Dates: Monday, June 3, 3:00pm – Sunday, June 9, 11:30am
Sliding Scale: $1800-$800 PLUS a donation to the teacher(s) and retreat staff. Code 258R19.
11 CE credits available for $110, for psychologists and California licensed MFTs, LCSWs, LEPs, LPCCs, nurses, and chiropractors.

This retreat is now full. If you are interested in being a commuter (and you meet the prerequisite) or you would like to add your name to the residential wait list, please submit an application. You will need to choose one or the other. We do receive cancellations for residential spaces close to a retreat start, so the longer you’re able to wait, the better your chances of getting in.

Please note: All scholarship funds, including Young Adult rates, have been allocated for this retreat.

Retreat Description:
“It is that gladness connected with the wholesome that I call an equipment of mind….for developing a mind that is without hostility and without ill will.”
-The Buddha

The Buddha was known as “The Happy One.” However, the teachings often seem to emphasize working with suffering. Joy and happiness can seem frivolous or unspiritual even though joy is one of the Seven Factors of Awakening. In this retreat we will practice with an emphasis on cultivating wholesome states to develop our natural capacity for well-being and happiness. Our own development of well-being and joy then becomes our gift to a troubled world.

The retreat includes silent sitting and walking periods with instructions and practice meetings with teachers, as well as some experiential exercises. This retreat is appropriate for both experienced as well as new/beginning students.

Practices will include:

• Inclining the mind toward wholesome states;
• The power of wholesome intention;
• Mindfulness as appreciation practice (wonder and gratitude);
• Embracing suffering as a path to joy;
• How letting go leads to true freedom;
• Integrity as a foundation for well-being;
• Metta (loving-kindness) for self and others;
• Mudita (sympathetic joy);
• Compassion–the expression of a wise heart;and
• The joy of simply being.

Financial assistance is available for all Spirit Rock residential retreats. Our scholarship rate is $40/night and available for all those with financial hardship with special funds allocated to People of Color (POC), folks with serious medical conditions, and young adults (age 18-26). Scholarship funding is offered on a first-come, first-serve basis. Scholarships are budgeted per retreat and because they are in high demand, can run out quickly. We encourage you to register for a retreat as close as possible to the registration opening date (lotteries are an exception).

Teachings are appropriate for health care professionals as well as the general public. Health care professionals will be able to incorporate the tools and practices offered in this program in ways beneficial to clients or patients. Continuing Education (CE) credit available. See below for attendance requirements and more information.

Learning Objectives for participating health care professionals-
Based on the content of this program, you will be able to:

• Explain how mindfulness can interrupt confused and negative thinking;
• Utilize the practice of inclining the mind towards the possibility of more joy, in ways that may improve patient care, or reduce burnout;
• Describe a gratitude practice that supports well-being and may be used to reduce challenging experiences such as stress, anxiety, or depression;
• Incorporate the use of the acronym RAIN when working with clients;
• Describe how compassion affects the nervous system;
• Explain to clients how attachment can lead to suffering;
• Integrate the practices of forgiveness, acceptance, and self-compassion in ways that improve patient care;
• Employ techniques to support clients in counter-acting a tendency towards self-judgment and feelings of unworthiness.

Continuing Education content level: Introductory

Date: June 23, 2019; 10:00am – 4:30pm
Sliding Scale: $75 – 200. Code DC1D19.

Description:
Relationships can be a source of great joy and awakening in which the most difficult challenges are used for growth and for opening the heart. This may sound like a fantasy, yet experience shows us that conscious, loving relations are possible. These relationships are a profound opportunity to take the genuine spiritual journey of letting go of the conditioned self and of opening to the vast heart of compassion. A few essential principles and skills can transform relationships into spiritual practice. In this workshop, we’ll share these essential tools through group discussion, experiential exercises and guided meditations.

Open to those with and without partners.

Date: July 27, 2019; 7:30pm – 9:30pm
Sliding Scale: $30 – 108. Code JA2E19.

Description:
As we sing and meditate with our entire body, heart and spirit, the “noise” of life can stop, allowing us to reconnect with the sheer joy, depth, and beauty of being.

The heart is an honored gateway to our most profound and boundless nature. Using the ancient and sublime blend of kirtan (chanting) combined with periods of guided and silent meditation, we can open the heart of infinite love. Kirtan in the Bhakti tradition taps the nectar of spiritual longing and devotion, and invites us to surrender everything into the sacred.