Monday, June 4, 2012

Upcoming Summer Retreat: Aug 3 to 10




Retreats allow you to deepen your practice. A retreat is approaching. I don't have the digital poster for it yet. The registration information is at chancommunity.ca. A 3 day retreat is $130 and a 7 day retreat is $210: a bargain especially considering who is leading the retreat. A suggested donation above and beyond the not-for-profit costs ($130 and $210) would be given to the Hermitage and to the monk, Master Guo Jun, who is leading the retreat. The retreat has registered 35 people already without advertising. It will be the largest retreat the Hermitage has hosted. The food is fantastic. There is camping on site and a few cabins are available for non-campers. There are many b and b's available but if you are thinking b and b, better pre-book it now. Most cabins will be shared unless there are particular individual challenges. 

Do a retreat if you can. If you've never done one before, choose a 3 day retreat. They may not let you do a longer retreat than 3 days if you've never retreated before. If you have meditative experience, go deeper and do a 7 day. Dont' go to the retreat if you don't develop a daily sitting practice before the retreat. It's much too difficult to sit for all that time. The first three days are the hardest. 

Go onto the Hermitage site http://www.dharmafellowship.org/hermitage/ for more info on Master Guo Jun, and register through chancommunity.ca, not the Hermitage.

All this month we are sitting at Courtenay Elementary School, the 2nd floor...the first room you'll see at the top of the stairs, Thursday nights, 7 to 9. For the one person who told me she could not get there before seven because she leads a yoga class, call me 898 8201. Sometimes the janitor closes the front doors after 7:10. I'll talk to him. We will switch to Gordon's studio the first Thursday in July, same times, 7 to 9 only the date will CHANGE TO WEDNESDAY evening.