Spirit Rock News

Transcription

Spirit Rock News

Spirit Rock News
& Schedule of Events
January - April 2014
INSIDE THIS ISSUE:
A Conversation with Jack & Joseph
PAGE 3
Wes Nisker: Please Identify Yourself
PAGE 8
In Appreciation of our Stewardship Circle
PAGE 9
Live Webcast Events
PAGE 12
Schedule of Events: January - April
PAGE 14
spiritrock.org
2
SPIRIT ROCK NEWS & SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
The Third Transition of Spirit Rock
LETTER FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Our Co-Guiding Teacher, Phillip Moffitt, and I were reflecting on pivotal times in
the history of Spirit Rock’s lifecycle, times when a significant evolutionary “leap”
allowed Spirit Rock to offer practitioners another gateway into the Dharma.
IN THIS ISSUE
3 A Conversation with Jack
Kornfield and Joseph Goldstein
6 A Message from Jack
7 Online Meal Dana
8 Practice Page:
Please Identify Yourself
10 Loving the Earth Inside
and Out
12 Upcoming Highlights
13 Residential Retreats at a Glance
14 Schedule of Events
- The “first transition” was back in the late 1980s, when a single donor offered
the funds needed to buy 412 acres of land from the Nature Conservancy and
the community came together to place temporary trailers in our lower meadow. For the first
time, practitioners could come and practice year-round, in all weather, inside a structure on the
land—marking the opening of our doors to the community for ongoing daytime, evening, and
weekend classes.
- The “second transition” was in the late 1990s, when funds for a spacious retreat meditation
hall, and its support structures of four residential dormitories, a commercial kitchen, and a
council house, were raised by the community—marking the opening of our doors for overnight,
staff-supported and sustained silent retreat practice.
- The “third transition” is happening NOW, when the temporary spaces held lovingly for twenty
years give way to a permanent accessible lower campus. The base of the hillside provides a
foundation for a permanent Community Meditation Hall with two additional classrooms—
three distinct spaces that can be simultaneously occupied for teachings and groups of different
sizes. The staff will shift into a single administration building, allowing efficiency behindthe-scenes and better service for community members. Temporary trailers will give way to a
permanent residential village, providing on-site housing for retreat staff and teachers, opening
up more rooms for retreatants in dormitories.
Yet it’s not about the buildings. In the case of each transition, the buildings are the “support
vehicle” for teachings of wisdom and compassion. The “destination” is freedom from suffering.
In the case of each transition, you—your practice, your volunteering, your offering of financial
resources, your counsel—have helped us create these spaces that allow freedom of heart and
mind. It is a beautiful offering.
As we work toward raising the remaining $2.5 million dollars for a construction start next
spring, we are very happy to let you know that we’re able to offer ALL of our programs without
interruption during the building period. Construction is limited to the lower campus, generally
near the long-term parking area and along the driveway hillside, and occurs only MondayFriday 7am - 4pm. The upper retreat center will not be directly affected. On the lower campus
and in the current Community Meditation Hall, all programs, buildings, parking lots, and
trails will be accessible during construction. As with most things, there will be “opportunities
for practice” throughout this period, including visual disruption of the land, lower campus
construction sounds during weekdays, views and opinions about where Spirit Rock is headed—
and this, too. We welcome all of this as part of our practice and through being a learning
community, and our intent is to listen, learn from, and continue to support your practice here.
SPIRIT ROCK NEWS
© 2013 Spirit Rock Meditation Center
January - April 2014
Published three times a year by
Spirit Rock - an Insight Meditation Center
P.O. Box 169, Woodacre, CA 94973
(415) 488-0164
Special Thanks: All the staff and teachers
at Spirit Rock
Cover and other photos by Ellen Burke,
Margot Duane, Peggy Felix, Walt Opie,
Andrea Roth, blackyogis.tumblr.com
This third transition promises to be transformational, a leap in which Spirit Rock needs to
operate differently, yet stay clearly and deeply rooted in our values and our mission. Today we
are walking on the broad shoulders of the generous sangha who came before us, completing a
promise to a generation of practitioners to come.
We are so glad you are with us.
Warmly,
Michelle Latvala, Executive Director
JANUARY - APRIL 2014
3
Dharma Adventures and Favorite Teachings:
A Conversation with Jack Kornfield and Joseph Goldstein
In July we hosted a special conversation with Joseph Goldstein
and Jack Kornfield, as part of our Capital Campaign fundraising
and 25th anniversary celebration. The two-hour conversation,
titled “Dharma Adventures and Favorite Teachings,” was held in
the Upper Meditation Hall and was facilitated by our Executive
Director, Michelle Latvala. Audience participants, both in-person
and online, offered questions for Jack and Joseph, and much
humor, wisdom and insight were shared during the event. Below is
an excerpt from the conversation. The complete video of the talk
and the guided meditations that were offered can be viewed by
Stewardship Circle members - you can find out more about that
program on page 9.

what I learned from you, Joseph. You’d trained with Munindraji
and Goenka in India and when you gave dharma talks you
would quote Plato or Chuang Tzu. There was a kind of broad
mindedness to the way that you taught that brought in poetry
and philosophy and what people could relate to in all these
different ways.
Michelle: That pluralism is actually something that you’ve each
really embraced and that has seemed characteristic of Western
Dharma. Can you talk a little bit about both the challenges of
that and the opportunities for you individually in your teaching
and for students who also are drawn to incorporate and
integrate different traditions, different methodologies, different
practices?
Joseph: One of the interesting things that is happening in
the transmission of the Dharma to the West is that so many
different Buddhist traditions are being taught here. People have
a wide range of possibilities in terms of how to undertake their
practice. And I think it’s both a tremendous opportunity to
learn from different traditions but there are also, I feel, some
cautions.
Michelle: You both represent the beginning of a certain kind of
practice, the arrival of the wheel of the Dharma into a totally
different Western culture really distinct from its Asian roots.
What struck you when you first started teaching the Dharma to
Westerners some 40 years ago?
Joseph: What struck me was how much the same it was.
When I first went to Bodhgaya looking for a teacher and I met
Munindraji, my first dharma teacher, he said something that
was so practical and so unencumbered. He said, “If you want
to understand the mind, sit down and observe it.” There was
nothing to join and there were no rituals. It was just that simple.
And it’s such common sense. How else could we understand
our minds except by sitting down or standing up and observing
it? And I think the universality of that is one of the appeals for
me. Doesn’t matter whether we’re in the West or in Asia, it’s
the same process of understanding.
Jack: When I was coming back, Ajahn Chah said to me, “Well,
if you’re going teach this to other people,” he said, “find
whatever language works for them so that you can help people
understand ways to alleviate suffering, to let go of their fears
and confusions.” He said, “If you want to call it Christianity,
do that. Whatever language you want to use.” And one of the
things that was really important for me in the beginning was
From my perspective I think it’s good to do an initial shopping
around—to taste traditions and practices to see which methods
really resonate and inspire. And in some way I think that’s the
most important qualification—do we get enough inspiration
from the practice that we actually do the practice?
But we need to go to some depth in that practice, before
opening up and going to other traditions, because otherwise
it could get a bit confusing. If it’s based on a solid foundation
of understanding then it’s enriching to do some Dzogchen, or
Zen. That really can expand our dharma view. But if we do it
too early, there’s the potential for confusion in the mind. So we
have to use it judiciously.
Jack: I think one of the indications of the health of our
community was this open-mindedness represented in the
way we studied with other traditions. And underlying it is the
understanding of skillful means. In the text, the Buddha talks
about how as someone becomes wiser they are free of views
and opinions, or free of attachment to views and opinions, and
those who have a lot of views and opinions, said the Buddha, go
around the world annoying other people.
When practitioners are starting out, they can latch on to the
system or the beliefs as a way of orienting themselves. But
Buddhism is not some system or idea or a set of beliefs. It is
an invitation to have a very direct experience of the mystery
[Continued on page 4]
4
[Continued from page 3]
of your own body and mind. We explore what makes suffering
and what brings us freedom. We practice skillful means such
as mindfulness of the body, loving-kindness, forgiveness and
compassion practice. These practices are all in the service of
liberation, not of creating some new set of ideas or beliefs.
mindfulness to the suffering that you have. Bring the tools of
compassion and realize that it’s not so personal. And take some
deep breaths. In the light of mindful attention they dissolve and
we become free. It’s a beautiful process to witness.
Joseph: I think Jack expressed it really beautifully. Just to
add to that, it almost always piques my interest when my
mind is going through some kind of agitation or conflict or
disturbance, because I know that if there’s suffering in my mind
it’s not because somebody is making me suffer. Years ago I
Michelle: Thank you. How does practice address adversity or
was in a relationship. We were having a little dispute, and at a
affliction and ease the fear that may arise?
certain point she turned to me and said, “Stop making me feel
Jack: The first thing is to see that adversity and affliction are not aversion.” And I started to laugh which was a ‘bad move’, but
I learned a lesson. Because we think that it’s somebody else
necessarily somebody’s fault.
making us feel a certain way, we
They can be, but the first noble
don’t take responsibility for the
truth of the Buddha is that
In Pali, mindfulness literally means to remember. suffering or disturbance in our
life entails suffering. There is
And so it is remembering the present moment, minds.
praise and blame, and gain and
loss, and joy and sorrow, and
but it also is remembering what is skillful; what You may be familiar with the
birth and death, and sweet and
is not skillful. What is wholesome; what is not haiku by Ryokan. He was this
sour, and light and dark—our
wandering Zen hermit, monk,
wholesome.”
existence as human beings is
poet. Very poor, had almost
woven with these opposites.
– JOSEPH GOLDSTEIN
nothing. And one day he came
And we get the idea that it’s not
back to his hut in the mountains
supposed to happen to us. But sickness and aging don’t happen
of Japan and the few possessions he had—his bowl and his
because we’re doing something wrong. That’s just part of being
mat—were stolen. And so he just wrote down a little haiku,
human.
“The moon at the window. The thief left it behind.”
So the first thing is just to recognize that life itself entails
I love that story because it points to the possibility that the
difficulty and it entails conflict at times and loss and so forth,
way we relate to difficulties very much depends on our level of
and that’s not the problem. The real issue is how we respond to
wisdom. The very same circumstance could cause one person
that.
tremendous suffering and could cause another person to
remain quite unruffled. Now, very few of us are probably at the
Adversity is an invitation to turn toward it. To lean into the
level of Ryokan, but it is very empowering to realize that it is
wind. Go toward what feels like it’s stuck and bring the tools of
totally up to us how we’re relating to the situation. Conditions
may arise that bring up anger for example, or bring up fear, but
how we’re relating to the anger or fear is totally up to us. And
that’s the great gift of the practice. We learn how to relate to
the difficulties with a freer mind. We become a little bit more
like Ryokan and it’s a tremendous blessing in our lives.
So if your practice is helping you become more present with the
way things are instead of imposing some view on it, then you
will start to feel freer and your practice will deepen.
“
Michelle: That’s great. I know people are interested in hearing a
little bit about how each of you feels or thinks about the cultural
popularity of mindfulness that is sometimes either disguised
with no mention of Buddhism or completely divorced from it.
What are you interested in and what are you concerned about
with this unfolding?
Joseph: I think it’s great. A friend of mine was teaching
mindfulness to second graders in Petaluma. He did a six-week
program and then he sent me the evaluative comments of the
second graders after the six weeks and some of them were, “I
love mindfulness.” “Mindfulness helps me get better grades.”
5
And my favorite from a second grader, “Mindfulness is the best
thing I’ve ever done in my life.” So it’s great that it’s getting out
there.
Somebody once asked me, "Can you say a few words on what
mindfulness is?" And I said it’s a bit like asking what art is, or
what love is. In Pali, mindfulness literally means to remember.
And so it is remembering the present moment, but it also
is remembering what is skillful; what is not skillful. What is
wholesome; what is not wholesome. And my hope is that as the
teachings of mindfulness spread in so many different areas, that
the people who are teaching it don’t reduce it to the simplicity
of paying attention in the moment and that’s it. Mindfulness is
part of a more inclusive understanding that is based on ethical
conduct. It is based on the principles of generosity and lovingkindness.
An early photo of Jack and Joseph; Jack was ordained with Ajahn Chah
when this photo was taken.
life. That how you treat others and yourself, with integrity
Jack: Yeah, I have this very deep trust that there will be people
or virtue, means whether you’ll be happy or not. It’s hard to
who learn mindfulness in very simple or secular ways and they
meditate after a day of killing and stealing. Doesn’t work very
see it as a doorway—an opportunity to go further. The depth of
well. So I trust somehow that we’re also called to open to
Buddhist teachings explores the mysteriousness of human life
something greater, to this mystery of life and consciousness,
and incarnation as a human being, having consciousness and so and that mindfulness becomes a doorway for us to that kind of
forth. And that’s so much deeper
deep wisdom and it will be
than stress release (although
paired with all the secular and
When the mind gets quiet and silent, then
that’s useful). But what I trust,
popular uses of it.
and you see it on retreats, is that
that sense of mystery starts to open. And the
Michelle: In closing, can you
when the mind gets quiet and
questions about what really matters and what
imagine how the Dharma
silent, then that sense of mystery
might continue to unfold in
are
the
ways
of
operating
in
this
human
life...
starts to open. And the questions
about what really matters and
that bring freedom, that bring benefit, are what the next 25 years here at
Spirit Rock, and the West
what are the ways of operating in
start to arise.”
in general? And how we’re
this human life that bring joy, that
actually all part of that, of
– JACK KORNFIELD
bring freedom, that bring benefit,
ensuring it thrives.
are what start to arise.
Joseph: For me one of the most inspiring aspects of how the
My hope is that as mindfulness spreads there will be this
Dharma is unfolding in the West is the teen retreat at IMS
awareness of the basic operating principles of a decent human
(Insight Meditation Society) every year. It’s just so amazing.
There’s a group of 40-50 teens that come together. Their
energy is quite unique. But what’s amazing is the transformation
that happens. This is a week retreat and it’s not an intensive
silent retreat. There’s a lot of discussion. Seeing these teens
doing the walking mediation and really getting a sense of being
able to look into their own hearts and minds. And how they
extend to each other a caring, non-judgmental way is amazing.
It’s such a safe place for them to do this and it’s so lacking in the
culture at large. So when I see that it’s tremendously inspiring
and hopeful for the future. These young people are learning at
this very young age what’s possible. It’s a vision of the future.
“
Jack: I too am hopeful and excited. I don’t have a vision because
I think back to 25 or 35 years ago and we hadn’t any idea.
We were given this goal basically, these incredibly wonderful
Jack and Joseph lead a retreat at Insight Meditation Society, circa 1975
6
A Message from Jack
Dear friend,
Why do we practice? And what is so special about Spirit Rock teachings, Insight Meditation
and the Dharma?
I have heard countless stories of how individuals have seen their way through their biggest
challenges with the aid and the grace of the Dharma.
What happens at Spirit Rock is vital to helping transform our world—and your support makes
a huge difference. Each year we depend on your donations to the Fund for Spirit Rock to keep
our retreats and programs running, our buildings maintained, our lands cared for, and our
scholarship program thriving. And each year and throughout the year we ask you to help us by offering financial support.
Please take a few minutes and reflect on your values. If you feel that Spirit Rock and our network of teachers have
benefited you and helped you to be more compassionate with yourself and others, then please consider giving a gift to
Spirit Rock, using the enclosed envelope or online at www.spiritrock.org/FallAppeal.
Whether you have attended an event, listened to our dharma talks online or made a gift to our teachers or staff through
dana, we invite you to continue your support by making a personally significant gift to the Fund for Spirit Rock. Your
generosity represents the foundation upon which Spirit Rock rests, is stewarded, and continues to evolve. As we move
forward with our Capital Campaign to raise funds for our permanent Community Meditation Hall and support buildings
on the lower campus, it is also very important to cover the ongoing day-to-day needs of Spirit Rock. This is made
possible through your generous response to requests like mine.
If you have already made a gift to support the Fund for Spirit Rock, thank you. Your support is greatly appreciated.
May your connections with Spirit Rock continue to nurture you in your practice, and know that your gifts are deeply
appreciated by all who depend on Spirit Rock as their place of learning and refuge.
Yours in the Dharma,
Jack Kornfield
Ways to Give—No matter which forms of generosity appeal to you in your support of Spirit Rock, please know that many practitioners
are profoundly grateful. Your generosity allows Spirit Rock to provide transformative experiences.
The Envelope in This Issue
Use the remit envelope included in this issue to make a gift of any size.
Online
Go to www.spiritrock.org and click on ‘Giving.’
Stewardship Circle
Monthly debit/credit card contributions, or a gift of $1,000 or more annually, to steward Spirit Rock
into the future.
Respond to an Appeal
Several times a year we send out appeals via mail or email. Take a moment to read and respond with
whatever level of generosity feels right to you.
In Honor or Memory
Would you or your family like to make a gift in honor or in memory of a loved one?
Matching Gifts
Find out if your employer will match your charitable contributions.
Bequests
Planned gifts are a way of leaving a legacy of support to Spirit Rock, and passing on your values.
Gifts of stock and IRA distributions
A simple way of offering gifts to Spirit Rock is through appreciated securities and IRA distributions.
Call Rachel Uris at (415) 488-0164 x237 for information.
Volunteering
We couldn’t operate Spirit Rock without our wonderful volunteers. To volunteer, contact our Volunteer
Coordinator Marya Mayer at (415) 488-0164 x224.
