”. Considered priceless, the Buddha’s teachings have been given freely since the time of the Buddha. That 2500-year tradition continues today. In keeping with this tradition, teachers do not charge for their services, but are sustained by the generosity of their students. Registration fees cover only the operational expenses of the retreat. There is no expected amount, but you are encouraged to give generously to the extent you are able. There will be an opportunity to offer dana to John, the staff and DZIMC, at the end of the retreat.

COVID-19:

In the spirit of lovingkindness and ethical behavior, DZIMC will follow all CDC, state, and local mandates regarding COVID-19. In addition, for the safety and wellbeing of our community, Dharma Zephyr encourages, but does not require, that participants at our activities and events be vaccinated and boosted for COVID-19. To care for all who attend our events, we ask that if you are sick (cold, cough, sore throat, runny nose, etc.) or have had a fever, vomiting or diarrhea in the 24 hours prior to an event, that you not attend the event.

You will be required to provide proof of a negative COVID antigen test (home test) taken within 48 hours of arriving at Camp Galilee. If you have medical insurance or are on Medicare, free tests are available at most major pharmacies. DZIMC will have some tests at the check in.

COVID-19 protocols such as masking and social distancing for this retreat will be determined by the conditions at the time the retreat is held. You will be asked to confirm that you have read the complete COVID-19 and Wellness Policy when you register.

Register NowRegister for John Travis August 10-15 Pay BalancePay Balance for John Travis August 10-15

Daylong Retreat with Heather Sundberg on Zoom

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Heather Sundberg
Taking the One Seat: Choiceless Awareness & Essence of Mind Practices with Heather Sundberg on Zoom
Sunday January 28th, 10am to 3:30pm (lunch break Noon – 1pm).

The teaching and practice of “Taking the One Seat,” out of the lineage of Ajahn Chah, is a practice of choiceless awareness with all experience at the 6 sense doors, which can grow into the recognition of the essence of mind itself.

Enjoy a day of quiet sitting and walking meditation, which allow our body and mind to settle down and our hearts to open to an inner wisdom. In addition to insight meditation practice, Heather will offer teachings and guided meditations on the theme, as well as time for discussion about how to live these teachings in our daily lives. This retreat is suitable for beginners as well as experienced meditators.

In this daylong we will explore the Taking the One Seat teaching/practice from the following perspectives:
– Somatic, heart and pure awareness practices which offer balance and perspective with the constant grasping and pushing away in the mind,
– Learning to ‘hit rewind’ with reactive patterns growing from feeling tone into liking and disliking,
– Pure Awareness practice through the use of open questions and 5 aggregates investigations, including working with subtle identification with awareness itself.

Registration: Opens Dec. 10th. To register and receive the retreat Zoom link, please email Tom Gray: tom@dharmazephyr.org

Dana (donation): The Teacher offers the teachings freely in the tradition of the Buddha, and her livelihood is completely sustained by the generosity of the communities she serves. Dana (donation) for these priceless teachings will be gratefully accepted by the teacher, giving participants the opportunity to freely engage in the practice of generosity, the first step toward freedom.

Heather Sundberg has taught insight meditation since 1999, and completed the Spirit Rock/IMS Teacher Training program under Jack Kornfield and Joseph Goldstein. She has been a visiting teacher for Dharma Zephyr daylongs and residential retreats since 2011. As a teacher, Heather’s style is warm and practical. She emphasizes embodiment, awareness-emptiness and including strong heartfulness in practice. She carries an interesting combination of supporting a ‘less is more’ easeful style of practice, plus a passionate ‘no holds barred’ attitude about awakening. For more information or to make a donation, see: www.heathersundberg.com

A number of Dharma Zephyr community members train with Heather in her ongoing MahaSati Awareness-Emptiness Training programs for experienced students. See: www.mahasati.info

The Jhanas and Insight: A 10-day (9-Night) Residential Retreat with Leigh Brasington at Lake Tahoe

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This retreat is now full and the waiting list is closed.

The jhanas are eight progressive altered states of consciousness that can be identified with the aspect of the Buddha’s Eightfold Path called right concentration. Training in concentration leads to these states, each of which yields a deeper and subtler state of awareness than the previous one. The jhanas are not in themselves awakening, but they are a skillful means for stilling the mind in a way that leads in that direction, and they are attainable by anyone who devotes the time and sincerity of practice necessary to realize them. Jhana practice is helpful for gaining the deep insights necessary for ending personal suffering. The jhanas are an advanced topic in Buddhist meditation. Learning the jhanas comes more easily for those who have previously attended at least two one-week or longer silent meditation retreats and have a daily meditation practice of 45 minutes or more.

