Join InsightLA’s founding teacher Trudy Goodman and Senior Teacher Celeste Young for this very special 7-night retreat at the beautiful and serene Royal Way Spiritual Center.
A retreat provides an opportunity to deepen our meditation practice with caring support. Taking time for retreat, we step out of the complexity of life today to listen deeply to our body, heart and mind.
In this retreat, mindfulness and insight practices will be complemented by training in loving-kindness and forgiveness meditations to calm the mind and open the heart to loving awareness.
Most of the retreat is held in silence, with periods of sitting and walking meditation. There are teaching talks, guided meditations, time for questions and answers and small group meetings with the teachers. Three healthy meals are provided and dietary restrictions are accommodated whenever possible.
We show you how to practice mindfulness in a continuous way, staying with your own present experience as it unfolds, moment to moment. In this quiet and protected environment, your mindfulness grows, along with new ways of seeing and understanding life.
As we practice together, we each discover our path to inner freedom and strengthen our ability to act on our own behalf while caring for our communities and our world.
Retreats are led by a team of experienced teachers. The teachers offer instructions, dharma talks and regularly scheduled practice meetings to provide guidance throughout the retreat.
Retreat Schedule: (7 nights) 8 days
Arrive 4:00pm on September 8th
Depart 11:00am on September 15th
The daily rhythm of a retreat usually involves alternating periods of sitting and walking meditation, nature walks, meals and tea, as well as practice meetings, dharma talks and rest periods. The first sitting usually begins before breakfast. Each morning the teachers offer continuing meditation instructions for the day. The whole retreat is a succession of mindfulness training, breathing practices, deep awareness of the body and environment, meditations on the nature of feelings, and awareness of mind are from the Buddhist Insight Meditation tradition.
Sitting Meditation: Sitting meditation is at the heart of silent retreats. In sitting practice silence and stillness develop, concentration deepens, and awareness expands. The training of the heart brings kindness and compassion for all that arises. We come into presence and learn to find freedom in the midst of life that as it truly is.
Walking Meditation: Walking gracefully and wisely on the earth is also a way to practice meditation. On retreat, periods of walking meditation alternate with periods of sitting meditation. Through walking or movement practice, we learn to sustain meditative awareness through movement. In walking meditation, we become aware in the midst of activity. Throughout the retreat we learn to cultivate a mindful awareness in all postures, sitting walking and lying down.
Eating Meditation: An awareness of food, and the mindful understanding of the entire process of nourishment and eating is included in the practice at retreats. Retreatants are encouraged to bring the same calm, focused attention to eating as is brought to sitting and walking. Mindful eating is a wonderful context for the arising of insights. Every bite of food we eat contains, rain, sun, earth and the work of many, many beings.
Dharma Talks and guided meditations: Each day, the teachers present a different set of teachings that are central to practicing mindfulness and compassion. These teaching can be applied to our own experience. Sometimes the talks focus on retreat practice, and sometimes they offer teachings for wise living in the world.
Pricing: The price of the retreat includes accommodation for 7 nights and all meals for the duration of the retreat.
Please note that the price of the retreat covers accommodation, food, facilities, and other InsightLA expenses. To allow the teachers to continue their dharma work, support from the students is needed. There will be an opportunity to contribute at the end of the retreat to the teachers.
Meals: All meals will be vegetarian. Some dietary accommodations can be easily made in terms of non-dairy and gluten-free dietary requests. In other instances where specific needs cannot be met, we recommend you bring your own food to the retreat. A small, shared refrigerator, and a microwave, will be provided.
Accommodations:
** We currently have just one Double Room left. It is shared with a male ** Additional rooms may be available in a shared house located approximately 400 meters from the main hall – – please contact us at programs@insightla.org for pricing and details.
For more information about Royal Way – CLICK HERE.