Any Questions about Giving?
Contact Rachel Uris (415) 488-0164 x237 or [email protected].
7
Ground-Breaking in 2014! Now is the time to turn our shared vision into reality!
The Spirit Rock Board of Directors has voted to break ground on our lower campus
in April 2014 (see page 2). We need $2.5 million more to meet our entire cost. The
Board has decided that given the generosity of our supporters thus far and the steady
momentum of donations, they are confident we will succeed in this last stretch!
Please consider what you value and offer what you can. Every gift counts!
Supporting the Spirit Rock Sangha:
The Fund for Spirit Rock? The Capital
Campaign? Yes!
As we reflect on our past 25th anniversary year and look
forward to the year ahead, we are full of gratitude to you and
our collective sangha. I'm often asked whether gifts should be
offered to the Capital Campaign or the Fund for Spirit Rock.
There's no easy answer to this!
I usually ask that you consider what you value and to
offer what you can in support of both Spirit Rock’s Capital
Campaign and the Fund for Spirit Rock (our annual operating
and scholarship fund). Both bring the Dharma to more
individuals, families and communities.
We are on the final leg of raising the money needed to create
our new Community Mediation Hall and teacher/staff village
and offices. These new buildings will greatly increase our
ability to serve the Dharma, with new programming and
flexible spaces for workshops and classes.
We have $2.5 million more to raise and every gift counts.
We remain committed to meeting the needs of all those
who come here through our Fund for Spirit Rock, supporting
everything from building maintenance to stewarding our land
to ongoing scholarship support.
This is a pivotal year!
Together, we can support the development of deepened
wisdom and compassion in ourselves and the world. We are
so inspired by this community and remain committed to you
and to generations of practitioners to come. Your volunteer
hours, your presence, your practice, and your participation in
giving is so deeply appreciated.
With gratitude and much metta,
Rachel Uris
Development Director
Meal Dana – On Retreat and Online
An opportunity to practice generosity
and wise speech!
We are pleased to announce
that we have created a new
Meal Dana board for our dining
room. For many years the Spirit
Rock community has honored
the ancient Buddhist monastic
tradition of offering meals in
support of practitioners. When
donors offer meal dana, they
can write a note that will be displayed for others to read. Meal
dana is a beautiful way to offer gratitude, to honor someone
special, to share well-wishes, or to commemorate a special
event.
Modeled after the Meal Dana board at Insight Meditation
Society, our new board displays two weeks of Meal Dana
opportunities and allows messages to stay on the board for
the duration of the retreat. We are excited to be able to share
and savor your loving words of metta, a celebratory message,
or a note of remembrance. We welcome your feedback and
comments!
As requested by members of the Spirit Rock community, we
have also added Meal Dana to our online giving options. This
provides an opportunity to offer Meal Dana in honor of a
retreat that you have previously attended, in appreciation of
someone you know on retreat, or to acknowledge a favorite
teacher. If you would like to make a Meal Dana offering online,
please visit spiritrock.org/giving/mealdana.
“
When we penetrate the surface of our beliefs,
we begin to realize that the self is not a fixed,
unchanging entity, but rather a series of
conditioned, ever-changing processes.”
– EUGENE CASH & PAMELA WEISS, 'STUDYING THE SELF'
8
Practice Page: Please Identify Yourself
BY WES NISKER, SPIRIT ROCK TEACHERS COUNCIL
Recently I heard someone on the radio
explaining the new crime of 'identity theft.'
and I immediately thought, "Yes! Rob me,
please! Take my identity and leave the cash!”
I can regard my entire Dharma path as a
matter of shifting identities, and it all started
with me trying to run away from myself—the
sentimental, histrionic drama of me-ness.
The Buddha says that the false conceit of 'I’ or `self’ is the bane
of our existence, and I was indeed relieved when I began to see
through the various membranes of personal identity. But what
really surprised and delighted me is what I saw on the other
side. It turns out I am not who I thought I was - I’m much, much
more than that.
For the most part, we each live
in our own story, and it’s pretty
much the only one we tell,
as though we have a scratch
in our mental record and
the same lines get repeated,
over and over again - about
my finances, my friends, my
family, my stuff.
It’s too bad, because while
each of us is lost in our private
drama, we don’t notice that
we are taking part in grand epics and heroic, noble projects. For
instance, even while reading e-mail or shopping for socks, we
continue to operate as breathing cells in the great body of life
on earth, part of a fascinating, multi-billion year experiment in
biology and consciousness. Whether we know it or not, we are
always playing a role in the story of evolution, and to recognize
ourselves in that role can be a skillful means on the path of selfliberation.
Of course, in your own story you are always the star but in the
big story of life on earth, you are just a bit player. In fact, an
itty-bitty bit player, just a walk-on part. But that is the point.
'You' can disappear into this grand perspective, like walking into
a Chinese landscape painting and getting swallowed up by the
deep gorges of bamboo forest and eternal sky. You can move
out of the personal into increasingly large circles of inclusion
and identity until finally you can point in any direction and say,
along with the great Indian mystics, “Tat tvam asi" — “I am
that.”
When I see myself in an epic story such as evolution, I find relief
from my personal drama. The Buddha explained the effect to
his son Rahula, noting that if you take a teaspoon of salt and
place it in a glass of water it will make the water taste salty. But
if you put the same teaspoon of salt in the Ganges river it won’t
affect the water’s taste. Likewise, your personal drama can be
dissolved in the seven seas of life and the great ocean of spacetime.
Strange to say so, but one of the best things I learned in
meditation is that I’m alive. I had rarely noticed it, but through
increasing awareness of body and breath I began to pay
attention to this mysterious condition. Now my identity
includes the fact that I am one of the living! I am a live one!
You too are a member of the sangha of the
living. Welcome. Glad you could make it. Life on
earth is now appearing as (your name here).
The path of meditation reminds us that we
are alive by leading us from our heads into our
bodies. We come down from the story of our life
to the fact of our life. My teacher S. N. Goenka
told me to sweep my body with awareness,
and slowly but surely I became familiar with
my nose and my toes, and what the poet Mary
Oliver calls the world of “lime and appetite, the
oceanic fluids.” This bag of bones and seawater
came alive and started to take over from my
ego as the foundation of my identity. You might say, I was "born
again,” as an animal. I had joined a grand and venerable sangha.
When I witness myself in the story of evolution, I feel a surge
of compassion for the struggles of all life. Let’s face it, the basic
rules on this planet are nasty and brutish. But the phrase, “May
all beings be happy” has a deeper ring to it when I regard myself
as in the same world as those who dress in feathers, fur, scales,
leaves and bark.
Now when I sit in meditation I can feel my aliveness, my
mammalian condition, my species self. I also sense my practice
as part of a group effort by human beings to awaken to a new
kind of freedom and sanity. Meditation has been called an
“evolutionary sport.” In the light of that big perspective, I thank
you for being on my team, part of this exciting project, helping
us all to realize our precious, collective, human potential.
Adapted from an article that first appeared in Inquiring Mind,
and was later published in Wes's book Crazy Wisdom Saves the
World Again!
9
Volunteer Profile: George McNeil
BY GEORGE MCNEIL
I found out about Spirit Rock when a friend
invited me to the Monday evening sangha
almost five years ago. Jack Kornfield was
speaking that night. He talked about
"the wisdom of uncertainty.” During the
question and answer period, I asked him to
explain what he meant. He asked me why
I wanted to know. I was unprepared for that response, but I
told my truth. I said that my wife had recently passed and I
was unsure what to do, where and how to live without her.
My life was upside down.
The Beauty and Benefits of our
Stewardship Circle
This Spirit Rock community is beautiful in its
generosity. Every month members of our Stewardship
Circle contribute dana to the Fund for Spirit Rock
to ensure our residential, daylong and scholarship
programs flourish. We host retreats, classes and events
that serve 40,000 people every year—and it wouldn’t
be possible without the goodwill and generosity of our
supporters.
In appreciation of this generosity, starting in January
2014, we would like to offer our Stewardship Circle
members access to all live video streaming at Spirit
Rock. We have been producing a live video webcast
monthly which has been very successful in providing
easy access to the Dharma in your home or workplace.
In addition, we will create unique, bi-monthly video
and audio teachings and send this to our Stewardship
Circle members.
If you’d like to become a member of our Stewardship
Circle, please call Sarah Pritchard at (415) 488-0164
x287 or visit our website at spiritrock.org/giving/
stewardship-circle.
Jack spoke with compassion of the uncertainty of our
existence and how embracing that uncertainty can enrich our
lives. At the end of the evening, many people approached me
to offer their sympathy and blessings. I felt nothing but their
love that night.
I decided to volunteer because I liked the people and the
message and I wanted to become more of a part of it. By
volunteering I felt committed to being there on Monday
evenings whenever possible. Through volunteering I have
learned that giving in service is an act of love. Volunteering
has added wonderful friends, and perhaps a little wisdom, to
my life.
Spirit Rock offers many volunteer opportunities. Volunteers
support all of our non-residential programs as well as our
administrative team, kitchen, facilities and land departments.
To learn more, check out the volunteer section of our website
or contact our Volunteer & Community Coordinator at
[email protected] or (415) 488-0164 x224.
“
The more I rest in present awareness, and
don't separate myself out from life, the
more I appreciate the impact that I have
on others. Only when I am present am I
sensitive to my connection to the world, am
I able to feel how important it is to be nonharming in my words and actions. When I
am lost in thought, I lose that simplicity and
sensitivity.”– HOWARD COHN
10
Loving the Earth Inside and Out:
Our Community Moves into Action
BY KERRY NELSON, RETREAT MANAGER, SPIRIT ROCK GREEN TEAM
“If anything can make a difference it’s
all of us coming together to inspire and
motivate each other to get in touch
with our caring and our concern for
the planet.” - James Baraz,
Earth Day 2013
It’s Monday night at Spirit Rock, and
Mark Coleman is trying something
new. He fiddles with his laptop and
on the big screen beside him images
flow: at first it’s beautiful mountain
vistas, then horrifying Canadian tar sands, rivers of oil and waste.
What’s new is Mark is talking about climate change, just as
teachers Donald Rothberg, Julie Wester and Dana De Palma
did throughout the first week in October in the same hall. With
the launch of Earth Care Week, an initiative of the June 2013
International Vipassana Teacher meeting, Buddhist teachers all
over the country, and around the world, engaged their sanghas in
one of the most difficult conversations of our times.
Engaging the climate crisis can be challenging, especially in
spaces we turn to for refuge and inner work. But this year is
exciting as our community does collectively what we each do on
the cushion: bringing mindful, compassionate attention, patience,
and energy to what is present. In 2013 this collective practice
manifested as:
• Earth Day 2013;
• 2000 signatures from our sanghas calling on teachers to take
action and lead on climate;
• Teachers taking action and leading on climate through Earth
Care Week, petitions, articles, and advocacy;
• Spirit Rock staff implementing and advocating for sustainable
practices, grasslands restoration, and socially and
ecologically responsible investing.
At our Earth Day 2013 event, one presenter after another
emphasized our need to engage this crisis from a grounding in
our love of life and the planet. As Paul Hawken put it, “Rather
than seeing every new child born as a burden to the planet,
see every child as a gift! That’s a world that can address these
issues.”
Join Paul Hawken, Jack Kornfield, James Baraz and other teachers
for Earth Day 2014: Loving the Earth: Awareness, Action and
Celebration (see page 34 for more information).
teachings, and I didn’t have it growing up. I had a
family with a lot of conflict. My father was quite
violent and was quite difficult. Then I went and had
a good Ivy League education. But they didn’t talk
about social and emotional intelligence, how you
guide your life, where values are, what you do about
forgiveness, how do you get along with other people.
I learned philosophy, mathematics, and history but it
was half of an education. And I got it when I went to
learn Dharma practice.
And now through the work of Jon Kabat-Zinn
and Dan Goleman and various other translators
there are thousands of school systems that are
doing social and emotional learning based on
the principles of mindfulness and compassion. I
went to this wonderful conference in Berkeley that
Charlie Halpern, a professor in the law school, had
organized for judges, law professors, and lawyers on
mindfulness. They were doing all kinds of amazing
things. A judge read this passage called “Instructions
to the Jury.” It went something like this: "This is
an important and great service that you do to the
individual and to our society to be a member of
the jury. In order to help you to do this properly, it
would help if you sit in a dignified posture and quiet
yourself and learn to listen without making opinions
or judgments. To help you do this, you might feel
your breath coming in and out. And keep the sense
of a beginner’s mind, of mindfulness, so that you’re
actually present to hear all the different sides of the
argument. When the time comes to make a decision,
you’ll know to do that but not before."
Whether it’s the school system or a law school
or Wisdom 2.0, or Google or Facebook - people
want to use those platforms for compassion and
for mindfulness. I feel tremendously hopeful. We’re
at this turning point where it’s so clear that no
amount of outward development of computers,
nanotechnology and biotech is going to stop
continuing warfare and racism and environmental
destruction. The outer development now calls on
us to have an equally wise inner development. And
whether you call it Dharma or something else, this is
really what we’re a part of and I see it as evolutionary
and I just love to be part of its blossoming.
Michelle: Thank you. It’s a lovely note to end on. On
behalf of all of us here, we want to thank you deeply
for your time here today. Your wisdom offered, and
your many years and many efforts. To all the people
in this room and cascading beyond, we thank you so
much.
11
Preview: Online Learning at Spirit Rock
Starting in 2014 we will begin offering more Insight
Meditation offerings as online classes that you can
access from anywhere in the world. For example, you
can expect to see our beloved Sylvia Boorstein lead
us through a day in her life at home and guide us in
making our own daily life a practice.
We also have curriculum in the works for dedicated
students to go deeper with their practice, and for all
practitioners to integrate retreat experience back into
daily life with post-retreat online offerings.
Gratitude Corner
Because of the space offered to me, I have been able to
witness the unraveling of the greed, hatred and delusion
that cuts so deeply into my being, helping me be of more
service to myself and others.
- Scholarship Recipient
Thank you for sharing the gift of the Dharma, and
helping others heal from loss, connect with a deeper
truth and recharge! Your support is so deeply
appreciated, and makes a lasting, positive change in
the world.
See page 12 for upcoming classes or visit our website
at www.spiritrock.org.
“
All spiritual practice involves change, or
a wish for change: to go from a state of
suffering to a state without suffering, to go
from agitation to calm, to go from a closed
heart to an open, compassionate heart. ”
–GIL FRONSDAL
Mindfulness Yoga & Meditation Training
Take your yoga practice off the mat and into your life:
• Integrate Buddhist mindfulness practice with yoga Early-B
Decembird:
er 1
Final De
adline:
April 15
• Study with nationally renowned teachers of mindfulness and yoga
• Earn 500-hour Yoga Alliance certification*
Coming in the Fall of 2014, this intensive 12-month training consists of three silent
residential retreats and an ongoing curriculum of study, practice and teleconferences.
The training is designed for yoga teachers, however, experienced yoga practitioners who
are not teachers may be admitted at the discretion of the directors.
*To learn more:
"The single most transformational experience I have had as a yoga teacher and meditation student."
- Robin Boudette, PhD - graduate of MYMT
spiritrock.org/MYMT
(415) 488-0164, x233
Directed by Anne Cushman & Will Kabat-Zinn
Vipassana Teachers: Phillip Moffitt, Spring Washam and Pascal Auclair
Yoga Teachers: Janice Gates, Chip Hartranft, Jill Satterfield and Leslie Booker
12
Upcoming Highlights
BENEFIT EVENT
Divine Eros: A Morning Dialogue and Afternoon
of Experiential Practice
Sunday, January 5, 10 am - 5 pm, Upper Retreat Hall
A.H. ALMAAS (HAMEED), KAREN JOHNSON
Learn more about Divine Eros and how the recognition of
this energy and presence in our experience impacts our
relationships of all kinds. (See page 16 for full description.)
LIVE VIDEO STREAM EVENTS*
Brainstorm: Discovering the Hidden Power
& Purpose of the Adolescent Mind • Dan Siegel
Saturday, January 25 (See page 21)
Real Happiness at Work • Sharon Salzberg
Saturday, February 1 (See page 23 )
Cultivating Wise Speech:
Becoming More Skillful in Your Speech Practice
Sunday, February 23, 9:30 am - 5 pm
DONALD ROTHBERG
Connecting our meditation practice with our speech and
communication is one of the main ways to bring spiritual
values into our everyday lives and our action in the world,
and can help enliven and energize our practice. (See page 26 for full
description.)
Mindful Eating, Mindful Body:
The Practice and Science of Mindful Eating
Sunday, March 16, 9:30 am - 5 pm
ANDREA LIEBERSTEIN, ELISSA EPEL,
VENERABLE JAMPA SANGMO
When we eat mindfully we involve all the senses by engaging
our mind and our body in a particular, kind way. Join us for
an experiential daylong retreat focused on cultivating mindful awareness,
and on nourishing the body and mind through an immersion in mindful
eating practices, mindfulness meditation, walking, and gentle yoga.
(See page 29 for full description.)
Awakening the Buddha Within:
The Six Kinds of Mindfulness • Lama Surya Das
Sunday, February 16 (See page 25)
Equanimity - In the Dharma and In Your Brain
Rick Hanson
Sunday, March 30 (See page 30)
Insight Meditation Daylong • Jack Kornfield
Sunday, April 6 (See page 31)
Machig Labdrön and the Nature of Mind
Lama Tsultrim Allione
Saturday, April 12 (See page 32)
Care Providers Daylong: A Day of Renewal,
Recognition and Rejuvenation • Phillip Moffitt
Saturday, April 26 (See page 34)
*A video link to the recorded webcast will be available for 90 days.
