This is a virtual retreat hosted on zoom. The email with the zoom link will be sent out on Friday afternoon.

The emphasis will be to deepen our experience of compassion.

Date: Saturday June 6th 2020

Time:

• USA:
  • EDT: 9:00 am to 7:30 pm
  • CDT: 8am to 6:30 pm
  • MDT: 7am to 5:30 pm
  • PDT: 6am to 4:30 pm
• London: 2pm to 00:30 am
• Paris: 3pm to 1:30 am

• Teacher: Cedric Reeves
• Cost: Free.  Donations are accepted as well
• Partial attendance is fine – Come and go as you like!

Practice Technique – Covered in the Morning Lecture

The suggested practice is Tong Len. Tong Len is a Tibetan compassion practice. Practice instructions will be given in the lecture in the first hour. You are totally free to practice a different technique if you prefer. Metta would be a good alternative if Tong Len doesn’t work for you.

Second Lecture and Guided Meditation

A second lecture will on Tong Len, and Bodhichitta (the desire to awaken for the benefit of others) and some readings from Shanti Deva’s “Way of the Bodhisattva.

Walking Meditation

Brief walking meditation instruction will be offered. Most hours will consist of a 20 minute walking meditation session and a 40 minute seated meditation session. Also self-guided yoga can be done in lieu of walking meditation during those 20 minute periods.

Yoga (optional)

I’ll guide an hour long Yoga session. The Yoga routine will be made up of two sequences. The first is based on the “how to grow a lotus” sequence which is specifically designed to help with long meditation sitting. The second sequence is Tibetan Sun Moon Yoga which supports deep meditative experience. So bring a Yoga mat

The retreat is suitable for beginners

Tong Len is a safe practice for beginners. But, it can be kinda weird if you aren’t used to it. Metta (loving-kindness) or breath/concentration practice should be used if Tong Len starts to get more difficult.

Partial Attendance, coming and going, etc

You can come and go whenever you like based on your availability and interest. (The Europeans likely can’t attend the full retreat.) Full participation will yield the most powerful result, however.

Misc.

The schedule is similar to a Zen retreat schedule.

However chanting will be of a traditional Tibetan flavor.

We’ll chant the Eight Verses of Mind Training at the beginning and end of the day. This is the version we’ll chant: https://www.lotsawahouse.org/tibetan-masters/geshe-langri-thangpa/eight-verses-training-mind. At the beginning of each sit we’ll chant the Tibetan Mantra “Om Mani Padme Hum”. Chanting is very powerful and strongly recommended.  It brings you to immediate presences.

It would be helpful to have a set of Mala Beads, or a Rosary available for the retreat.

Sign-ups are open: https://forms.gle/d5twg9Yr729R8D8z7

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Photo by Kaeyla McGee