The courses and retreats listed here are led by the teachers on the Teachers page. The page is current - listings appear in date order and are taken down one day after the start date. Buttons take you to the relevant websites with all information and application processes. To view past retreats and courses in order to get a sense of the range of offerings over time, please click the button below.
Past Retreats and Courses
Meeting on Sundays, 9am - 10:45am Pacific Time (5pm - 6:45pm BST)
Grasping and aversion towards aspects of experience that feel relatively neutral happens “below the waterline” of overt thought processes. In this course we’ll work with meditation practices and strategies that may reveal new and subtle terrain within experience, and have the potential to release aspects of clinging that are woven into our habits of perception.
Note: this is a rescheduling of a course previously listed for last November.
Die buddhistischen Lehren laden uns ein, herauszufinden, was uns bewegt, bindet und befreit. Wir konnen einschrankende, oft schmerzhafter Gewohnheitsmuster erkennen, hinterfragen and mindern. Und unsere Fahigkeit zu Fursorge, Mitgefuhl, Freude and Offenheit kann sich zeigen, entwickeln und festigen.
Auf der Grundlage dieser shonen and nahrenden Aspekte des Herz-Geistes wollen wir insbesondere die befreienden Qualitaten von Offenheit und Weite erforschen und kultivieren. Unser Herz-Geist kann bewusst als unermesslich weit, radikal akzeptierend, underschutterlichund klar wahrgenommen werden. Diese kraftvolle Wahrnehmung unterstutzt eine empfangliche und gelassene Haltung gegenuber all unseren Erfahrungen. Wir konnen beginnen, die leere Natur alle Phanomene und die Freiheit, die dieses Verstandnis mit sich bringt, zu spuren.
Thus have I heard. The Venerable Ānanda went up to the Buddha, bowed, sat down to one side, and said to him: “Sir, good friends, companions, and associates are half the spiritual life.” “Not so, Ānanda! Not so! Good friends, companions, and associates are the whole of the spiritual life.”
Upaḍḍhasutta (Samyutta nikāya)
How might we understand what it could be to see friends, companions and associates as the whole of the spiritual life? What could this mean to you and to us? How can we use different ways of looking and Buddhist cultivation to expand our ideas around participation in friendship and community?
This five-day residential experience will offer us a dedicated container to explore these questions together. Through meditation, dialogue, deep reading, inquiry, short periods of silence, ritual, dance, and collective joy, we will investigate for ourselves and with each other what it might mean for ‘spiritual life’ and ‘ saṅgha’ to be created and discovered in ways that reach and touch every aspect of our lives.
Created and peer-facilitated by Nicole Marie and Wah Isaacs in their roles as HAF community members. Both are longtime students of Rob Burbea and Catherine McGee.
Mettā means loving-kindness, loving intention, or friendliness. Such friendliness is an essential quality for a sincere and persistent deepening of Dharma practice. Mettā realises the potential for freedom of our hearts.
We will practice Mettā as it has been practised for thousands of years: turning toward and holding the experience of body, heart, and mind with kindness. From there, we will expand that kindness to those who are close to us, those who are distant, and in every direction.
Gradually, we will integrate additional directions into the practice - gathering the heart and mind in Samadhi, working with emotions, integrating compassion, joy, and equanimity, and exploring liberating ways of looking.
The teachings will be informed by Rob Burbea’s approaches to Mettā, Samadhi, and Insight practices.
All are welcome to explore these practices during this residential retreat. This retreat is appropriate for everyone, whether they have extensive meditation experience or none. However, if you cannot attend the residential retreat, you can alternatively join online for the Dharma teachings, meditation instructions, and guided meditation sessions. For online attendance, you will need some stability in your practice, as you will need to sustain your practice independently between sessions.
Teachings are offered in English and will not be translated. The daily routine consists mainly of sitting and walking meditation, with instructions for meditation, an evening talk, an hour-long work period, and a voluntary mindful movement exercise. The retreat is held in silence except during individual or group interviews with a teacher.