Maranasati: Mindfulness of Death
Saturday, March 29, 9:30 am - 4:30 pm
ONLINE CLASSES
EUGENE CASH
Maranasati is a highly valued contemplation and practice in
Buddhism. The Buddha described Mindfulness of Death as
'supreme' of all the mindfulness practices. He encouraged
Maranasati to cultivate equanimity, bring insight into impermanence,
awaken freedom from unconsciousness, appreciate the preciousness of
human birth, and as a preparation for our own death. (See page 30 for
full description.)
E-Sangha: Introduction to Insight Meditation
(Dana – by Donation)
5 Tuesdays, January 21 - February 18
(recorded in January 2013)
SALLY ARMSTRONG (See page 20 for full description.)
Essential Buddhist Teachings, Part 2*
Women in Meditation Retreat: Gratitude and Farewell
Friday, April 25 - Friday, May 2 (7 nights)
CHRISTINA FELDMAN, NARAYAN LIEBENSON GRADY,
MARY PAFFARD (YOGA)
In the classical context of silence and sustained Insight
Meditation practice we will explore the Four Foundations
of Mindfulness. In this space, a powerful sense of community is created
that supports our capacity for deepening wisdom and compassion.
10 Weekly Classes, January 23 - April 3
MARK COLEMAN (See page 20 for full description.)
Compassion Training*
8 Weekly Classes, February 1 - March 21
Essential Buddhist Teachings, Part 3*
10 Weekly Classes, May 1 - July 3
*Also available on-site. See class descriptions.
13
Residential Retreats At-a-Glance
Applications are available on the Spirit Rock website. Each retreat is different. Please download the forms or register online, when available,
for the specific retreat you plan to attend. If you do not have access to the website, please call (415) 488-0164, or e-mail [email protected].
(UWH = Upper Walking Hall)
Please note that in April 2014 we will begin construction on the lower campus for our permanent Community Meditation Hall. The upper retreat
hall will not be directly affected by the construction. While some ambient noise may travel, it will not be continuous. Conditions for meditation
practice are rarely perfect and environmental sound is just another subject for mindful attention. Teachers will give guidance on how to use any
construction sounds you might hear as a basis for your practice.
RETREAT
TEACHERS
OPEN DATE
7 – 12
Essential Dharma Meditation Retreat
Howard Cohn, Spring Washam, Ashley Sharp (yoga)
Open
13 – 20
January Metta Retreat
Donald Rothberg, Larry Yang, Heather Sundberg,
Konda Mason (yoga)
Open
25 – 30
Reclaiming the Wisdom of the Mother of All
Buddhas: A Women’s Retreat
Joanna Macy, Debra Chamberlin-Taylor, Julie Wester,
Anna Douglas
Open
1 – Mar 1
February Insight Meditation 1-Month Retreat
Guy Armstrong, Carol Wilson, James Baraz, Andrea Fella,
Greg Scharf, Martha Link (yoga)
FULL
1 – Mar 28
2-Month Insight Meditation Retreat
(See 1-Month Retreat Listings for Teachers)
FULL
March Insight Meditation 1-Month Retreat
Gil Fronsdal, Mary Grace Orr, John Travis, Sharda Rogell,
Phillip Moffitt, Heather Martin, Teja Bell (qigong)
FULL
3–6
Insight Meditation for the Curious
Mark Coleman, Diana Winston, Erin Selover (yoga)
12/3
7 – 16
Through Dhamma Eyes: Training in
Awareness and Wisdom
Steve Armstrong, Carol Wilson, Franz Moeckl (qigong)
12/10
17 – 23
Awakening in Service and Action: A Study
Retreat on Socially Engaged Buddhism
Donald Rothberg, David Loy
12/17
17 – 23
Loving Awareness: Metta & Qigong Retreat
Spring Washam, Tempel Smith, Teja Bell (qigong)
12/17
25 – May 2
Women in Meditation: Gratitude and
Farewell
Christina Feldman, Narayan Helen Liebenson,
Mary Paffard (yoga)
12/29
2 – 11
Spring Insight Meditation Retreat
(Yucca Valley)
Jack Kornfield, Trudy Goodman, Howard Cohn, Winnie Nazarko,
Wes Nisker, JoAnna Harper, Noah Levine, Franz Moeckl (qigong)
1/6
3– 9
Awakening in the Body Retreat
Phillip Moffitt, Debra Chamberlin-Taylor, Pascal Auclair,
Spring Washam, Marcy Reynolds (qigong)
1/6
10 – 15
Listening to Natural Law - Monastic Retreat
with the Aloka Vihara Nuns
Ayya Anandabodhi, Ayya Santacitta
1/14
16 – 18
An Open, Spacious Awareness for an Open,
Spacious Life
Larry Yang, Spring Washam
1/14
19 – 26
Essential Teachings of the Path of
Awakening
Mark Coleman, Spring Washam, Howard Cohn 1/21
28 - Jun 1
Living With Presence (a Retreat for
LGBTQI-SGL Communities)
Anushka Fernandopulle, Larry Yang, Maddy Klyne
1/28
2–8
Aging as Spiritual Opportunity (a retreat for
those 55 and over)
Anna Douglas, Eugene Cash, Grove Burnett
2/4
9 - 14
Awakening Joy Retreat
James Baraz, Debra Chamberlin-Taylor,
Evelyn Larsen (movement)
2/10
JANUARY
FEBRUARY
MARCH
1 – 28
APRIL
MAY
JUNE
14
Schedule of Events
January - February - March - April 2014
Please consult the Spirit Rock website at spiritrock.org for a full listing of
classes, retreats and events. All classes and daylongs are held in the
Community Meditation Hall, unless otherwise noted.
Daylong, Class Series, Benefit and Special Event Registration
Online registration using a credit card is available at spiritrock.org. For registrations
by mail, send your check to Spirit Rock, PO Box 169, Woodacre, CA 94973.
Include your daytime phone number, e-mail address and write the event code
on the outside of the envelope and on your check. For registration by phone, call
(415) 488-0164 x266, Monday – Friday. See page 17 for more information on
daylong event fees, volunteer opportunities and reduced rates.
Paths for Awakening
Cancellations for Daylongs, Class Series, Benefits and Special Events
The Practice and Study of
Insight Meditation at Spirit Rock
Call (415) 488-0164 x266 or e-mail [email protected] to cancel. You
can request a credit two business days before an event; we will credit your
registration fee towards another non-residential event. If you don’t contact us
prior to this deadline, no credit will be issued. All credits must be used within one
year of their date of issue. In order to use a credit, please call our events registrar
at x266. Credits are not transferable to residential retreats.
At Spirit Rock, our mission is to offer a
direct experience of the Buddha’s path of
liberation through a variety of retreats,
practices, teachings and trainings. We have
divided suggested areas of practice into
four levels, which are listed below, from
beginning stages to more advanced stages.
Visit our website under Programs/Paths
for Awakening for more information and
suggested readings for each level.
In the Schedule of Events, starting on page
16, look for the color-coded symbols on
many of the events as a guide.
Beginning Insight Meditation
Introduction to Buddhism
Exploring the Buddhist Path
Deepening Practices and Wisdom
For regular dharma teachings,
plus Spirit Rock-related photos and
updates, we encourage you to join us
on Facebook (facebook.com/spiritrock),
Twitter (@Spirit_Rock), and
Google+ (plus.google.com/+spiritrock).
Registration for Residential Retreats
Please note that retreats open for registration four months before the start
date (five months if a lottery). Check our website for the open date and register
online. You may also download application forms to submit via fax or mail.
Cancellations for Residential Retreats
There is a $75 cancellation fee if you cancel eight weeks or more before the
retreat. The fee is $150 if you cancel 4-8 weeks before the retreat. The fee is
$200 if you cancel 1-4 weeks before the retreat. If you cancel one week before
the retreat, the fee is $250. Specific cancellation dates and cancellation fees are
on the registration form.
Financial Assistance for Residential Retreats
Financial aid is available for residential retreats through our scholarship funds.
All residential retreats have a limited number of Young Adult (age 18-26) special
rate beds available for $25 per night on a first-come, first-served basis. Work
exchange opportunities are also available in the kitchen or with housekeeping.
For retreat scholarship information call (415) 488-0164 x233.
Carpooling to Spirit Rock
To offer or ask for a ride to any event, class or retreat at Spirit Rock, there is an
online bulletin board. The ride-share bulletin board can be found at
spiritrock.org/carpooling.
15
Weekly Classes at Spirit Rock
MONDAY NIGHT CLASS 7:15 - 9:15 pm
JACK KORNFIELD, MARK COLEMAN AND OTHERS
Monday night serves as an introduction to the practices of awareness
and compassion that are the heart of our community. This gathering
also offers support and ongoing teachings to committed students. For
more details and a schedule of teachers visit our website. For cars with
less than 3 people there is a $10 non-carpooling fee.
Cost of class $8-$10 sliding scale, plus a donation to the teacher. A vegetarian
dinner is occasionally served from 6 - 6:45 pm. Cost for dinner is $10-$15 sliding
scale, children $4-$5. Visit our website for dates when dinner will be served.
WEDNESDAY MORNING MEDITATION CLASS 9 - 11 am
SYLVIA BOORSTEIN, DONALD ROTHBERG AND OTHERS
Sitting and practice-oriented discussion, suitable for beginners
as well as engaged practitioners.
Cost $8-$10 sliding scale, plus a donation to the teacher.
THURSDAY MORNING WOMEN’S CLASS 10 am - 12 noon
JULIE WESTER, ANNE CUSHMAN AND OTHERS
In the sacred circle of women we honor our innate wisdom through
silent and guided sitting and movement meditation and group
exploration in a safe, nurturing environment. An intimate drop-in class,
open to all women!
FRIDAY MORNING MEDITATION AND YOGA 10 am - 12:15 pm
DANA DEPALMA WITH YOGA TEACHER ASHLEY SHARP AND OTHERS
Each class begins with an hour of mindful yoga (suitable for all levels)
followed by a guided meditation, and concludes with a dharma talk,
inquiry and discussion. Based on core Buddhist teachings, all classes
are an invitation to find greater ease, well-being and joy in life.
Cost $8-$10 sliding scale, plus a donation to the teachers.
Monthly Class
DHARMA AND RECOVERY GROUP (2 nd Friday) 7:30 - 9:30 pm
KEVIN GRIFFIN AND OTHERS
This group meets on the second Friday of each month to explore the
intersection of recovery with Buddhist teaching and practices. Held on
an ongoing basis, we welcome people who identify with any of the full
range of addictions, from substances, to behaviors, to habitual thought
and emotional patterns.
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED
Volunteers are needed for weekly & monthly classes.
For more information check the volunteer section of our website, or contact
[email protected] or (415) 488-0164 x224
Ongoing Classes with Spirit Rock Teachers
Berkeley – James Baraz
Thursdays, 7:30-9:30 pm
Berkeley Buddhist Monastery, 2304 McKinley Ave
near Bancroft and Berkeley High School
www.insightberkeley.org/aboutus
Berkeley – Will Kabat-Zinn
Sundays, 7-9 pm
Ashtanga Yoga Berkeley, 933 Parker St #38, Bay 5
www.ashtangayogaberkeley.com
Berkeley – Wes Nisker
Wednesdays, 7:30-9 pm
Yoga Kula Berkeley, 1700 Shattuck Ave
www.yogakula.com
Marin Sunday Sangha – Phillip Moffitt
Sundays, 6-8 pm. St. Luke Presbyterian Church
10 Bayview Dr., San Rafael
www.dharmawisdom.org
[email protected] or (415) 435-3141
Oakland - Larry Yang (Alphabet Sangha of Oakland)
Tuesdays, 7-8:30 pm
East Bay Meditation Center, 285 17th St
For LGBTIQ-SGL (Alphabet) communities
http://eastbaymeditation.org/alphabet
[email protected]
Redwood City - Gil Fronsdal, Andrea Fella
Insight Meditation Center, 108 Birch (at Hopkins)
www.insightmeditationcenter.org
[email protected] or
(650) 599-3456
San Francisco – Anushka Fernandopulle
Mondays, 7-9pm, CIIS, 1453 Mission St, Rm 607
www.anushkaf.org
San Francisco – Ayya Anandabodhi
Fridays 7:30-10 pm
Aloka Vihara, 1632 48th Ave (btw Lawton & Moraga)
www.saranaloka.org
San Francisco – Eugene Cash
Sundays 7-9 pm
First Unitarian Church, 1187 Franklin St (at Geary)
www.sfinsight.org or (415) 994-5951
San Francisco – Howard Cohn
Tuesdays 7-9 pm
St. John’s Episcopal Church, 1661 15th St, at Julian
(between Valencia and Mission)
(415) 861-1436
Palm Springs, CA – Larry Yang
www.desertinsight.org
Sierra Foothills – John Travis
www.mtstream.org
Todos Santos, Baja, Mexico – Robert Hall
www.eldharma.com
16
January
Setting Intentions for the New Year
Wednesday, January 1, 10 am - 4 pm
SYLVIA BOORSTEIN
In keeping with the spirit of resolutions for the new year, this class/
retreat day will be an overview of the Buddha's path to liberation—
ethical training, mental discipline, and understanding of wisdom—
suitable for both beginners and long term practitioners—with the
goal of inspiring renewed zeal and dedication to practice. We will
share our personal intentions for the new year and have ample time
for review of instructions and practice of meditation. The emphasis
in the teaching for the day will be the inherent connection of the
practice of ethics to the deepening of wisdom. Much of the day will
be in silence, reviewing and practicing techniques to strengthen
concentration and clarify mindfulness. Bring your lunch and your
journal (or notepad) to record your resolves.
Cost $40 - $108 sliding scale, plus a donation to the teacher. If paying at the
door, add $5. Please bring your lunch. Code SB1D14.
Introduction to Insight Meditation
Saturday, January 4, 9:30 am - 4:30 pm
HOWARD COHN
In this traditional Insight Meditation (vipassana) daylong, the
emphasis is on deepening into the silence that allows for the
awakening of the heart. There will be systematic instructions in both
sitting and walking meditation, as well as time for discussion and
dharma talks.
This daylong is especially good for beginning meditators and for
those wanting a refresher in traditional instruction.
Young Adults (18 - 26) and Seniors (65+ with limited and fixed
income) are invited to attend this day for $25.
Cost $55 - $150 sliding scale, plus a donation to the teacher. If paying at the door,
add $5. Please bring your lunch. Code HC1D14.
“
If the point of practice is to see in this
moment, as in every moment, the truth of
arising and passing away, the truth of eternal
change, I need to be here, now, to see it."
BENEFIT EVENT
Divine Eros: A Morning Dialogue and
Afternoon of Experiential Practice
Sunday, January 5, 10 am - 5 pm
Upper Retreat Hall
A.H. ALMAAS (HAMEED), KAREN JOHNSON
This event is a benefit for Ridhwan School and Spirit Rock
Scholarship Fund.
The morning will have two segments: a book talk by Karen
Johnson and Hameed Ali (A.H. Almaas), on a topic from
their new book, The Power of Divine Eros. This is a talk and
dialogue about how love and Eros become one and how
such unity, Divine Eros, can help our relationships and
spiritual practice. The talk will be followed by a book signing
reception.
The afternoon will be a workshop led by Karen and Hameed,
on the topic of Divine Eros. It will be an experiential
presentation—to get a taste of what Divine Eros is, and how
the recognition of this energy and presence in our experience
impacts our relationships of all kinds. With understanding,
the presence of this energy becomes a powerful force
supporting our practice of realization.
Full-Day Cost $200 - $90 sliding scale. If paying at the door, add $5.
Please bring your lunch. Code HA1B14.
Morning-only Cost (10 am - 12 pm) $35 - $15 sliding scale.
Code HA2E14.
A.H. Almaas (Hameed Ali) was born in Kuwait and moved to the
U.S. on scholarship to attend the University of California at Berkeley
where he studied math and physics. He reached a turning point in his
life that led him to inquire deeper into the psychological and spiritual
aspects of human nature. He eventually pursued a Ph.D. in psychology
specializing in Reichian Therapy and developed a unique spiritual and
psychological theory and practice known as the Diamond Approach®.
Hameed has written many books, including Inner Journey Home: The
Soul's Realization of the Unity of Reality and The Pearl Beyond Price:
Integration of Personality into Being, an Object Relations Approach.
His latest book is Inexhaustible Mystery (Diamond Heart: Book Five).
Karen Johnson is a longtime colleague of A. H. Almaas, with whom he
cofounded the Diamond Approach®. They have been teaching together
for many years. Karen Johnson was educated as an artist and then
received an MA in psychology.
– SYLVIA BOORSTEIN, Don’t Just Do Something, Sit There
For complete teacher biographies, please visit spiritrock.org
To carpool visit our online ride-sharing bulletin board at spiritrock.org/forum.
In consideration of others, please do not wear any scented products to Spirit Rock, including natural or essential oils.