This residential retreat will take place at scenic Camp Galilee, on the lovely eastern shore of Lake Tahoe. The retreat is offered in one 10-day (9-night) length only.

Leigh Brasington (leighb.com) is a teacher of insight meditation who was the senior American student of the late Venerable Ayya Khema, who authorized him to teach the jhanas. Leigh has taught them, along with other insight practices, at well over one hundred residential retreats throughout the United States and Europe. He is casual and warm, and is skilled at providing individualized instruction during retreats. Leigh is also the author of the excellent and helpful books Right Concentration, A Practical Guide to the Jhanas (2015), and Dependent Origination and Emptiness: Streams Of Dependently Arising Processes Interacting (2021).

COST: $895-$1,350 sliding scale registration fee, plus a voluntary donation to the teacher at the end of the retreat. The estimated actual per-person cost for this retreat (if we used a fixed rate) is $1,052. By selecting a registration fee amount above this level, your generosity supports those who need to select a lower rate to attend. A non-refundable $350 deposit is required with registration to secure a spot. Registration fee balances will be due by September 16th. The registration fee pays for shared lodging, three delicious vegetarian meals per day and teacher transportation. A limited number of single rooms may be available for an extra $350, depending on space. Partial scholarships are available; contact registrar Tom Gray tom@dharmazephyr.org to apply for one. See Dharma Zephyr Scholarship Policy HERE.

DANA (donation): Compensation for the teacher is not included in the registration fee. The teacher offers these teachings freely in the tradition of the Buddha, and will gratefully accept voluntary dana at the end of the retreat. Dana for Dharma Zephyr will also be gratefully accepted.

TO REGISTER: This retreat is FULL. To join the waiting list, please email tom@dharmazephyr.org.

THE RETREAT IS FULLRegister Online

Please email tom@dharmazephyr.org to be added to the waiting list.

Registration will occur in two stages: 1) April 2-16, 2024 for Dharma Zephyr (DZIMC) participants only, and 2) April 17, 2024 and beyond for everyone until the retreat fills.

PAY BALANCE ONLINEPay Balance for Leigh Brasington Retreat

CANCELLATION: The $350 deposit is non-refundable. Cancellation before September 16, 2024: full refund except deposit. Cancellation between September 16 and October 7, 2024: refund one half of all payments except deposit. Cancellation after October 7, 2024: no refund.

COVID-19: In the spirit of lovingkindness and ethical behavior, Leigh and DZIMC are requiring everyone to follow this protocol from Insight Retreat Center to protect us all during the retreat: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1oN7OjOvuJnyQepk3Z0NhrOad6Jgs1_dAxFr_2i46C84/edit. In summary, each person must bring two (2) Covid FDA-approved rapid tests and at least one N-95, KN-95, or KF-94 mask to the retreat. To speed up the check-in process, please self-administer your first test up to a few hours before arrival at the retreat center and bring a photo of your negative result to show the greeter. If your result is positive please do not come to the retreat. We will all self-administer our second tests 48-72 hours after arrival as directed by the retreat manager and/or Leigh. Have your mask handy when indoors in case they are required (or if you prefer to wear one even if not required). See the above link for more details.

QUESTIONS? Contact Tom Gray tom@dharmazephyr.org.

Dharma Zephyr Insight Meditation Community: Mindfulness of Breathing retreat at Camp Galilee
Photo: T.Gray

Mindfulness of Death: An Online Weekend Retreat via Zoom with Shaila Catherine

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Shaila Catherine

“Mindfulness of death, when developed and cultivated, is of great fruit and benefit, culminating in the deathless, having the deathless as its consummation.”
– Anguttara Nikaya 8.7

Western societies are adept at hiding death. It occurs behind closed doors or in “sanitized” locations like hospitals and nursing homes. Most people rarely see corpses up close or witness the process of dying. It may seem that we have lost access to the spiritual insights that a closer connection with death could bring

Developing mindfulness of our own death can protect the mind from complacency and inspire us to practice dharma with greater energy and sincerity. Formal death contemplation can prepare us for the inevitable event of dying, help us to let go of latent fears, stimulate profound insights into impermanence, clarify priorities, and abandon sensory attachments.

