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  • Location Big Bear Retreat Center
  • Experience Levels All
  • Date Starts Tuesday, December 20, 2022
    Ends Monday, December 26, 2022

    6 nights
  • Ride Sharing Sign-Up

This retreat is nearing full. We have select rooms available. If interested, please email andreas@bigbearretreatcenter.org with your room request/preference (ie female double room)

Join us in the serene San Bernardino Mountains amongst the pine trees! This retreat is a hybrid, to join online click here. 

Please note this retreat meets the requirements for participants in Jack Kornfield + Tara Brach’s Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification program through Sounds True.

The form of the retreat is held in contemplative silence and includes meditation instruction, Dharma talks, classical meditation practices, Qi Gong, multiple daily sessions of chanting, mantra practice, and ceremony. There will be opportunities to meet with the teachers and share within the group.

This retreat is offered to strengthen refuge and resilience to better resource ourselves within the intensity of these times by drawing from a unique synthesis of Insight meditation and the Kuan Yin Dharmas. This approach, cultivated over the years by Kittisaro and Thanissara, provides a context for the practice of contemplative inquiry, which supports embodying the transformative power of the Bodhisattva path.

The beloved Elder, Thich Nhat Hanh, taught, “we are here to awaken from our illusion of separateness.” At this inflection point in our planetary journey, we are caught between a regressive, divisive force energized by fear, and an evolutionary longing to leap beyond old painful systems of extraction and oppression that are destroying the Earth.

At the crux of this dynamic is the free will of the human heart/mind. The Buddha said this mind “is the forerunner of all things.” Endeavoring to honor his words we will be working with body, mind, and heart, aligned within the deep listening of Kuan Yin to better prepare ourselves as conduits for service, as taught by Ajahn Chah, of the Living Dharma.

The teaching team supporting this retreat, all bring exceptional contributions to our collective exploration of awakening and cultivation of the Bodhisattva heart.  Special attention will be given to the care of self and body alongside care from the team to hold the space with realness, mutual respect, and a lightness of being.

Tentative Schedule (subject to change)
Day 1:

2:00-4:00 Arrival and Check-In
5:30 Dinner
7:00 Opening Ceremony
9:30 Rest/Further Practice – Sharing of Blessings

Days 2-6:
6.00 Quan Yin Bowing
6:10 Silent Sitting/Stationary Meditation
6:50 Chanting
7:15 Walking/Movement Meditation
8:00 Meal Time
9:00 Instructional Sitting/Stationary Meditation with Teacher Input 
10:00 Walking/Movement Meditation or Small Groups (when assigned)
10:45 Silent Sitting/Stationary Meditation
11:30 Qi Gong
12:30 Lunch
2:30  Silent Sitting/Stationary Meditation with a Few Words and/or Chant
3:00 Walking/Movement Meditation or Small Groups (when assigned)
3:30 Silent Sitting/Stationary Meditation
4:15 Walking/Movement
5:00 Silent Sitting/Stationary Meditation
5:30 Evening Meal
7:00 Chanting and Sitting/Stationary Meditation
7:30 Break
7:40 Dharma Talk
8:30 Walking/Movement Meditation
9:00 Silent Sitting/Stationary Meditation
9:30 Rest/Further Practice – Sharing of Blessings

Day 7:
5:30  Wake-up
6.00 Quan Yin Bowing
6:10 Silent Sitting/Stationary Meditation
6:50 Chanting
7:15 Work Period (when assigned) or Walking/Movement Meditation
8:00 Breakfast
9:00 Closing Ceremony
10:45 Retreat Ends (please be checked out by 12pm)

COVID Requirements (read more):
-Proof of full vaccination + boost
-Proof of negative covid PCR test within 3 days prior to arrival
-Masks Required Indoors for first 48-72 hours

To offer or join a ride share, click Sign-Up to the left. Thank you for supporting fellow practitioners.

Kittasaro

Born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Kittisaro graduated from Princeton as a Rhodes Scholar. After leaving Oxford in 1976, he ordained with Ajahn Chah in Thailand. During his 15 years as a Buddhist monk, he helped found Chithurst and Hartridge Monasteries in the UK. Since disrobing in 1991, he has taught meditation internationally in the States, Europe,... Read more

Thanissara

Thanissara is an Anglo-Irish teacher from London and started Buddhist practice in the Burmese school of U Ba Khin in 1975. She was inspired to ordain after meeting Ajahn Chah and spent 12 years as a Buddhist nun where she was a founding member of Chithurst and Amaravati Buddhist Monasteries in England. Her practice and... Read more

Gullu Singh, JD

Gulwinder “Gullu” Singh is a mindfulness and Dharma teacher who also practices corporate real estate law. Although he was exposed to meditation as a child, he found his own practice when, after law school, he found himself working at high-powered law firms where the job was extremely stressful. Gullu completed the four-year Spirit Rock Meditation... Read more

Gabrielle Hammond

Gabrielle Hammond (Movement Teacher | Qigong) has been practicing as an acupuncturist and doctor of Taoist and Traditional Chinese Medicine for past 28 years, under the tutelage of a 64th generation Taoist Master Chang Yi Hsiang, who initiated her journey into contemplative arts, meditation, and qigong practice at a young age. Gabrielle continues to teach... Read more

Pricing Options
Single Room Private Bath $2620
Single Room Shared Bath $2200
Double Room $1180
Triple Room $760