17
RESIDENTIAL RETREAT
Essential Dharma Meditation Retreat
Tuesday, January 7 - Sunday, January 12 (5 nights)
HOWARD COHN, SPRING WASHAM, ASHLEY SHARP (YOGA)
This is a silent retreat designed especially for those relatively new to
the practices of Insight Meditation (vipassana). The retreat includes
systematic instructions in vipassana meditation—both sitting and
walking—as well as loving-kindness practice, meetings with teachers,
and evening talks highlighting the central teachings of the Buddha
and their practical application to our lives.
Cost $1000 - $500, sliding scale, plus a donation to the teachers and retreat
staff. Code 328R14.
Fees/Scholarships/Reduced Rates/Volunteering
Daylongs, Classes, Events & Benefits (Non-Residential)
Preregistration closes at noon each Friday for weekend events.
For class series and other non-weekend events, preregistration
closes at 1 pm one business day before the event. In order to
receive the preregistration price, you must pay in full at the time
you preregister.
The “At the Door” price is an additional $5 to the preregistration
price for all daylongs, Special Events and Benefits. It does not apply
to class series or drop-in classes.
Dana (donations)
Teachers are supported by the contributions collected at each
event. Please give generously to support their work.
MONTHLY CLASS
Dharma and Recovery Group
Friday, January 10, 7:30 - 9:30 pm
KEVIN GRIFFIN (OR OTHERS)
This group meets on the second Friday of each month to explore the
intersection of recovery with Buddhist teaching and practices. Held
on an ongoing basis, we welcome people who identify with any of the
full range of addictions—from substances, to behaviors, to habitual
thought and emotional patterns. Each gathering begins with a period
of guided meditation and new meditators are always welcome.
Includes discussion about meditation practice, and each month a
recovery/dharma theme will be discussed.
Kevin Griffin is the author of the seminal 2004 book One Breath at a Time:
Buddhism and the Twelve Steps and A Burning Desire: Dharma, God and the
Path of Recovery. He has been practicing Buddhist meditation for three decades
and has been in recovery since 1985. He’s been a meditation teacher for almost
fifteen years and trained at Spirit Rock Meditation Center.
Senior And Young Adult Rates
Young adults (18-26) and Seniors (65+ with limited and fixed
income) are invited to attend regular daylong events for $25
(excluding Benefits and Special Events) and class series for half
price (with occasional exceptions).
Scholarships
Spirit Rock’s intention is to make these teachings accessible to
everyone, thus fees for programs are kept as low as possible. For
those who cannot afford the fee, full and partial scholarships are
available for daylongs, half-days, and classes; partial scholarships
are available for Special Events. Scholarships are not available for
Benefits. To request a scholarship, contact (415) 488-0164 x224.
Volunteering
Volunteers earn credit towards attending events. Volunteers
also work on the day of a program in exchange for attending the
event or pay a reduced fee. To learn more, contact Volunteering@
spiritrock.org or (415) 488-0164 x224.
Residential Retreats
Dana (donations)
Teachers and retreat staff are supported by the dana contributions
collected at the end of each retreat. Please give generously to
support their work.
Young Adult Rates
For all residential retreats, we offer a limited number of Young
Adult special rate beds available for $25 per night, on a first-come,
first-served basis. We do not have a senior rate for residential
retreats; however, we strongly encourage you to apply for a
scholarship if you require financial assistance.
Scholarships & Work Exchange
See 'Financial Assistance for Residential Retreats' on page 14.
18
The Neurology of Awakening
Continuing Education (CE) Credits
These events meet the qualifications for continuing
education for MFTs and LCSWs as required by the CA Board
of Behavioral Sciences, provider #PCE1851. These events
also meet the qualifications for continuing education for
psychologists and nurses through the Spiritual Competency
Resource Center (SCRC). SCRC is approved by the American
Psychological Association to offer continuing education
for psychologists and SCRC maintains responsibility for
approving the program as being suitable for psychologist
CE credits. SCRC is a California Board of Registered Nursing
Provider (CEP11909). In order to qualify for CE credit, you
must arrive and sign in within 15 minutes of the start of the
event and stay until the end of the event.
Saturday, January 11, 9:30 am - 5 pm
RICK HANSON, RICHARD MENDIUS
The latest brain research has begun to confirm the central insights
of the Buddha and other great teachers. And it's suggesting ways
you can help your brain to enter deeper states of mindfulness,
concentration, love and happiness.
Suffering, joy and freedom all depend on what happens within your
nervous system. Skillful practice thus means being skillful with
your own brain. This experiential workshop will offer user-friendly
information with lots of practical methods. No background in
neuroscience or mindfulness is needed. We'll cover:
• The relationship between the mind and the brain;
• Strengthening neural factors of mindfulness;
1/11
The Neurology of Awakening
• The role of concentration in Buddhist practice;
1/18
Feeding Your Demons: Transforming Our Suffering into Compassion
• Practical advice from brain research for steadying and quieting
the mind and bringing it to singleness.
1/25
& Purpose of the Adolescent Mind*
1/26
The Power of Coincidence on the Spiritual Path
2/8
Anxiety and Mindfulness
2/9
The Power of Mindfulness
2/15
Heart Practices for Couples (couples only)
2/22
Concentration Meditation: Purification of Mind
2/23
Cultivating Wise Speech: Becoming More Skillful
in Your Speech Practice
3/8
A Heart as Wide as the World:
Cultivating the Heart of Love (Metta)
3/16
3/22
Loving the House That Ego Built
3/30
Equanimity - In the Dharma and In Your Brain*
4/26
Care Providers Daylong *
4/28
Loving-kindess: A Two-Day Non-Residential Retreat
Teachings are appropriate for individuals as well as health care
professionals. Continuing Education (CE) credit available.
Cost $55 - $150 sliding scale, plus a donation to the teachers. If paying at the
door, add $5. Please bring your lunch. Code RH1D14.
Fees for CE credits:
5-6 CE hours = $45
3-4 CE hours = $30
1-2 CE hours = $20
Rick Hanson, PhD, is a neuropsychologist and author of Hardwiring Happiness,
Buddha's Brain, Just One Thing, and Mother Nurture. Founder of the
Wellspring Institute for Neuroscience and Contemplative Wisdom, and an affiliate
of the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley, he's been an invited speaker at
Oxford, Stanford, and Harvard, and taught in meditation centers worldwide.
Rick Mendius, MD, is a neurologist in private practice in Marin County. He trained
at UCLA as an epileptologist under Jerome Engel and as a neurobehaviorist under
Frank Benson and Jeff Cummings. He has been on the teaching faculty of UCLA,
Oregon Health Sciences University, and Stanford University. His meditation
practice began in the 1980s with Shinzen Young and continues with Jack
Kornfield, Phillip Moffitt, Ajahn Amaro, and Ajahn Sumedho. He teaches a weekly
meditation class at San Quentin. His daughters, Courtney and Taryn, and his son,
Ian, are three of his main teachers and companions on the path.
“
Develop the mind of equilibrium. You will
always be getting praise and blame, but do not
let either affect the poise of the mind: follow
the calmness, the absence of pride."
– SUTTA NIPATA 702
*CE credits available for on-site class attendance only.
19
Every Moment is New:
A Day of Yoga and Meditation
Feeding Your Demons:
Transforming Our Suffering into Compassion
Sunday, January 12, 9:30 am – 5 pm
Saturday, January 18, 9:30 am - 5 pm
DANA DEPALMA, JANICE GATES (YOGA)
JAMES BARAZ, ERIN SELOVER
Join us for a day of inner nourishment and renewal. Through the
complementary practices of Hatha Yoga and Insight Meditation,
we will dive deep into body and breath, releasing the residue
of the past and opening to each moment anew. The day will
include alternating periods of yoga and meditation, dharma talks
and discussion, with time for silence as well as community and
connection.
Bring a friend for free!
All levels of practitioners welcome! Appropriate for both beginning
and experienced students of yoga and meditation.
Young Adults (18-26) and Seniors (65+ with limited income) are
invited to attend this day for $25.
door, add $5. Please bring your lunch. Code DD1D14.
Janice Gates has deep roots in both the yoga and Buddhist traditions, practicing
since 1988. She has been leading mindful yoga and meditation retreats for over
20 years and is on the faculty of the Mindfulness Yoga and Meditation Training
at Spirit Rock.
See page 38 for Dana DePalma’s bio.
Practice shows us that instead of avoiding our painful patterns,
healing comes from turning directly toward them with compassionate
awareness. The Tibetan practice of Chöd is a powerful technique that
supports this transformation in a radical way. Inspired by this ancient
practice, "Feeding Your Demons" is a five-step process created
by Lama Tsultrim Allione that allows one to offer compassion and
understanding to one's own inner demons, rather than engaging in
battle and struggle with them. The process is of great benefit when
working with addictions, physical and mental illnesses, fear, anger,
relationship challenges, and other dilemmas of modern life.
In this daylong we will explore the five-step demon-feeding process
in the context of silent sitting meditation practice. Please bring a
notepad and pencil to this event.
Young Adults (18-26) and Seniors (65+ with limited and fixed
income) are invited to attend this day for $25).
door, add $5. Please bring your lunch. Code JB1D14.
RESIDENTIAL RETREAT
January Metta Retreat
Monday, January 13 - Monday, January 20 (7 nights)
DONALD ROTHBERG, LARRY YANG, HEATHER SUNDBERG,
KONDA MASON (YOGA)
Metta, or loving-kindness, practice is the cultivation of the
intention of benevolence as the orientation of our heart and minds.
It is also a path to wisdom. We develop our capacity for metta
through meditation (practiced steadfastly on retreat) in order for
it to manifest in an ongoing way in our daily lives. In this retreat we
will learn the formal practice of metta along with its companion
practices of compassion, joy, and equanimity. All four of these
practices—known as the Brahmaviharas or Divine Abodes—
strengthen self-confidence, self-acceptance, and steadiness of
mind and heart, revealing our fundamental disposition toward
kindness.
Erin Selover is authorized by Lama Tsultrim to teach this transformative process.
She teaches mindfulness-based classes throughout the Bay Area in schools, mental
health settings and the private sector. She is a psychotherapist in private practice
in Oakland and is currently being trained in the Spirit Rock and Insight Meditation
Society Teacher Training Program.
See page 38 for James Baraz' bio.
We will be graced for this retreat by two teaching visits by Sylvia
Boorstein, who taught the January Metta Retreat from its inception
at Spirit Rock in 2001 through 2012.
Cost $1400 - $700, sliding scale, plus a donation to teachers and retreat staff.
Code 330R14.
20
CLASS SERIES
Family Practice Day
Essential Buddhist Teachings, Part 2
Sunday, January 19, 10:30 am - 3 pm
DANA DEPALMA, BETSY ROSE, MURIEL JOHNSON
(See Family & Teen Programs on page 36 for more information.)
10 Tuesdays, January 21 - April 1, 7 - 9 pm
(Skips March 25)
Online Class Also Available
MARK COLEMAN
YOUTH CLASS SERIES
Winter Teen Meditation Series
(all teens in high school and college are welcome)
5 Sundays, January 19 - February 16, 6 - 8:30 pm
plus Saturday, February 22, 6 - 11 pm
ENRIQUE COLLAZO, KATE JANKE
ONLINE CLASS SERIES
E-Sangha: Introduction to Insight Meditation
(Dana – by Donation)
Tuesdays, January 21 - February 18
(recorded in January 2013)
SALLY ARMSTRONG
This class is only available online using video and audio recordings.
Weekly homework and handouts will be posted on Spirit Rock’s class
website.
Insight Meditation (known as vipassana in the Buddhist tradition)
is a simple technique which has been practiced in Asia for over
2,500 years. Beginning with the focusing of attention on the breath,
the practice concentrates and calms the mind. It allows one to
see through the mind's conditioning and thereby to live more fully
present in the moment.
This series of five video classes will introduce the practice of
Insight Meditation, and give an overview of the Buddha's teachings
on themes such as working with mind, developing wisdom and
deepening compassion. There will be guided and silent meditations.
Instructions are gradually expanded each week and practiced during
the week at home. Each week, there will also be readings, practices
and reflections to support the teachings. These will be posted on the
class website.
You can take the class on your own or work with a senior student who
has volunteered to be a “practice guide” for the class. Practice guides
will be available for weekly mentoring sessions of 20-30 minutes
during the class series, either by phone, video call or email. A practice
guide is not required to take this class. Please see the website for
more information.
Cost: This class is offered on a dana (donation) basis from $0 - $75, sliding scale.
Please pay at the level you can afford. Typically, our “in person” 5-week class
series fee is $50, with Young Adults and Seniors offered the option of $25. Code
SC1N14.
This class series is the second part of a series of three 10-week
courses. You can join the 10-week course at the start of any of the
three sessions and take the other sessions in following years. The
course may be taken in person or online and covers: The Eightfold
Noble Path (Wise: understanding; intention; ethics; livelihood;
speech; effort; mindfulness and concentration) and Compassion
Practice.
Essential Buddhist Teachings offer an in-depth understanding of
core Buddhist teachings and meditation practices. These teachings
are instrumental to the journey of awakening as taught within
the Insight Meditation tradition. This course is useful for newer
students who would like to receive an overview of the Buddha's
teachings and learn key Buddhist practices and meditations. It is
also beneficial for people with meditation experience to refresh
their knowledge. Emphasis will be on cultivation of mindful
awareness and learning to apply and live these wisdom practices in
our lives.
In each class, there will be a guided period of Insight (mindfulness)
Meditation, a dharma talk, time for discussion and questions,
and occasionally interactive inquiry in pairs. There are readings,
reflections and meditation assignments between classes.
You will enjoy the support from a sense of community that builds
over time with people who share an ongoing commitment to
practice. Participants in the live class will have access to the class
videos and homework online in order to make up missed classes.
This course is also available online via video and audio recordings
of the class. In addition, there will be a 30-minute weekly
teleconference for questions about meditation practice and
teachings.
income) are invited to attend this class series for $100.
Scholarships and partial work exchange are available for this class.
To discuss scholarship options, contact the Volunteer Coordinator
at (415) 488-0164 x224.
Cost $200 for the 10-week session. (Fee only —no teacher donation will be
requested). Registration for this class series will close on Tuesday, February
4th. Code YR2C14.
Online Cost $100 for the 10-week session. Code YR2N14.
Cancellation Policy for in-person class: please see website.
21
YOUTH CLASS SERIES
Winter Middle School Meditation Series
(all middle school students are welcome)
5 Thursdays, January 23 - February 20, 6 - 8 pm
ADAM BARAZ, KRISSA LEBACQZ
RESIDENTIAL RETREAT
Reclaiming the Wisdom of the Mother
of All Buddhas: A Women's Retreat
Saturday, January 25 - Thursday, January 30 (5 nights)
JOANNA MACY, DEBRA CHAMBERLIN-TAYLOR, JULIE WESTER,
ANNA DOUGLAS
At this retreat we will be introduced to Prajnaparamita, the mother
of all Buddhas, and be empowered to embody her wisdom and
compassion for the sake of all life. Using meditation as well as
powerful interactive processes and teachings developed by Joanna
Macy, we'll experience the truth of our inter-existence, made real
to us by our love and pain for the world. Opening to our true nature
will help us see with new eyes and bring fresh understandings of
who we really are and how we're related to each other and the
universe. We will begin to comprehend our power to change, heal
and awaken. The strength and beauty in our circle of women will
support us to uncover the immensity of our heart-mind, which
helps free us from fear. Isolation will open outward and deliver us
to wider reaches of our world as lover, and world as self. Come
with the intention to meet women you will continue to know and
work with to benefit the web of life.
Silent mornings will be for instruction and practice of mindfulness
meditation. Afternoons will be experiential teachings with Joanna.
Silent evenings will include loving-kindness meditation, and/
or dharma teachings, and more silent meditation. Small group
interviews will be offered by dharma teachers. No prior experience
is necessary.
Cost $1000 - $500 sliding scale, plus a donation to teachers and retreat staff.
Code 334R14.
BENEFIT EVENT
& Purpose of the Adolescent Mind
Saturday, January 25, 10 am - 4:30 pm
Live Video Stream Also Available
DAN SIEGEL
In this daylong we will explore the nature of the changes in
the teenage brain and how they set the stage for changes in
adolescent mental, physical and interpersonal well-being.
We will explore the increased risk-taking and statistically
demonstrated heightened chances of harm during this period
of life. But these negative aspects of adolescence are only one
side of the coin of this period of life. Seen from an inside view,
adolescence is an essential part of our development and our
evolution. This "inside out approach" to the second dozen years
of life gives us an exciting new perspective on the essence
of adolescence: emotional intensity, social engagement,
novelty-seeking, and creative explorations are not aspects of
an "immature" stage of development but actually can be seen
as a necessary set of characteristics that are essential for both
the individual's development and for the health and adaptation
of our species.
Further, these features of the teenage brain set the stage for
changes that not only shape our life as adolescents, but can
surprisingly be seen as essential to thriving in adulthood. How
we approach adolescence as a period and adolescents as
individuals can make all the difference in how these important
years are navigated.
All participants will receive a copy of Dan's new book
Brainstorm: Discovering the Hidden Power & Purpose of the
Adolescent Mind.
professionals. Continuing Education (CE) credit available for
on-site class attendance only.
Cost $200 - $90 sliding scale. If paying at the door, add $5. Please bring
your lunch. Code DS1B14.
Live Video Stream Cost $108 - $60 sliding scale. Code DS1L14.