Many forms of maranasati (mindfulness of death) are taught in Buddhist traditions. This online weekend at-home retreat will introduce Buddhist approaches to the contemplation of death and dying through guided meditations on contemplating impermanence and visualizing a decomposing corpse. Most simply, we will practice remaining aware and balanced as we reflect on the fact that we will surely die. These contemplations can remove fear of death and produce a sense of being at ease with the nature of things.

This will be a program of live video conferences with Shaila Catherine. The online meetings will include guided meditations, Dharma talks, question and answer sessions, and peer led discussions.

RETREAT SCHEDULE

Times are given in Pacific Time (PDT)

Friday October 7

5:30 – 7:00pm    Opening Session, Mindfulness of Death

Saturday October 8

7:00 – 7:30am    Qi Gong with Deborah

7:30 – 8:15         Morning Meditation with Kathy

8:45 – 9:30am    Morning Guided Meditation with Shaila

10:00– 12:00      Morning Teaching with Shaila

1:30 – 3:30pm    Afternoon Teaching with Shaila

4:15 – 5:30pm    Reflection and Discussion Group with Kathy and Karen

Sunday October 9

7:00 – 7:30am    Qi Gong with Deborah

7:30 – 8:15         Morning Meditation with Kathy

8:45 – 9:30am    Morning Guided Meditation with Shaila

10:00– 12:00      Morning Teaching with Shaila

1:30 – 3:30pm    Afternoon Teaching with Shaila

4:15 – 5:30pm    Reflection and Discussion Group with Kathy and Karen

 

To register please contact: Karen Kvasnicka: karen@dharmazephyr.org

Zoom links will be emailed to registrants a few days prior to the retreat.

 

There is no registration fee for this retreat. The retreat is being offered on a dana or generosity basis.

You may offer dana to our teacher Shaila at: https://shailacatherine.com/donate/

Dharma Zephyr Insight Meditation Community at: https://dharmazephyr.org/contact-us/

 

Shaila Catherine shailacatherine.com is the founder of Bodhi Courses www.bodhicourses.org an online Dhamma classroom, and Insight Meditation South Bay www.imsb.org, a Buddhist meditation center in Silicon Valley. She began practicing meditation in 1980, studied with masters in India, Thailand, and Nepal, spent more than nine years in silent retreat, taught meditation internationally since 1996, and authored three books on mindfulness, concentration, and insight. Her first book, Focused and Fearless: A Meditator’s Guide to States of Deep Joy, Calm, and Clarity, introduces the deep concentration practices of jhāna. Her second book, Wisdom Wide and Deep: A Practical Handbook for Mastering Jhāna and Vipassanā, makes the systematic practices taught by Pa-Auk Sayadaw accessible to western practitioners. Her third book, Beyond Distraction: Five Practical Ways to Focus the Mind, teaches skills to overcome restless thinking, rumination, and obstructive habitual patterns. Shaila’s teachings emphasize deep samadhi, jhāna, and the path of liberating insight.

Find out more about Shaila and her teachings at:

www.shailacatherine.com

www.bodhicourses.org

www.imsb.org

 

A VIRTUAL RETREAT IS OFFERED to replace the gathering at Camp Galilee. Embodied Practice: Sensitive, Aware, Kind with Santikaro teaching via Zoom.

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Dharma Zephyr Home/On-Line Retreat
9 a.m. March 29 – 9 p.m. April 1

Retreat Overview and Parameters

In this retreat, you will practice at home or at the home of a friend. Teaching will happen online, via Zoom. You will need to download and install the Zoom app to participate. (If you are new to Zoom, Santikaro will provide a practice session so that you can get comfortable with Zoom.) This provides opportunities to support each other during the Covid-19 pandemic and to bring our practice into the existential realities as they evolve.
The retreat’s theme will adapt to the evolving Covid-19 Samsara. Here’s the original description:

