Spirit Rock Meditation Center: dharma talks and meditation instruction

(Spirit Rock Meditation Center)

(Spirit Rock Meditation Center)

(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) The talk begins with an introduction to the Four Brahmaviharas and an exploration of how they are distinct (drawing on Ven. Analayo's sun simile). We then explore what equanimity is and how it supports metta when it comes to keeping our hearts open to those we find difficult. We also explore how equanimity helps us to stand up for what we believe in. The talk ends with a song based on a Thich Nhat Hanh poem about how to face injustice and hatred and still continue on.

(Spirit Rock Meditation Center)

(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Practicing metta is an ancient vocation in which we incline toward metta, toward a warm, expansive friendliness, each moment. In doing so, we also come to see what gets in the way of metta. A metta retreat offers us a focused period of training, helping us then to bring our metta more into our formal practice, our daily lives, and a world deeply in need of metta.

Yet there are challenges in metta practice. We also identify a number of these challenges, and how responses to the challenges point to some of the fundamental ways that training in metta transforms us.

(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) At this time of transition, for the earth in the Northern Hemisphere, for many of us in the New Year, and for the U.S., in which clarity of intentions is so important, we explore two types of intentions: (1) aspiration or being guided by one's deeper values and intentions, sometimes taking the form of vows; and (2) moment-to-moment intentions. We are especially interested in connecting the two types of intentions. A focus on moment-to-moment intentions (cetana) helps us with wise action and practice moment-to-moment, seeing which intentions are skillful and which are not (including implicit or even unconscious tendencies linked with habitual energies). We look a number of ways of practicing with intentions both in our formal and our informal practice. We close with a short writing exercise bringing out our core intentions and next steps for the coming period, and then have a period of discussion and sharing.

(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) At this time of transition, for the earth in the Northern Hemisphere, for many of us in the New Year, and for the U.S., in which clarity of intentions is so important, we explore two types of intentions: (1) aspiration or being guided by one's deeper values and intentions, sometimes taking the form of vows; and (2) moment-to-moment intentions. We are especially interested in connecting the two types of intentions. A focus on moment-to-moment intentions (cetana) helps us with wise action and practice moment-to-moment, seeing which intentions are skillful and which are not (including implicit or even unconscious tendencies linked with habitual energies). We look a number of ways of practicing with intentions both in our formal and our informal practice. We close with a short writing exercise bringing out our core intentions and next steps for the coming period, and then have a period of discussion and sharing.

(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) In our current global situation and resulting personal life challenges, anxiety is a natural reaction. However, our bodies are not designed for chronic stress, and it can derail our well-being.

Our day retreat will utilize mindfulness and embodied practices to relieve anxiety and restore a sense of trust in our body’s ability to self-regulate. Our sessions will weave Dharma wisdom, rhythmic breath work, and mindful movement emphasizing somatic awareness.

These practices are designed to release chronic tension, regulate our nervous systems, calm reactivity, and develop a gentle relationship with ourselves. This process of resourcing will reconnect us with our innate calm presence, for agency over our responses and greater resilience. We will then turn toward the hindrance of anxiety and investigate its nuances with kindness and self-compassion. We may come to know anxiety as a teacher—one that deepens mindful awareness and a tender connection to our inner states.

(Spirit Rock Meditation Center)

(Spirit Rock Meditation Center)