Daniel J Siegel, MD, received his medical degree from Harvard University
and completed his postgraduate medical education at UCLA with training
in pediatrics and child, adolescent and adult psychiatry. He served as
a National Institute of Mental Health Research Fellow at UCLA. He
is the author of The Mindful Brain: Reflection and Attunement in
the Cultivation of Well-Being; Mindsight: The New Science of
Transformation; and The Mindful Therapist: A Clinician's Guide to
Mindsight and Neural Integration. He is currently a clinical professor of
psychiatry at the UCLA School of Medicine where he is on the faculty of
the Center for Culture, Brain, and Development and the Co-Director of the
Mindful Awareness Research Center. Dan is also the Executive Director of
the Mindsight Institute.
22
SPECIAL EVENT
The Power of Coincidence on the Spiritual Path
DAVID RICHO
A series of unusual events or a combination of similar happenings
may not be mere coincidence. Synchronicity is the meaningful
coincidence or connection of events that can set the course of our
life. They can guide us, warn us, and confirm us on our life's path.
Drawing on Jung's concept of synchronicity—and combining insights
from psychology and Buddhism—we explore how synchronicity (i.e.,
meaningful coincidence), operates in our daily lives, in our intimate
relationships, and in our creative endeavors. Based on David's book,
The Power of Coincidence.
already taken this course. Some of the skills we will be learning
are based on the body of teachings by Dr. Peter Levine. We will
encourage people to use Dr. Levine's book, Healing Trauma, as the
reference for this course.
Cost $50 for series plus a donation to the teachers. Code SR1C14.
Sakti Rose, MA, S.E.P., is a senior Somatic Experiencing Practitioner and has
taught mindfulness meditation in hospitals and meditation centers for more than
13 years. She has a private practice in Marin County working with individuals
suffering from trauma and stress related illness. Her work is informed by 35 years
of Buddhist meditation with her root guru Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, Tsoknyi
Rinpoche, Ven. Ruth Denison, and numerous Buddhist and Non-dual masters in
U.S. and Asia.
door, add $5. Please bring your lunch. Code DR1S14.
David Richo, PhD, MFT, teacher, workshop leader and writer, works as a
psychotherapist in Santa Barbara and San Francisco, California. He combines
Jungian, transpersonal and mythic perspectives in his work. He is the author of
How to Be An Adult in Relationships: The Five Keys to Mindful Loving; The
Power of Coincidence: How Life Shows Us What We Need to Know; Everyday
Commitments: Choosing a Life of Love, Realism and Acceptance and Daring to
Trust: Opening Ourselves to Real Love and Intimacy.
CLASS SERIES
Trauma and Mindfulness - Foundation Class
1-Month & 2-Month Residential Retreats
FEBRUARY TEACHERS: Guy Armstrong, Carol Wilson,
James Baraz, Andrea Fella, Greg Scharf,
Martha Link (yoga)
MARCH TEACHERS: Gil Fronsdal, Mary Grace Orr, John
Travis, Sharda Rogell, Phillip Moffitt, Heather Martin,
Teja Bell (Qigong)
SAKTI ROSE
NOTE: These retreats are full with a waiting list. If you want to be
on the waiting list, please submit your complete application. All
scholarship funds have been allocated.
Prerequisite: Participants need to have some beginning training in
mindfulness meditation.
Pre-requisite: Completion of 2 previous silent 7-day vipassana
retreats led by Spirit Rock or IMS teachers, or the equivalent.
As we develop our meditation practice, we may meet with barriers
that inhibit our practice and be unsure why. This 5-week class will
join skills of Somatic Experiencing and meditative practices to
explore traumatic activation which can inhibit our spiritual practice
on the path. By identifying these responses in our body and using
somatic (body-based) skills, individuals can recognize and reduce the
painful effects of trauma and thereby free up energy for mindfulness
meditation, as well as all of our activities. By recognizing the
particular symptoms and by working directly in the body, the trauma
can be healed through discharging the unresolved energy of the
trauma that gets bound in the nervous system in a variety of ways—
as body constriction, emotional reactivity, and spiritual disturbances.
With the educational tools taught in this class, one's nervous system
can begin to regain its capacity to self-regulate.
An extended period of retreat offers the rare opportunity for
sustained and dedicated practice. This retreat emphasizes
quieting the mind, opening the heart, and developing profound
clarity and depth of insight practice. Instruction will follow the
traditional Four Foundations of Mindfulness, combined with
training in loving-kindness and compassion, through a daily
schedule of silent sitting, walking, dharma talks and interviews.
5 Mondays, January 27 - February 24, 10 am – 12 pm
This class is offered for meditation students who may need a more
direct approach to skillfully work with a variety of intense symptoms/
sensations/moods/thoughts that may be caused by unresolved
trauma. There will be didactic presentations, discussions and
optional interactive practices to explore our work together. It is
offered also as a helpful review and support for people who have
2-Month: February 1 - March 28 (55 nights)
Cost $9200 - $4600 sliding scale plus donation to teachers and retreat
staff. Code 338R14.
1-Month: February 1 - March 1 (28 nights)
Cost $4600 - $2300 sliding scale, plus a donation to teachers and retreat
staff. Code 336R14.
1-Month: March 1 - March 28 (27 nights)
Cost $4600 - $2300, sliding scale, plus a donation to teachers and retreat
staff. Code 337R14.
23
February
CLASS SERIES
Compassion Training
8 Wednesdays, January 29 - March 19, 7 - 9 pm
Online Class Series Also Available
Real Happiness at Work
Saturday, February 1, 9:30 am - 5 pm
Live Video Stream Available
MARK COLEMAN
This 8-week program is designed to help you develop
qualities of compassion, empathy, kindness, and
forgiveness. The course will enable you to bring a more
kind-hearted attitude and compassionate presence to
yourself and others and to the situations you encounter
in the world. Living with compassion develops a genuine
sense of well-being, helps you be more skillful with others
and supports you responding skillfully to the suffering in the
world.
Cultivating compassion helps develop:
• The strength to be with the suffering of oneself or
others;
SHARON SALZBERG
In this daylong retreat we will explore a path to finding real happiness
at work. Despite the many hours we tend to spend working, that
arena of our lives may not be the source of great fulfillment or
meaning. We will look at the qualities that can turn that around,
including mindfulness, compassion, resiliency, integrity, and open
awareness; and learn practices that help cultivate each of these.
Suitable for both new and experienced meditators, the day will
consist of guided meditations, talks and time for questions and
answers.
• To know how and when to take compassionate action;
door, add $5. Please bring your lunch. Code SS1D14.
• How to cultivate 'fierce' compassion when necessary;
Live Video Stream Cost $30 - $108 sliding scale. Code SS1L14.
• Resiliency to deal with overwhelm, numbness and
empathy fatigue.
Sharon Salzberg has been a student of meditation since 1971, and has led meditation
retreats worldwide since 1974. Sharon's latest book is Real Happiness At Work:
Meditations for Accomplishment, Achievement, and Peace. She is a regular
contributor to The Huffington Post and is also the author of several other books
including the New York Times best-seller Real Happiness: The Power of
Meditation: A 28-Day Program, Love Your Enemies: How to Break the Anger
Habit & Be a Whole Lot Happier with Robert Thurman (2013), Faith: Trusting
Your Own Deepest Experience (2002), and Lovingkindness: The Revolutionary
Art of Happiness (1995). Sharon is co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society
(IMS) in Barre, Massachusetts..
The course integrates traditional contemplative practices
from the Buddhist tradition of mindfulness, kindness
(metta), compassion, appreciative joy and equanimity, with
understanding from the field of contemporary psychology
and neuroscience regarding these heartful qualities.
Classes will include:
• Guided meditations that develop mindfulness, lovingkindness, compassion, joy, empathy, and forgiveness;
• Lectures on the various heart qualities;
• Experiential communication exercises that support
developing compassion with each other;
• Opportunity to discuss these rich topics;
• Practical teaching on how to integrate these qualities
into your work and life.
This course is also available online, via video and audio
recordings of the class. Participants in the live class will
have access to the class videos and homework online in
order to make up missed classes. Each session will be
posted online within 48 hours after the in-person class.
Young Adults (18-26) and Seniors (65+ with limited and
fixed income) are invited to attend this class series for $100.
Cost $250-$200 sliding scale, includes teacher dana. Code MC1C14.
Online Class Cost $100. Code MC1N14.
24
A Daylong for Self-Identified Women of Color Only
(including Sweat Lodge Ceremony)
MONTHLY CLASS
Friday, February 7, 7:30 - 9:30pm
CAROL CANO, VERLINDA MONTOYA
Join us for a day of taking refuge in the three jewels—Buddha,
Dharma, Sangha—and awakening our hearts to the core practice of a
spiritual path that bridges Buddhism and Native American teachings.
We will practice a day of silence and mindfulness meditation and
reflect on how the teachings of the three jewels can ground and
deepen our lives with more gratitude and a sense of the fullness of
being alive. These teachings are offered by vipassana teacher Carol
Cano, and Verlinda Montoya, who will lead a traditional Lakota sweat
lodge ceremony for renewing our hearts with ancient songs and
native teachings.
For the afternoon sweat, Verlinda will create the sacred space in
which to ground ourselves in mindfulness, returning to the Earth's
womb and emerging cleansed, ready to fulfill our intentions for a
deeper practice of the heart. The sweat lodge ceremony is a sacred
ritual for connecting the physical and spiritual through prayer and
song. A sacred gift of life!
The sweat lodge ceremony is optional; women on their moon time
(menstruation) should honor tradition and not participate; other
women who wish to meditate rather than enter the sweat lodge, will
be offered guided sitting and walking meditation practice throughout
the day.
This daylong retreat is open to all self-identified women of color
with all levels of meditation experience, including beginners. Please
register early—especially if you wish to attend the sweat lodge
ceremony—so we can plan ahead. Please bring lunch, a towel, and
a loose sun dress or tee shirt with a sarong or shorts to change into
for the sweat lodge ceremony. Traditionally, a long, loose dress with
sleeves is worn.
door, add $5. Please bring your lunch. Code PC1D14.
Carol Cano is co-Founder and Guiding Teacher for Philippine Insight Meditation
Community and co-founder of Templa Wellness in the Philippines. She started her
practice 25 years ago at Wat Kow Tham in Thailand. She moved to San Francisco
in 1991, where she was introduced to Spirit Rock Meditation Center. Carol served on
the Spirit Rock Diversity Council for several years, was mentored by Jack Kornfield,
and completed the Community Dharma Leader program. She has a unique crosscultural braiding of Native American and Basque Spirituality that complements her
Dharma practice.
Verlinda Montoya, also known by her given Indian name, Mato Ta Pejuta Wakan
Nawjin, (Mato Winyan), is an elder, medicine woman and spiritual leader from
the Picuris pueblo of New Mexico. Her tribe is Northern Tiwa/Hopi and she comes
from a maternal blood line of Medicine People. Adopted by the Lakota-Sioux
tribe, she has been facilitating Native American ceremony (Lakota and Hopi) for
more than 20 years. With a Master's Degree in Health Education and Health
Service Administration, she founded Heart of Humanity, the first agency in Marin
to practice integrative medicine. Mato has served two appointed terms as a
Commissioner for the Marin Women's Commission, produced and hosted 20 TV
productions and served as keynote speaker for more than 40 organizations.
Anxiety and Mindfulness
LEE LIPP, ERIN SELOVER
We suffer. Aversion to anxiety is often accompanied by reactivity
and actions that worsen how we feel.
Instead of running from anxiety, our focus for this day will be on
kindhearted mindful awareness and intentional cultivation of
non-reactive attention to this mood state. Guided meditations will
be offered as we practice stopping and quieting the mind so that we
slow down enough to see what is actually happening internally. The
natural state of a quieted mind interrupts reactivity and offers us
freedom to discover a compassionate and responsive relationship to
this element of experience.
Teachings are appropriate for meditators of all levels, as well
as health care professionals. Continuing Education (CE) credit
available.
Cost $55 - $150, sliding scale, plus a donation to the teachers. If paying at the
door, add $5. Please bring your lunch. Code LL1D14.
Lee Lipp, PhD, has been a member of Thich Nhat Hanh's Order of Interbeing,
practicing Zen and vipassana since 1991. Having taught in psychology graduate
programs for 16 years, Dr. Lipp's most recent work has included being Diversity/
Outreach Coordinator at San Francisco Zen Center. She also supervises interns
at Haight Ashbury Psych Services, leads Transforming Depression and
Transforming Anxiety groups, and has a psychotherapy practice in San Francisco.
See page 19 for Erin Selover’s bio.
“
Impermanence is the very fabric of our
lives. It’s not just that our lives are always
changing; our lives are made up of change."
– SHARON SALZBERG, A Heart as Wide as the World
25
The Power of Mindfulness
SPECIAL EVENT
Sunday, February 9, 9 am - 4:30 pm
MARK COLEMAN
For thousands of years people have cultivated mindfulness as a
complete path to awakening. Contemporary research reveals how
mindfulness improves attention, reduces stress, and increases
health, well-being and the capacity for happiness. Mindful
awareness allows you to be attentive in the present moment with
the quality of acceptance, spaciousness and equanimity. It is the
foundation for living with wisdom and compassion and is the seed
from which much joy and peace springs.
On this day you will learn the foundations of mindfulness that
enable you to live with a clear and wakeful presence in every
aspect of your life. We will explore this innate quality of awareness
and what interferes with it. Participants will learn to cultivate
awareness through accessible yet profound meditations on the
breath and the body; and how to work with emotions and thoughts
that can hamper our well-being. You will also learn how mindful
awareness provides the basis for insight and freedom. There
will be periods of guided sitting and walking meditation, talks on
meditation and ample opportunity for questions and discussion.
Suitable for beginning and experienced students.
Teachings are appropriate for meditators of all levels, as well
as health care professionals. Continuing Education (CE) credit
available.
door, add $5. Please bring your lunch. Code MC1D14.
Heart Practices for Couples (couples only)
DEBRA CHAMBERLIN-TAYLOR, GEORGE TAYLOR
To be intimate we must learn to be fully present. Through partner
meditations, verbal and nonverbal communication exercises and
group sharing, couples will practice the art of intimacy and learn
skills to deepen the shared journey.
Please note: This event is not appropriate for attending alone as
the majority of the day will be spent in partner practice.
door, add $5. Please bring your lunch. Code DG1D14.
Awakening the Buddha Within:
The Six Kinds of Mindfulness
Sunday, February 16, 10 am - 5 pm
Live Video Stream Available
LAMA SURYA DAS
We are all Buddhas by nature; we have only to awaken to
that fact. Why then do we sometimes feel so stressed,
strung-out and strapped for time in daily pursuit of a better
life; powered by time-saving technology, yet spinning on the
worry-go-round, driven to distraction, staggering forward on
the treadmill of conditioning as if life is one long to-do list?
Because we’re unawake to who and what we truly are and can
be.
Mindful awareness is the secret ingredient in Buddha’s
recipe for freedom and enlightenment, which can provide
meditation with benefits as well as other kinds of assets and
opportunities. In the Tibetan tradition, there are six kinds of
mindfulness aiding us to discover freedom and autonomy
within interdependence, and to be masters rather than victims
of thought, habit and karmic conditioning.
The direct-access Dzogchen heart-essence wisdom tradition
of Tibet teaches us to awaken just as we are and enjoy the
infinite possibilities of every moment—the holy now. At
the very heart of this tradition is direct introduction to the
nature of mind—our true Buddha-nature, the big Self—that
transcends all circumstances and difficulties, and yet is
accessible and available in every moment. Lama Surya
will guide us with liveliness and humor, combining guided
meditation and teachings, dialogue, and ample opportunity
for questions. These events are appropriate for those new to
spiritual exploration as well as seasoned practitioners. One
moment of total awareness is one moment of freedom and
enlightenment. It's now or never, as always.
Young Adults (18-26) and Seniors (65+ with limited income)
are invited to attend this day for $25.
Cost $150 - $70 sliding scale, plus a donation to the teacher. If paying at
the door, add $5. Please bring your lunch. Code LS1S14.
Live Video Stream Cost $108- $45 sliding scale. Code LS1L14.
Lama Surya Das, who the Dalai Lama affectionately calls the “American
lama,” has spent over forty years studying with the great spiritual masters
of Asia. He is an authorized lama in the Tibetan Buddhist order, and the
founder of the Dzogchen Center. Surya Das is the author of the international
bestseller Awakening the Buddha Within: Tibetan Wisdom for the
Western World and twelve other books, including his latest release,
Buddha Standard Time: Awakening to the Infinite Possibilities of Now.
Debra Chamberlin-Taylor and George Taylor have been together for 26 years.
Debra has 27 years of experience as a retreat and group facilitator, co-founded
Inside/Outside Vision Quests, and teaches meditation nationally. George is a
national leader in the Men's Community Movement and author of Talking with
Our Brothers. His spiritual practice combines meditation, creativity, activism in
deep ecology, and humor.
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Concentration Meditation: Purification of Mind
TINA RASMUSSEN, STEPHEN SNYDER
Cultivating Wise Speech:
Becoming More Skillful in Your Speech Practice,
Including in Difficult Situations
Prerequisite: The equivalent of a class or retreat giving basic meditation
instructions.