This retreat will explore our bodies as a field for mindful curiosity and insight. We will base ourselves in healthy posture and relaxed breathing in order to explore these bodies and Buddhist perspectives that illuminate them.
Bodies are sensate experiences, sources of pleasure and pain, jumbles of perceptions, emotional echo chambers, and fields of concocting. The focus of much of our attention and neurotic energy, our bodies are a necessary realm for mindfulness practice and insight. With understanding, we don’t need to create further suffering. We can use our sensitivity to heal rather than hurt. Buddhist teachings illuminate body-mind reality and meditation practices help heal the body and our relationship with it.
We all know that beauty is skin deep, yet we are influenced profoundly by a society that perpetrates unhealthy body image expectations. As we age, the health of our bodies is a necessary and fraught focus. Unhealthy diet and stressed out work lives compound our relationships with our bodies. Through them we feel comfort and distress, pain and pleasure, sadness and gladness. Within them we can also find profound peace.
Buddhist mindfulness practices start with body and help us uncover the realities of embodied sense experience, the pleasures & pains we feel through our bodies, and the images & perceptions that filter such experiences. Through awareness our sensitivity grows and we discover kindness & compassion, as well as clarity & insight.
Buddhist teachings focus on basic realities and truths so we may orient towards the best our inner life has to offer. Teachings concerning consumption, ethics, tranquility, and inconstancy guide us in discerning what is real and what is fabricated, what is healthy and what is not. This helps us disentangle from degrading old habits.
This retreat will offer skillful means for living within our bodies more fully. Developing the first establishment of mindfulness will lead into the other three establishments (feeling tones, mind, and dhammas). Meditation exercises will explore balance, relaxation, comfort, and caring, as well as ageing and death. The wisdom teachings of Buddhism play a key role in our inquiry. They enable us to refine mindfulness, relax into deeper concentration, and awaken compassion.

HOW TO PARTICIPATE

This retreat is offered for two groups: (1) folks who commit to the full retreat format as described below and (2) those who can only participate in some activities yet commit to doing so consistently. We ask that everyone register in advance and choose your level of participation.

(1) The full-retreat group will include some who registered for the Galilee residential retreat along with others whose present circumstances allow full participation. The retreat is designed for this core group who have the ability to do full-on retreat at home. (Home can be your own, or meeting for some of the sits & on-lines at the home of sangha friends, in small groups, following safe procedures.) This core all-in group will anchor the retreat for those who participate part-time.
The current plan is 4 full days, the same days as the planned residential (without the need to travel to & from Tahoe, set up, pack, etc.). If, some of you wish to extend for another day or two, I am open to that.
We’ll start with an Introduction to Format, Schedule, and Activities at 9 am on Sunday March 29 (all times Nevada) and will keep the following schedule through Wednesday evening:
7 am Practice period, starting with 15 minutes advice from Santikaro, followed by 45 Silence.
8 am Emotions Check-In, immediately after sitting (optional)
10 am Meditation teaching “Embodied Practice: Sensitive, Aware, Kind”
2 pm Meditation Q/R
7 pm Dhamma Talk

Sit at least 3 times daily, alone or with a couple friends. You set the times.
Add walking meditation, yoga, or qigong as able. As qigong fits the retreat’s theme excellently, I will provide online resources for those who wish to practice.
If you wish, pick a favorite Dhamma book to read and reflect on. Limit reading periods to 15 minutes each and leave adequate time for reflection and journaling.

If possible, take Meals alone or with practice friends, and keep them simple.
Noble Silence: within the realities of your living situation, abstain from speech as much as possible, especially trivial and frivolous speech, as well as worry-perpetuating, complaining, and blaming speech. If possible, stay off the internet and don’t check email. If you must use devices, create realistic guidelines for yourself to wisely limit net browsing and email activity.
You may need to make a few modifications in what I have outlined, according to your circumstances. Please stay within the spirit of retreat.

(2) DZ members are welcome to join the retreat “part-time.” To do so means committing to regular daily participation, as able, e.g. the 7 am meditation, Dhamma talk, and at least one other sitting on your own. Of course, you can participate as much as you are able, but everyone should commit to a daily minimum involvement according to what works with your situation (otherwise, it won’t be much of a retreat). Please make a retreat plan for yourself, whatever works with your home situation, family responsibilities, work, etc.

Santikaro’s time and teaching is offered on a dāna basis. As Kevala Retreat is facing a drop in income, any help you can give is appreciated. (We recognize that some of you are in the same boat.) To offer dana to Santikaro, please use this link  Dana for Kevala Retreat  to donate to Kevala Retreat.

TO REGISTER

Please email Susan Antipa susana@dharmazephyr.org to register. Please state your intention regarding full or part-time participation. Santikaro will need your email address to invite you to the Zoom sessions.

On Thursday, March 26th, Santikaro will send an email with guidelines and suggestions for your participation.

I hope you can join us in this experiment.
Santikaro

A friend passed on this gem:
We need physical distancing not social distancing — we actually need to increase our social cooperation.

Offer dana to Dharma Zephyr Insight Meditation Society Here