Concentration or serenity meditation (samatha) is one of the
three major practices of the Buddhist path, which also include
sila (practicing with the ethical principles), and vipassana (Insight
Meditation). In concentration practice, we return our awareness
to one object of meditation to the exclusion of everything else,
thereby collecting and unifying the mind stream. Samatha practice
is often referred to as "purification of mind" and it does that in two
ways. First, the practice reveals with heightened clarity our habitual
patterns that cause us to suffer both on and off the cushion. Second,
as we build the capacity to turn away from these patterns, a laser-like
awareness can develop that can lead to profound stillness and joy, as
well as the possibility of the arising of deep meditative absorptions
known as the jhanas. The word "jhana" can be translated as a "burning
up"-of our habitual patterns of greed, hatred and delusion—which
purifies our awareness, as well as deepens our vipassana practice.
This daylong is open to all, and is especially intended for intermediate
and experienced practitioners. It will offer an overview of
concentration meditation as taught in the lineage of Ven. Pa Auk
Sayadaw of Burma, considered by many to be the leading living
teacher of samatha practice and the jhanas. There will be meditation
instructions and periods of meditation, silence for much of the day,
and periods of teaching, including time for questions. Topics will
include: an outline of the path of practice; the relationship of samatha
and vipassana and how they optimally work together; the purification
of mind; and how to work skillfully with striving.
Teachings are appropriate for meditators of all levels, as well as
health care professionals. Continuing Education (CE) credit available.
income) are invited to attend this daylong for $25.
door, add $5. Please bring your lunch. Code TS1D14.
Tina Rasmussen, PhD, learned to meditate at the age of 13 and has been meditating
for more than 30 years. She was ordained as a Theravada Buddhist nun by Ven. Pa
Auk Sayadaw of Burma, who also authorized her to teach. Tina is the co-author of
Practicing the Jhanas; she also works as a professional coach and OD consultant
and is the author of several books on human potential.
Stephen Snyder, JD, began practicing Buddhist meditation in 1976, practicing for
20 years with several Western Zen masters. In 2005, he completed a retreat with
Ven. Pa Auk Sayadaw of Burma who later authorized him to teach. Stephen is the
co-author of Practicing the Jhanas and has been a practicing lawyer and mediator
for over 20 years.
DONALD ROTHBERG
Connecting our meditation practice with our speech and
communication is one of the main ways to bring spiritual values
into our everyday lives and our action in the world, and can help
enliven and energize our practice, since we have so many chances
for practice!
This daylong retreat will integrate periods of sitting and walking
meditation with talks, discussion, and interactive exercises. It
will cover three main areas. In the morning, we will focus on the
basic teachings of the Buddha on wise speech and foundational
mindfulness practices for our speech. In the afternoon, we will apply
these perspectives and tools to learning how to practice wise speech
in difficult conditions (when there are difficult emotions, when there
is conflict, etc.)
Cost $55 - $150, sliding scale, plus a donation to the teacher. If paying at the
door, add $5. Please bring your lunch. Code DR1D14.
CLASS SERIES
Buddhism and the 12 Steps
6 Thursdays, February 27 - April 3, 7 - 9 pm
KEVIN GRIFFIN
In this 6-week series we will work through the 12 Steps using
Buddhist teachings and practices. We will explore how traditional
recovery language and themes can be understood through the
lens of Dharma, and how mindfulness meditation can support our
recovery.
Major themes include powerlessness, Higher Power, inventory,
letting go, and spiritual awakening. The class will also serve as an
introduction to daily meditation practice.
You need not be a member of a 12 Step group to attend, but you
should be committed to a life free from alcohol and recreational
drugs. Those with other addiction issues are welcome as well.
Cost $60 plus a donation to the teacher. Code KG1C14.
See page 17 for Kevin Griffin’s bio.
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March
Introduction to Insight Meditation
ANUSHKA FERNANDOPULLE
RESIDENTIAL RETREAT
March Insight Meditation 1-Month Retreat
Saturday, March 1 - Friday, March 28 (27 nights)
(See 1- and 2-Month Retreat box on page 22 for more
information.)
EXPERIENCED STUDENT DAY
Dependent Origination
Saturday, March 1, 9:30 am - 5 pm
TEMPEL SMITH
Prerequisite: Attendance at a residential silent retreat, the Essential
Dharma series, or six daylongs.
We will focus on the core principles of Dependent Origination
which underlie the Buddha's teachings of the Four Noble Truths.
Of the unique teachings the Buddha brought forth—including the
role of mindfulness in awakening, how karma operates, how we
tumble forward life after life in samsara, and the very root causes
of all our confusion and suffering—Dependent Origination stands
as his deepest insight into the nature and process of suffering
(dukkha).
We will explore the twelve links within Dependent Origination
leading from misunderstanding (avijja) to suffering, and how each
link conditions the arising of the next. We will also explore how all
the Buddha's teachings and practices may be seen as a challenge
to the forces in Dependent Origination.
Cost $55-$150 sliding scale plus a donation to the teacher. If paying at the
door, add $5. Please bring your lunch. Code TS2D14.
Insight Meditation is the practice of connecting through direct
experience to the mind, heart and body to understand what is true
about ourselves and our lives. In this daylong workshop, suitable
for beginners or those who want a refresher, we will practice sitting
meditation, walking meditation, and even eating meditation (bring
your own lunch) to explore what it is to be a human being. For most of
the day we will be doing experiential exercises of Insight Meditation
in silence. There will be time for asking questions about challenges in
meditation practice, developing your own practice at home, and the
possibilities from following this path, originally taught by the Buddha
2600 years ago. Come join us and learn about your life.
door, add $5. Please bring your lunch. Code AF1D14.
A Heart as Wide as the World:
Cultivating the Heart of Love (Metta)
Saturday, March 8, 9 am – 4:30 pm
MARK COLEMAN
Imagine the possibility of living with a heart of loving presence that
went with you everywhere! The beautiful quality of boundless love is
central in the spiritual life. It is essential for our own happiness and
for the welfare of the world in which we live.
Though love is innate to our being, we have often lost touch with
it both for ourselves and others or we may only know it as limited
to a few people. Through the Buddhist practice of metta, or lovingkindness, we can learn to develop and nurture the heart of metta,
which is a profound kindness and friendliness to all life. This enables
us to live with greater love, compassion and joy.
In this day of meditation you will explore developing metta through
various meditation practices and exercises. You will learn how to
develop kindness towards yourself, to those close to you and also to
strangers, enemies and all of life. We will investigate what obscures
the heart's capacity to love, and look at how we can bring these
qualities of the heart into our everyday life.
The day will include sitting and walking meditations, talks and
discussion. Suitable for new and experienced students.
Teachings are appropriate for meditators of all levels, as well as
health care professionals. Continuing Education (CE) credit available.
door, add $5. Please bring your lunch. Code MC2D14.
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HALF DAY WORKSHOP
MONTHLY CLASS
Kalyana Mitta/Spiritual Friends Workshop
Sunday, March 9, 1:30 - 5 pm
Friday, March 14, 7:30 - 9:30pm
JAMES BARAZ, ELAD LEVINSON
This half-day workshop is designed for the hosts, leaders, potential
leaders and participants in Kalyana Mitta (KM)/Spiritual Friends
groups. Whether you are a current facilitator and/or host of a KM or
similar group, or are just curious, please feel free to join us. Everyone
is welcome!
KM members and leader-facilitators can learn effective process skills
by attending. Some of the skills we will cover are:
•
How to encourage full participation in a KM meeting;
•
What process makes specific topics work best;
•
How to work with difficult group members;
•
The role of the member in keeping group agreements; and
•
How to use the Dharma to make conflict productive when it
arises—how right speech and good conflict resolution align.
Spirit Rock is looking for additional facilitators and hosts to create
new groups and connect people with the Kalyana Mitta program.
Please join us for this workshop to explore your interest.
For more information, contact our KM Dedicated Volunteers at
[email protected]. This is a dana/by donation event, and
we need volunteers! Please contact our Volunteer Coordinator at
415-488-0164 x224 for information. Your volunteer service can be
used toward attending another daylong event at Spirit Rock.
Offered on a dana (by donation) basis. Code KM1H14.
Elad Levinson is the Director of Programs and Community Development at SRMC.
He has over 40 years’ experience leading, facilitating and designing group process.
He is a former senior executive in organization development and learning and
development in the health care, high tech and non-profit world.
Deep Happiness
Saturday, March 15, 9:30 am - 5 pm
SHAILA CATHERINE
This daylong program will explore the place of profound happiness
in Buddhist practice. Although Buddhism is reputed to emphasize
teachings on suffering, the path is infused from beginning to end
with contentment and joy. This program will highlight the essential
role that happiness plays in the development of our practice, from
the enhancement of daily ease and well being, to the bliss that
saturates the mind during meditation, deep concentration and jhana,
and finally to the unsurpassed peace that arises with awakening. The
day will include sitting and walking meditation and teachings. It is
appropriate for both new and experienced practitioners.
door, add $5. Please bring your lunch. Code SC1D14.
Shaila Catherine is the founder of Insight Meditation South Bay in Mountain
View, California. She has been practicing meditation since 1980, with more than
eight years of accumulated silent retreat experience, and has taught since 1996 in
the USA and internationally. Shaila has dedicated several years to studying with
masters in India, Nepal and Thailand, and authored Focused and Fearless: A
Meditator's Guide to States of Deep Joy, Calm, and Clarity and Wisdom Wide
and Deep: A Practical Handbook for Mastering Jhana and Vipassana.
See page 38 for James Baraz' bio.
“
I believe every person wants to be happy.
At the core, all of our actions are motivated
by a longing for genuine well-being. Our
own well-being and joy have the capacity to
awaken those qualities in others around us,
becoming a gift to everyone we meet."
– JAMES BARAZ
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ANDREA LIEBERSTEIN, ELISSA EPEL, VENERABLE JAMPA SANGMO
When we eat mindfully we involve all the senses by engaging
our mind and our body in a particular, kind way. Join us for an
experiential daylong retreat focused on cultivating mindful
awareness, and on nourishing the body and mind through an
immersion in mindful eating practices, mindfulness meditation,
walking, and gentle yoga. Introductory level training in the
science and practice of mindful eating and its role in promoting
optimal health and rejuvenation is woven throughout the day.
To support cultivating our awareness, we will quiet the mind
and open the heart through gentle yoga, sitting and walking
meditation as in a traditional style retreat day. Through mindful
eating practices, we learn to pay attention to what our body
really needs and why. We can experience food as pleasure and
nourishment while finding our right relationship to amount and
quality in each moment.
Please bring a lunch you will enjoy eating mindfully and a water
bottle.
Cost $55 - $150, sliding scale, plus a donation to the teachers. If paying at
the door, add $5. Please bring your lunch. Code AL1D14.
Andrea Lieberstein, MPH, RD, RYT, directs Mind, Body, Spirit Programs at
Kaiser Permanente San Francisco; is a Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction
(MBSR) instructor; a mindful eating coach and nutritionist; and a registered
yoga teacher. She is a contributing author to The Stress Reduction and
Relaxation Training Workbook (5th edition) and Some Leaders are Born
Women. She has practiced vipassana meditation since 1986. She trains
health professionals nationally in the intervention of Mindfulness-Based
Eating Awareness Training (MB-EAT) and maintains a private practice.
Elissa Epel, PhD, an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at
UCSF, has been studying processes related to psychological stress, and how
meditation-based interventions affect cellular based measures of aging, as
well as eating, weight, and metabolism. She received her BA from Stanford in
Psychology and PhD from Yale University in Health Psychology.
Venerable Jampa Sangmo is a Tibetan Buddhist Nun. She has led meditation
groups and retreats for Chevron International, Land of Medicine Buddha
and has co-led retreats at Vajrapani Institute. For the past four years she
has facilitated an ongoing group with WomanCARE Santa Cruz to support
women who have cancer. She has studied in the Gelugpa School of Tibetan
Buddhism with His Holiness the Dalai Lama and other Buddhist Masters. She
has a background in the meditation practice in the Theravada tradition.
Loving the House That Ego Built
HOWARD COHN
During this day we will explore the nature of ego and the enormous
stress that comes with trying to be "someone." With Insight
Meditation, we can make peace with our various self views. Sitting
and walking in silence, supported by instructions and dharma talks,
we will cultivate embodied presence. We will use the healing tools
of mindfulness and loving-kindness to meet the activity of self with
balance and openness, perhaps even "loving the house that ego
built."
income) are invited to attend this daylong at a rate of $25.
door, add $5. Please bring your lunch. Code HC2D14.
EVENING EVENT
Chanting and Meditation:
Entering the Still and Boundless Heart
Saturday, March 22, 7:30 - 10 pm
JAI UTTAL, DEBRA CHAMBERLIN-TAYLOR
The heart is an honored gateway to our most profound and
boundless nature. Using the ancient and sublime blend of kirtan
(chanting) and meditation, we can open the heart of infinite love.
Kirtan in the Bhakti tradition taps the nectar of spiritual longing and
devotion, and invites us to surrender everything into the Sacred.
Used together, kirtan and meditation can reveal the expansive view
of our sky-like nature.
Cost $25 prepaid; $30 at the door. Space is limited; please preregister and
bring a cushion. Code JA1E14.
In more than 30 years of commitment to the art and spiritual practice of kirtan
(chanting), Jai Uttal has cultivated a voice and musical style that carries the
listener into the heart of devotion, prayer and healing. Through call and response
group chanting he guides beginning and experienced chanters to an ecstatic
remembrance of the divine. He has Grammy nominated CDs and a worldwide
following.
See page 38 for Debra Chamberlin-Taylor’s bio.
“
The world is not fixed, out there—but
something that we are co-creating...
through what's happening in our body
and our mind."
– WILL KABAT-ZINN
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The Wisdom of Aging (for those 55 and older)
Maranasati: Mindfulness of Death
Sunday, March 23, 10 am - 4:30 pm
WES NISKER, DAN CLURMAN (FELDENKRAIS®)
It is a tradition in many cultures that people who reach a certain
age, and are somewhat finished with the tasks of raising a family
and working, can then focus on the spiritual life. In this daylong, we
will explore how the path might unfold in our culture for those of us
55 years of age and older, and how we can move into and through
this stage of life with more wisdom and ease. Those of us living in
older bodies may begin to sense our priorities and perspectives
changing—less compulsion to "do" or achieve; a keener awareness
of mortality and the preciousness of life; gratitude for what is here
and now; and compassion for our common humanity. During this
day together we will reflect on these matters, practice meditation,
and also experience the renowned movement technique of
Feldenkrais® Method, a practice that can keep aging bodies flexible
and strong.
EUGENE CASH
We invite you to join a group of your peers for a day of dharma
teachings, movement exercises, and contemplative inquiry to bring
forth the deep wisdom of aging.
Seniors (65+ with limited income) are invited to attend this day for
$25.
door, add $5. Please bring your lunch. Code WN1D14.
Dan Clurman is a certified Feldenkrais® Practitioner and personal coach. He
integrates somatic awareness into his work as a coach and organizational trainer
in communication skills. He has led Feldenkrais® Awareness Through Movement®
classes for over 10 years. In addition, Dan has published a book of poetry, Floating
Upstream, and a cartoon book, You've Got To Draw The Line Somewhere.
See page 38 for Wes Nisker's bio.
This daylong is for people experienced in mindfulness practice.
Maranasati is a highly valued contemplation and practice in
Buddhism. The Buddha described Mindfulness of Death as
'supreme' of all the mindfulness practices. He encouraged
Maranasati to cultivate equanimity, bring insight into
impermanence, awaken freedom from unconsciousness,
appreciate the preciousness of human birth, and as a
preparation for our own death.
In our day together we will explore a variety of Maranasati
contemplations and practices including awareness of the
body; investigation of our beliefs and views about death; and
contemplations of the reality of impermanence and mortality.
We will utilize the skills of awareness and investigation through
sitting practice, visualization and inquiry. Please be aware that
some of the images we will view are of dead and decomposing
bodies.
Young Adults (18-26) and Seniors (65+ with limited income)
are invited to attend this daylong for $25.
Cost $55 - $150, sliding scale, plus a donation to the teachers. If paying at
the door, add $5. Please bring your lunch. Code EC1D14.
Equanimity - In the Dharma and In Your Brain
RICK HANSON
In Buddhism, equanimity is one of the four Brahmaviharas (Divine
Abodes), and is often considered the foundation of the other three:
compassion, loving-kindness, and altruistic joy. Equanimity breaks
the chain of suffering by helping you to not react to the pleasant/
unpleasant feeling tone of experience with craving and clinging.
Your equanimity, a state of mind, is based on underlying states of
your brain. Modern neuroscience is revealing new ways to cultivate
those brain states—a potent combination with time-tested Buddhist
practices.
This experiential workshop—led by a neuropsychologist—will offer
user-friendly information with lots of practical methods useful for
both self-guided practice and in therapeutic settings. We'll cover:
• The Buddha's teachings on equanimity;
• The neurological machinery of emotional reactivity;
• How equanimity works in your brain to prevent, cool and heal
destructive emotions;
• Strengthening 'top-down,' frontal lobe influences through Wise
View and other elements of the Noble Eightfold Path;
31
• Training 'bottom-up,' limbic system reactions to be less fearful
and angry, and more peaceful, connecting and constructive;
• 'Neurodharma' perspectives on healing from trauma.
There will be time for questions and discussion. No background
with meditation or neuroscience is needed.
Teachings and practices are appropriate for both individuals
and health care professionals. Continuing Education (CE) credit
available for on-site class attendance only.
invited to attend this daylong for $25.
door, add $5. Please bring your lunch. Code RH2D14.
Live Video Stream Cost $30 - $108 sliding scale. Code RH1L14.
See page 18 for Rick Hanson’s bio.
co-leads the Meditation and the Spirit of Creativity retreat at Spirit Rock. She has
published eight books, the majority exploring women's contributions to Buddhism.
Her most recent book is Dancing in the Dharma: The Life and Teachings of
Ruth Denison.
Insight Meditation Daylong
Sunday, April 6, 9 am - 5 pm
JACK KORNFIELD
This is a traditional Insight Meditation (vipassana) daylong
that includes systematic instructions, silent sitting and walking
meditation, and a dharma talk. It is suitable for both beginning and
experienced meditators.
door, add $5. Please bring your lunch. Code JK1D14.
April
Live Video Stream Cost $30 - $108 sliding scale. Code JK1L14.
RESIDENTIAL RETREAT
YOUTH CLASS SERIES
Insight Meditation for the Curious
Thursday, April 3 - Sunday, April 6 (3 nights)
MARK COLEMAN, DIANA WINSTON, ERIN SELOVER (YOGA)
Have you ever been curious about Insight Meditation? This silent
retreat will teach the essentials of this practice and offer key
Buddhist teachings. We will explore ways to awaken our mind and
heart so that we can learn to live a life of wisdom, compassion,
inner peace and freedom.
The long weekend will combine sitting and walking meditations,
dharma talks and opportunities to meet with a teacher. An
excellent opportunity for those new to retreat practice, and also
ideal for experienced practitioners who wish to do a short retreat.
The retreat will end Sunday after lunch.
staff. Code 340R14.
Dancing with Kwan Yin, Bodhisattva of
Compassion
Saturday, April 5, 10 am - 4:30 pm
SANDY BOUCHER
Tap into and express the deep all-encompassing stream of
compassionate energy that we see embodied in Kwan Yin. We
will use silent meditation, chanting, writing and sharing, guided
visualization, and a special dance to evoke Kwan Yin in ourselves
and in our world. Men and women are welcome.
door, add $5. Please bring your lunch. Code SA1D14.
Sandy Boucher, M.A., has practiced, written about and taught both vipassana
and writing for thirty years. She leads retreats on Dharma and Writing, and
Spring Teen Meditation Series
5 Sundays, April 6 - May 11, 6 – 8:30 pm, plus Saturday, May 17,
6 -11 pm (No class on April 20th)
FOREST FEIN, KRISSA LEBACQZ
(See Family Programs on page 37 for a full description.)
RESIDENTIAL RETREAT
Through Dhamma Eyes:
Training in Awareness and Wisdom
Monday, April 7 - Wednesday, April 16 (9 nights)
STEVE ARMSTRONG, CAROL WILSON, FRANZ MOECKL (QIGONG)
Cultivating stable awareness of all experience is training in wisdom
that reveals liberating insights into the nature of reality. We see that
everything that appears, including ourselves, is simply the natural
display of impersonal conditions giving rise to their lawful effect.
When the mind is supported by skillful view and is unclouded by
confusion, greed or negativity, reality is accurately recognized. This
is seeing our world through the eyes of the dhamma, and is the
foundation for well-being and liberation.
This silent retreat will offer complementary teachings and
instructions integrated from various Buddhist meditative traditions on
the 'awareness of mind,' one of the Four Foundations of Mindfulness
taught by the Buddha. Suitable for beginning as well as experienced
students, this course will feature a slightly modified schedule from
other Spirit Rock retreats, and will include a daily movement session
led by Franz Moeckl.
Cost $2040 - $1020 sliding scale, plus a donation to the teachers and retreat
staff. Code 342R14.
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MONTHLY CLASS
Buddhism and the Ecological Crisis
Sunday, April 13, 9:30 am - 5 pm
Friday, April 11, 7:30 - 9:30pm
DAVID LOY
Can Buddhism really help us understand the eco-crisis, and respond
to it wisely? The Buddha didn't know anything about carbon
emissions, but there are precise and profound parallels between
what he said about our perennial individual predicament and our
collective predicament today. In both cases the primary problem is
our sense of separate self, and in both cases we tend to respond in
ways that actually make the problem worse. This suggests that the
ecological crisis is as much a spiritual challenge as a technological
and economic one. Does that mean there is also a parallel between
the two solutions? Does the Buddhist response to our personal
predicament also point the way to resolving our collective one?
BENEFIT EVENT
Machig Labdrön and the Nature of Mind
Saturday, April 12, 10 am - 5 pm
LAMA TSULTRIM ALLIONE
Machig Labdrön was an 11th century Tibetan yogini most well
known for developing the practice and teachings of Chöd, as
well as many Nature of Mind practices. She was recognized by
the great scholars of her day to be an authentic master and had
thousands of disciples, both men and women. Machig Labdrön
is one of the few Tibetan women to establish practice lineages
of her own, and her Chöd lineages can be found in nearly every
school of Tibetan Buddhism.
Although Machig Labdrön is most well known for her teachings
on Chöd (Cutting Through), the core of her teachings is
meditation on the nature of mind. During this day we will look
at some of her profound teachings, and alternate between
meditation, teachings and dialogue.
Cost $200 - $90, sliding scale. If paying at the door, add $5. Please bring
your lunch. Code TA1B14.
Live Video Stream Cost $108 - $60 sliding scale. Code TA1L14.
Tsultrim Allione, MA, was one of the first Americans to be ordained as a
Tibetan Buddhist nun in 1970 by H.H. 16th Karmapa and spent several years
as a monastic in the Himalayas. Teaching for more than 30 years, she is the
founder and spiritual director of Tara Mandala, a 700-acre retreat center
in southwest Colorado. Lama Tsultrim is author of the groundbreaking
book about Machig Labdrön, Women of Wisdom, Feeding the Demons:
Ancient Wisdom for Resolving Inner Conflict, and the audio programs
Cutting Through Fear and Mandala of the Enlightened Feminine. While
Lama Tsultrim was on pilgrimage in central Tibet at Zangri Khangmar,
where Machig Labdrön lived, the resident Lama recognized Lama Tsultrim
as an emanation of Machig Labdrön. The Lama offered her the throne, a
hat designed by Machig, a self-arisen golden crystal phurba and the only
remaining tsatsa (clay mold) made from the ashes of Machig's body.
Underlying both crises is a dysfunctional story about who we are,
what the world is, and our role within it. Thinkers such as Thomas
Berry and Brian Swimme have been developing a "new story"
about cosmology and evolution that challenges the predominant
worldview. A Buddhist perspective illuminates some aspects of the
"new story"—and this new story gives us a fresh perspective on
Buddhism.
door, add $5. Please bring your lunch. Code DL1D14.
David Loy is a Zen teacher in the Sanbo Kyodan lineage. His books include
Nonduality, Lack and Transcendence, A Buddhist History of the West, The
Great Awakening, Money Sex War Karma, and The World Is Made of Stories.
RESIDENTIAL RETREAT
Awakening in Service and Action:
A Study Retreat on Socially-Engaged Buddhism
Thursday, April 17 - Wednesday, April 23 (6 nights)
DONALD ROTHBERG, DAVID LOY
The path of socially-engaged Buddhism is a path connecting inner
and outer transformation. It is about coming to see that our real
work is the same whether we are in silent practice, with our families
or communities, or helping to transform our larger society and
ecosystems. It is to be aware and present to what is happening, to
respond wisely and compassionately to suffering, to understand our
interdependence, and to act with grace, equanimity, and passion in
difficult circumstances.
This retreat will help us to understand and to walk this path
more skillfully. It will include two talks a day, discussion, guided
meditations, interactive exercises, and individual meetings with
the teachers, all in the context of about two-thirds of each day in
silent practice.
33
We will explore a number of central themes related to
contemporary socially engaged Buddhism such as: its roots in
traditional teachings and practices; the relationship of individual,
group, and community practices to collective transformation;
the nature of a Buddhist social analysis (particularly focusing on
economics, ecology, and war and peace); how the three poisons
(greed, hatred, and delusion) are institutionalized; principles and
practices to guide our speech, communication, and work with
media; responses to suffering, conflict, and oppression (such as
related to race, gender, class, sexual orientation, etc.); non-dual
approaches to social action; and visions of the dharmic society.
staff. Code 344R14.
RESIDENTIAL RETREAT
Loving Awareness: Metta & Qigong Retreat
Thursday, April 17 - Wednesday, April 23 (6 nights)
SPRING WASHAM, TEMPEL SMITH, TEJA BELL (QIGONG)
This silent retreat will focus on cultivating a quality of loving
presence that embraces our heart, mind and body with kindness
and wisdom. Awareness and loving-kindness (metta) are
essential to living a spiritual life. Awareness as developed through
mindfulness practice leads to clarity, insight and understanding.
Love opens the heart, allows a kind embrace of ourselves and
connects us intimately with all of life. The fusion of these qualities
helps us to respond more compassionately to the challenges that
we encounter in ourselves and in the world.
Qigong is a practice of aligning breath, movement, and awareness
for exercise, healing, and meditation. With roots in Chinese
medicine, martial arts, and philosophy, qigong is traditionally
viewed as a practice to cultivate and balance (chi) or what has
been translated as ‘intrinsic life energy.’ It recognizes, cultivates
and nourishes the ‘energy’ aspect of our being. Qigong perfectly
complements traditional sitting meditation practice and has a
long and well-established history connected to contemplative
traditions.
Unveiling the Hidden Lamp of Women's Wisdom
Saturday, April 19, 9:30 am - 5 pm
FLORENCE CAPLOW, SUSAN MOON, ANNA DOUGLAS AND OTHERS
This daylong retreat is based on the stories in the ground-breaking
new book The Hidden Lamp: Stories from Twenty-Five Centuries of
Awakened Women. Join co-editors Florence Caplow and Susan Moon
and contributor Anna Douglas in exploring the remarkable and
largely unknown stories and koans of Buddhist women of the past.
The stories are poetic, irreverant, and sometimes very funny.
During the course of the day we'll dive into these stories in silence,
in small group dialogues, in writing, and playful enactment. These
stories are mirrors for our own life and practice, whether we are male
or female.
We'll tell each other some stories of our own. We'll certainly laugh,
we'll probably cry, and we'll appreciate the wisdom and courage
inherent in our own lives. We'll include some silent periods of sitting
and walking meditation. Open to women, men and transgender.
Seniors (65+ with limited and fixed income) are invited to attend this
day for $25.
door, add $5. Please bring your lunch. Code AD1D14.
Zenshin Florence Caplow is an itinerant Zen priest, vipassana practitioner, editor,
writer, and field botanist. Susan Moon is a Soto Zen lay teacher, writer, editor, and
writing teacher. Her previous books include This is Getting Old: Zen Thoughts
on Aging.
On this retreat, the metta practice will be supported by
mindfulness instructions, periods of qigong meditation and regular
meetings with the teachers. All are welcome to attend.
staff. Code 345R14.
“
Courage is not about changing anything or
grasping for some better state. It's the valor
of truly being present." – JOSEPH GOLDSTEIN
34
YOUTH CLASS SERIES
Spring Middle School Series
Loving the Earth: Awareness,
Action and Celebration
5 Wednesdays, April 23 - May 21, 6 - 8 pm
JAMES BARAZ, JACK KORNFIELD, PAUL HAWKEN, WES NISKER,
VLAD MOSKOVSKI, NICHOLE PROFFITT
DONALD ROTHBERG, DAVID LOY, MARGARITA LOINAZ,
AYYA SANTACITTA, AYYA ANANDABODHI, AYYA SANTUSSIKA,
(See Family Programs on page 37 for a full description.)
JENNIFER BEREZAN, AND BOB DOPPELT
Join us for Spirit Rock’s second annual Earth Day event! On this
Easter Sunday we bring awareness to the Earth’s deep suffering
even as we dedicate ourselves to renewal and rebirth for the
planet and all beings. This will be a day of learning, reflection,
meditation and music. We will bring our attention to the
urgency of climate change, and the capacity of our community
to respond appropriately and compassionately. We hope you
will go home inspired to act!
Seniors, young adults and activists are invited to attend at a
special rate of $25 per person. People age 18 and under are free.
This event will fill fast—we encourage you to pre-register (kids
included) in order to secure your place for the day.
Please bring your lunch. Local environmental groups will be
available during lunch with information on issues and initiatives.
Cost $55 - $108 sliding scale, plus a donation to the teachers. $25 for
seniors, young adults or activists. If paying at the door, add $5. Please
bring your lunch. Code ED1D14.
See website for teacher bios.
RESIDENTIAL RETREAT
Women in Meditation: Gratitude and Farewell
Friday, April 25 - Friday, May 2 (7 nights)
CHRISTINA FELDMAN, NARAYAN HELEN LIEBENSON,
MARY PAFFARD (YOGA)
This year is the 30th anniversary of the women's retreat in the
Insight Meditation (vipassana) tradition in the US, which began
at Insight Meditation Society (IMS) in 1984—a milestone in
establishing the lineage of women in western Buddhist practice.
This will be the final year that Christina and Narayan will be
offering this much-loved retreat at Spirit Rock. In recognition of
this, priority will be given to those who have participated in the
past.
In the classical context of silence and sustained Insight Meditation
practice we will explores the Four Foundations of Mindfulness.
In this space, a powerful sense of community is created that
supports our capacity for deepening wisdom and compassion.
There are daily talks, instructions, guided loving-kindness practice
and meetings with the teachers. A daily session of yoga will be
offered.
staff. Code 348R14.
Care Providers Daylong:
A Day of Renewal, Recognition, and Rejuvenation
(Dana - By Donation)
Saturday, April 26, 9:30 am - 5 pm
PHILLIP MOFFITT
Whether you are a professional care provider such as a healthcare
practitioner, therapist, or body worker, or a family member or
friend caring for children or someone who is ill, you need time
for rejuvenation. On this 11th annual Care Providers Day, we will
engage in meditation and reflection practices for the purpose
of achieving balance and clarity and to ground ourselves in the
healing spirit.
The day will include meditation instruction, self-care techniques,
inspirational stories, gentle stretching, and time for sharing. The
teachings are appropriate for therapists and other healthcare
professionals and are applicable in therapeutic settings as well as
for personal care. We all need compassion and time for renewal,
so this will be a day for taking care of you.
35
professionals. Continuing Education (CE) credit available for
on-site participation only.
Dana: This is a dana (donation) day. The teacher is offering the day as a gift
to the Spirit Rock community. Our regular daylong fee of $55 - $108 is waived
for this event. The practice of generosity, or dana, in all forms is considered a
central pillar of Buddhadharma practice. We invite you to contribute what is
appropriate for you. Code PM1D14.
Live Video Stream Cost dana (by donation) event, see above. Code PM1L14.
income) are invited to attend these daylongs at a rate of $35.
Cost $70 - $216 sliding scale, sliding scale, plus a donation to the teachers. If
paying at the door, add $5. Code DR3D14.
CLASS SERIES
Essential Buddhist Teachings, Part 3
10 Tuesdays, April 29 - July 1, 7 - 9 pm
Online class also available
Family Practice Day
MARK COLEMAN
(See Family & Teen Programs on page 36 for a full description.)
This is the third 10-week session for a three-part course available
in person or online. You can join the course at the start of any of the
three sessions and take the other sessions in following years.
NON-RESIDENTIAL RETREAT
Part 3 covers: Teachings on the Three Characteristics of Existence,
Appreciative Joy (mudita), Equanimity (uppekha) practice, Generosity
(dana), as well as Engaged Service.
DANA DEPALMA, BETSY ROSE AND OTHERS
Loving-kindness: A Two-Day Non-Residential
Retreat (Mon-Tues)
See Essential Buddhist Teachings, Part 2, on page 20 for a full class description,
and information on fees, scholarships and work exchanges. Code YR3C14.
Monday-Tuesday, April 28-29, 9:30 am - 4:30 pm
DONALD ROTHBERG, HEATHER SUNDBERG
Loving-kindness, or metta, is the practice of cultivating a warm,
open heart towards ourselves and others, as a basic way of being
in the world. It is also a path to wisdom. We cultivate metta as a
meditation practice in order for it to manifest in an ongoing way
in our daily lives. We grow in self-acceptance and compassion,
work through our harsh judgments of self and others, and become
better able to act from our awakened hearts in daily life.
In this non-residential retreat, we will learn the formal practice of
metta along with some of the companion practices of compassion,
forgiveness and gratitude. All of these practices strengthen selfconfidence, self-acceptance, and steadiness of mind and heart,
revealing our fundamental kindness.
This meditation intensive is intended for people interested in a
period of sustained practice for whom being away from home
overnight is not easily possible: people with young families,
people with health or mobility challenges, or people with caregiver
responsibilities. Of course, the retreat is also open to anyone who
simply would prefer to return home in the evening.
The retreat will be held in the context of silence, with periods of
sitting meditation alternating with periods of walking meditation.
Full instructions will be offered, along with dharma talks, question
and answer periods, and several short optional sessions of guided
movement. Participants are asked to bring their lunch each day so
that there can be an uninterrupted day of practice that includes
instructions in mindful eating.
Teachings and practices are appropriate for individuals and health
care professionals. Continuing Education (CE) credit available.
“
We can see the impermanent nature of things
when we consider the dew drops that evaporate
into clouds, which then become rain, which then
feed the seeds … Seeing this fluidity means that
we have infinite capacity to grow and change.
We are not locked into who or how we are."
– MARK COLEMAN, Awake in the Wild
36
Family & Teen Programs
Winter Teen Meditation Series
5 Sundays, January 19- February 16, 6 - 8:30 pm
plus Saturday, February 22, 6 - 11 pm
Family Practice Day
Sunday, January 19, 10:30 am - 3 pm
DANA DEPALMA, BETSY ROSE, MURIEL JOHNSON
Family Days are a wonderful opportunity to spend the day
connecting with your children, yourself and a community of
supportive peers. Come play, share, learn and open your heart!
FAMILY PRACTICE PERIOD: A Program for the Whole Family
We start our morning with a program FOR EVERYONE, weaving
the theme of the day into songs, skits and family activities. We
have plenty for your little ones with mindfulness geared toward
children ages 4 - 10. We have added a program for older children
ages 11 - 14 as well. Come and explore mindfulness with us!
YOUTH PROGRAM: During the second half of our day, youth ages
4 - 14 will attend age appropriate groups with our experienced
Spirit Rock mindfulness leaders. They will play, make art, sing
songs, and practice mindfulness together.
PARENT'S PROGRAM: Parents will have an opportunity to
meditate, hear a talk related to parenting as practice, and connect
with one another through group discussions.
Pre-registration requested so we can plan ahead, especially for the
kid's activities.
Volunteers are needed to assist with the event and attend for free.
Children are welcome to volunteer alongside an adult. Contact
our Volunteer & Community Coordinator for more information at
[email protected] or call (415) 488-0164 x224.
Cost: $35-$55 per family, depending on size, plus a donation to the teachers.
No one turned away for lack of funds. Please bring your lunch. Code FA1D14.
2-person family $35, 3-person family $45, 4-or-more-person family $55
Betsy Rose is a singer, writer, recording artist, and mother. She is a renowned
children's artist, teaching children the power of their own voices and creativity
through singing and song-making workshops. She has performed widely
throughout the world at festivals, ecological conferences and spiritual gatherings.
Spiritual leaders such as Thich Nhat Hanh, Matthew Fox and Joanna Macy have
included her music in their work.
ENRIQUE COLLAZO, KATE JANKE
Learn meditation, relax, speak your truth and develop your mind—all
while hanging out with other great people your age. Through the
practices of mindfulness and Insight Meditation, we take the time
to reconnect to ourselves in order to experience more peace,
wisdom and compassion, which we can learn to bring into our daily
lives. Classes will include movement, community building games,
meditation instruction and council, a practice of witnessing the
group's collective wisdom. The final class will include a potluck dinner
celebration. During the class, parents are welcome to read, meditate
and connect with each other in the Spirit Rock bookstore.
Registration limit: 25 students per class. Note: Limited scholarships
and Work Exchange opportunities may be available. Parent
volunteers may be needed to assist with the event. Contact our
Volunteer Coordinator for more information:
Cost $90 - $105, sliding scale. No one turned away for lack of funds.
Code TE1C14.
Enrique Collazo has been practicing in the vipassana tradition since 2005. Since
2009, he has offered daylongs, workshops, and classes as a facilitator and
meditation instructor for youth and adults in Los Angeles and the Bay Area. He is
currently in teacher training with Against the Stream. Enrique shares the Dharma
in a straightforward and practical manner, and loves working with youth and
supporting their transformation.
Kate Janke has been practicing and studying mindfulness meditation since 2004.
She has sat many long retreats in the US and Thailand, completed the Dedicated
Practitioners Program at Spirit Rock, and is in currently in the Spirit Rock and Insight
Meditation Society Teacher Training Program. Her teaching style is based in the
tradition of Theravada Buddhism as well as in secular mindfulness methods and
applications.
Muriel Johnson has been telling stories for 15 years. As a storyteller and teacher
she has shared traditional folk tales and personal stories with thousands of
children and adults from the West to East coast performing at schools, museums,
libraries and festivals. Muriel’s warm gentle presence connects immediately
with the audience as she transforms herself into different characters. Her voice,
movements, expressions and loving spirit will resonate with anyone listening.
See page 38 for Dana DePalma’s bio.
37
Winter Middle School Meditation Series
Spring Middle School Meditation Series
5 Thursdays, January 23 - February 20, 6 - 8 pm
5 Wednesdays, April 23 - May 21, 6 - 8 pm
ADAM BARAZ, KRISSA LEBACQZ
VLAD MOSKOVSKI, NICHOLE PROFFITT
See Winter Teen Series on previous page for full description.
Registration limit: 15 students, pre-registration strongly
recommended, as this series often fills. Note: Limited scholarships
Volunteer Coordinator for more information:
Cost $45 - $60 sliding scale, plus a donation to teachers. No one turned away
for lack of funds. Code TE2C14.
Adam Baraz grew up in a family of meditation practitioners and connected
with the practice of meditation at the age of 15. He spent a semester living in a
monastery in India and has since sat several long silent retreats. One of Adam's
main inspirations is sharing meditation practice with teens while holding space
for them to awaken confidence, deepen empathy and discover inner-wisdom.
Krissa Lebacqz began practicing Insight Meditation in 1998. She has worked
with youth for more than 10 years and her passion is helping teens to develop
awareness, inner-knowing and compassion. She currently teaches mindfulness
and is a counselor at The Bay School of San Francisco. She leads teens on
wilderness trips that integrate meditation and nature-based awareness.
Spring Teen Meditation Series
5 Sundays, April 6 – May 11 from 6 - 8:30 pm
plus Saturday, May 17, 6 - 11 pm
FOREST FEIN, KRISSA LEBACQZ
See Winter Teen Meditation Series on the previous page for
a full description.
Registration limit: 25 students per class Note: Limited scholarships
Volunteer Coordinator for more information (volunteering@
spiritrock.org) or (415) 488-0164 x224.
Cost $90 - $105, sliding scale, plus a donation to the teachers. No one turned
away for lack of funds. Code TE3C14.
Forest Fein, MA in counseling psychology, has worked as an intern seeing
individuals and couples, and as a group leader facilitating ritual and rites-ofpassage programs for youth and families. He has been practicing meditation
since 1999, annually attending residential and daylong retreats.
See Krissa Lebacqz's bio above.
See Winter Teen Meditation Series on previous page for a full
description.
Registration limit: 15 students, pre-registration strongly
recommended, as this series often fills. Note: Limited scholarships
Volunteer Coordinator for more information (volunteering@
spiritrock.org) or (415) 488-0164 x224.
Cost $45 - $60, sliding scale, plus a donation to the teachers. No one turned
away for lack of funds. Code TE4C14.
Vlad Moskovski is a certified NLP practitioner, yoga instructor, and meditation
teacher. His teaching approach is founded on the philosophy that meditation and
mindfulness should be integrated into people's daily lives. Using metaphors and
story-telling, Vlad is able to share his knowledge in a fun and interactive fashion.
He is dedicated to bringing yoga to a variety of populations and frequently works
with the homeless, youth and the elderly.
Nichole Proffitt has practiced meditation in various traditions for the last 15 years,
and in the last 8 years has been primarily influenced by, and committed to, the
vipassana teachings. She has attended several long retreats and has undertaken
intensive practice in Asia and the UK. Her work with youth spans more than 15 years,
in roles such as private-school art and dance teacher, counselor for incarcerated
youth, arts-based workshop facilitator, teen retreat volunteer, and as the volunteer
director of the vipassana community where she lives.
Family Practice Day
Sunday, April 27, 10:30 am - 3:00 pm
DANA DEPALMA, BETSY ROSE AND OTHERS
Family Days are a wonderful opportunity to spend the day connecting
with your children, yourself and a community of supportive peers.
Come play, share, learn and open your heart!
See Family Practice Day on the previous page for a full
event description.
Volunteers are needed to assist with the event and attend for free.
Children are welcome to volunteer alongside an adult. Contact
our Volunteer & Community Coordinator for more information at
[email protected] or call (415) 488-0164 x224.
Cost $35 - $55 sliding scale, plus a donation to the teachers. No one turned away
for lack of funds. Please bring your lunch. Code FA2D14.
2-person family $35, 3-person family $45, 4-or-more-person family $55
38
Spirit Rock Teachers Council
Ayya Anandabodhi has practiced meditation since 1989,
and lived in Amaravati and Chithurst monasteries in the
UK for 18 years. In 2009, she moved to the U.S. to help
establish Aloka Vihara, a training monastery for women,
where she now resides.
Guy Armstrong has been practicing Insight Meditation
for more than 30 years and began teaching in 1984. He
spent a year as a Buddhist monk in Thailand. Guy is a
Guiding Teacher of Insight Meditation Society (IMS).
Sally Armstrong began practicing Insight Meditation
in 1981 and began teaching in 1996. She has served at
Spirit Rock in a number of roles and is co-founder and coteacher of the Dedicated Practitioners’ Program. She is a
Co-Guiding Teacher at Spirit Rock.
James Baraz has practiced Insight Meditation since 1974
and has been teaching since 1980. James leads ongoing
meditation and Awakening Joy classes in Berkeley. He is
the author of Awakening Joy with Shoshana Alexander.
Sylvia Boorstein has been teaching since 1985, and
teaches both vipassana and metta meditation. Her many
books include That’s Funny, You Don’t Look Buddhist and
Happiness Is an Inside Job.
Eugene Cash is a founding teacher of San Francisco
Insight and the co-founder and co-teacher of the
Dedicated Practitioners’ Program. He also teaches the
Diamond Approach® in San Francisco and Holland.
Debra Chamberlin-Taylor has been leading retreats since
1978. In addition to practicing vipassana, she has been
influenced by Dzogchen and the Diamond Approach®.
She also leads workshops on embodiment of awareness
and conscious relationships.
Howard Cohn has led vipassana retreats since 1985 and
leads a weekly sitting group in San Francisco. He has
studied with teachers of several traditions, including
Theravada, Zen and Dzogchen, and has been strongly
influenced by H.W.L. Poonja.
Mark Coleman has been teaching Insight Meditation
retreats since 1997. He also leads wilderness meditation
retreats, integrating mindfulness meditation with nature,
and is the author of Awake in the Wild.
Andrea Fella has practiced Insight Meditation since 1996,
and began teaching meditation classes in 2003. She
has done a number of long retreats, both in the U.S. and
Burma, and ordained as a nun. She teaches at the Insight
Meditation Center in Redwood City and centers around
the U.S.
Anushka Fernandopulle has trained for more than 20
years in the Theravada tradition in the U.S., India and
Sri Lanka. She is on the teaching team at San Francisco
Insight, the Leadership Sangha at East Bay Meditation
Center, and is lead teacher of the San Francisco LGBT
sangha.
Gil Fronsdal has practiced Zen and vipassana since 1975
and holds a PhD in Buddhist Studies from Stanford. He
is founding teacher of the Insight Meditation Center
in Redwood City, and author of a translation of The
Dhammapada.
Will Kabat-Zinn has practiced vipassana meditation
intensively in the U.S. and in Burma for more than ten
years. He currently lives in the San Francisco Bay Area
and teaches regularly at SF Insight, Spirit Rock, and at
meditation centers around the U.S.
Jack Kornfield trained as a Buddhist monk in Thailand,
India and Burma, and holds a PhD in clinical psychology.
He has taught meditation since 1974, and is a founding
teacher of Insight Meditation Society (IMS) and Spirit
Rock. His books include A Path with Heart and The
Wise Heart.
Phillip Moffitt has practiced vipassana since 1983.
He is founder and president of the Life Balance Institute
and holds a weekly Insight Meditation class in Corte
Madera, CA. He is the author of Dancing with Life and
Emotional Chaos to Clarity, and a Co-Guiding Teacher at
Spirit Rock.
Wes “Scoop” Nisker is a meditation teacher, author, radio
commentator and performer. His books include Essential
Crazy Wisdom and Crazy Wisdom Saves the World Again!
He is the founder of “The Inquiring Mind.”
Mary Grace Orr is a vipassana teacher and former
Guiding Teacher of Santa Cruz Insight. She has practiced
many spiritual disciplines for the past 25 years, and has
trained with A.H. Almaas in the Diamond Approach®.
Dana DePalma has practiced Insight Meditation since
1993. She holds a Masters Degree in Counseling
Psychology and is a licensed Marriage and Family
Therapist. She is the Spirit Rock Staff Dharma Teacher
and leads a weekly meditation and yoga class.
Sharda Rogell began teaching Insight Meditation in 1985.
She brings a strong emphasis to awakening heartfulness,
and has been influenced by non-dual teachings,
Dzogchen and the Diamond Approach®.
Anna Douglas, PhD, has a background in psychology
and art, in addition to 25 years of vipassana practice. She
has also studied with teachers in the Zen, Advaita and
Dzogchen traditions.
Donald Rothberg has practiced meditation since 1976.
He is the guiding teacher for the Path of Engagement
program. He is the author of The Engaged Spiritual Life,
and co-teaches the Wednesday morning class at
Spirit Rock.
39
John Travis founded Mountain Stream Meditation in
1993, and opened a center in Nevada City, CA, in 2013.
He has practiced meditation for almost 50 years, and he
spent a decade living in Asia, studying and sitting retreats
with some of the great vipassana and Tibetan masters of
our time.
Visiting Residential Retreat Teachers
Steve Armstrong has been studying and practicing the
Buddha's teachings since 1975. He offers a variety of
Buddhist mindfulness practices designed to strengthen
an unshakeable sense of well-being.
Tempel Smith has been practicing metta and Insight
Meditation since 1989, including a year as a fully
ordained monk in Burma. He graduated from Teacher
Training led by Jack Kornfield at Spirit Rock. Tempel has
been leading retreats for more than ten years.
Christina Feldman is a co-founder of Gaia House in
England and an Insight Meditation Society guiding
teacher. Following training in the Theravada and
Mahayana Buddhist traditions, she has taught meditation
since 1976.
Spring Washam has practiced meditation since 1997. She
is a founding teacher of the East Bay Meditation Center,
in Oakland, CA. Spring is considered a pioneer in bringing
mindfulness-based meditation practices to inner city
communities.
Narayan Helen Liebenson is a guiding teacher at
Cambridge Insight Meditation Center where she has
taught since 1985. She is also a guiding teacher at Insight
Meditation Society (IMS) in Barre, MA.
Julie Wester has been a teacher of Insight Meditation
since 1985 and is a senior meditation teacher at Spirit
Rock. A student of sacred feminine wisdom traditions,
her primary teachers have included Ruth Denison, Joanna
Macy, Lama Tsultrim Allione and the women of her own
family lineage.
Diana Winston is the Director of Mindfulness Education
at UCLA’s Mindful Awareness Research Center. She has
practiced vipassana since 1989, including a year as a
Buddhist nun in Burma, and is the author of Fully Present
and Wide Awake: A Buddhist Guide for Teens.
Larry Yang is a longtime meditator trained as a
psychotherapist. He is interested in creating access to the
Dharma for communities who have felt the experience of
exclusion or difference. Larry is a teacher at the East Bay
Meditation Center.
Teacher Emeritus
Ajahn Amaro trained in Thailand with Ajahn Chah and
Ajahn Sumedho. He is the former co-abbot of Abhayagiri
Buddhist Monastery near Ukiah. He is now abbot of
Amaravati Monastery in England.
Robert Hall, MD, is a physician of the body/mind, a
psychiatrist, poet and meditation teacher. He is a pioneer
in the integration of bodywork, psychotherapy and
spiritual practice. He lives and teaches at El Dharma in
Todos Santos, Mexico.
David Loy is a Zen teacher in the Sanbo Kyodan lineage.
His books include Nonduality, Lack and Transcendence, A
Buddhist History of the West, The Great Awakening, Money
Sex War Karma, and The World Is Made of Stories.
Joanna Macy, PhD, is a scholar of Buddhism, systems
theory and deep ecology. A respected voice in the
movements for peace, justice and ecology, she gives
trainings worldwide for eco-warriors and activists for
global justice.
Greg Scharf has practiced with both Asian and Western
teachers in the Theravada tradition since 1992, including
training as a monk in Burma. Greg has been teaching
residential retreats in the USA and abroad since 2007.
Heather Sundberg began Insight Meditation practice
in 1993, and began teaching in 1999. A graduate of the
Teacher Training Program at Spirit Rock and Insight
Meditation Society (IMS), Heather is a teacher at
Mountain Stream Meditation in the Sierra Foothills, and
teaches retreats nationally.
Carol Wilson has practiced meditation since 1971. She
studied with a variety of teachers, including practice
as a Buddhist nun in Thailand. She has been teaching
vipassana and metta retreats at Insight Meditation
Society (IMS) in Barre, Massachusetts, and around the
world since 1986.
5000 Sir Francis Drake Boulevard
P.O. Box 169
Woodacre, CA 94973
spiritrock.org
Upcoming Highlights
For more information, visit spiritrock.org
Setting Intentions for the New Year
Wednesday, January 1, 10 am - 4 pm
Sylvia Boorstein
E-Sangha: Introduction to Insight
Meditation (Dana – by Donation)
Tuesdays, January 21 - February 18
Sally Armstrong
The Power of Coincidence on the
Spiritual Path
David Richo
Real Happiness at Work
LIVE VIDEO STREAM AVAILABLE
Sharon Salzberg
Dependent Origination
Saturday, March 1, 9:30am-5pm
Tempel Smith
Equanimity - In the Dharma
and In Your Brain
LIVE VIDEO STREAM AVAILABLE
Rick Hanson
Buddhism and the Ecological Crisis
David Loy
Loving the Earth: Awareness, Action
and Celebration (Earth Day)
James Baraz, Jack Kornfield, Paul Hawken
and others

Spirit Rock News

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