Dates: March 15 – 17, 2019. Times: Friday: 1:30pm – 5:30pm; Saturday: 9:30am – 5:00pm; Sunday: 9:30am – 1:00pm.
Sliding Scale: $395 – 795. Code PM1M19.

Description:
Change is a fact of life and yet we can find ourselves ill-equipped to manage it skillfully.

The normal concerns that change brings up can lead to confusion, apathy, or poor decisions. In this workshop, you can learn skills to effectively respond to the challenges of change.

• Gain insights about your strengths and challenges in dealing with change.
• Recognize habits of mind that undermine you and learn practices to disengage from their influence.
• Create a strategy for effectively navigating your change.

Expect a weekend of dynamic inquiry and learn to meet change with authenticity, confidence, and clarity.

Date: April 6, 2019; 9:00am – 5:00pm
Sliding Scale: Dana (by donation). Code PM1G19.
7 CE credits available for $70, for psychologists and California licensed MFTs, LCSWs, LEPs, LPCCs, nurses, chiropractors, and acupuncturists.

Description:
Care providing has obvious challenges — stress, energy demands, tension, and excess workload. And it has hidden costs — self-criticism, sacrificing self-care, and despair.

In this day retreat, we focus on renewal and explore some of the skillful means the Buddha taught that can mitigate the stress of care providing.

You will learn the importance of placing attention, the art of letting go of expectations, how to determine what your true responsibilities are, and how to recognize and respond to the confusion that arises around care providing.

The program includes guided meditations, dharma talks, self-care techniques, gentle stretching, and group discussion.

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:

• Utilize self-care techniques to enhance emotional well-being and reduce the risk of professional burnout;
• Use mindfulness practices to support emotional-regulation and reduce reactivity while working in stressful conditions;
• Detect patterns of expectations and attachments to outcome that may undermine effectiveness and deplete energy;
• Identify specific self-care goals as relates to the body in order to increase physical well-being and sustain care providing capacity.

Continuing Education content level: Intermediate

Dates: Monday, June 17, 3:00pm – Sunday, June 23, 11:30am; 6 nights
Sliding Scale: $1600-$700 PLUS a donation to the teacher(s) and retreat staff. Code 263R19.
Will open for registration on 2/20/2019.

Retreat Description:
As a support for Insight meditation, the Nine Bodies teachings offer you a new means for tracking and classifying meditative experiences, which can help you stay present with whatever arises. These explorations may also increase the clarity and specificity of your mindfulness and enable the arising of insight. The retreat will start by focusing on the consciousness that arises in the physical body and then presents a series of meditations for exploring ever more subtle levels of consciousness. These teachings and meditations are not presented as an alternative or a substitute for your current lineage practice but rather, to help you be more empowered in your Insight meditation practice; the retreat will include how to utilize the Nine Bodies teachings while practicing Vipassana. This retreat systematically explores a set of teachings about the nature of consciousness that were first transmitted to Phillip Moffitt by the Himalayan yoga master Sri Swami Premvarni Balyogi twenty years ago. They are the basis for Phillip Moffitt’s book: Awakening through the Nine Bodies.

The format for the retreat will include sitting and walking practice and also a significant amount of background information and detailed instructions about the practices due to the subtle nature of this material.

This retreat is not recommend for students who are experiencing acute depression or grief, or other strong mental challenges. All practice discussions will be groups rather than individual on- to-one meetings.

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).

Dates: Sunday, August 18, 3:00pm – Tuesday, August 27, 11:30am; 9 nights
Sliding Scale: $2300-$1100 PLUS a donation to the teacher(s) and retreat staff. Code 278R19.
Will open for registration on 4/17/2019.

Retreat Description:
Concentration (samadhi), the collection and unification of the mind, was emphasized by the Buddha as one of the aspects of the Eightfold Path. It can bring joy to your practice and lead to the skillful use of pleasure in the meditative process. Whatever your level of practice, you can improve your Insight Meditation (Vipassana) by strengthening your concentration skills. Your ability to concentrate will develop in response to the attention you give it.

This retreat offers a series of techniques for staying on the meditation object for extended periods of time. We will explore the factors of concentration that lead to the deep absorption states known as jhana. Teachers will also give instruction for utilizing concentration during insight practice.

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).

Dates: Thursday, October 17, 3:00pm – Saturday, October 26, 11:30am; 9 nights
Sliding Scale: TBD, PLUS a donation to the teacher(s) and retreat staff. Code 304R19.
9 CE credits available for $90, for psychologists and California licensed MFTs, LCSWs, LEPs, LPCCs, nurses, and chiropractors.
Will open for registration on 6/19/2019.

Retreat Description:
This retreat will emphasize quieting the mind, opening the heart, and developing clarity and depth of practice. Traditional meditation instruction will be combined with a spirit of loving-kindness and silent sitting and walking meditation, dharma talks and practice meetings with teachers.

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).

A unique scholarship opportunity — the Hemera Contemplative Fellowship! If you are 18 years of age or older with a commitment to service — serving others through your profession — you should consider reviewing the eligibility for this Fellowship. In general, this Fellowship is for those who are full-time in the listed eligible professions and are new to silent residential retreat practice. Follow this link for more detailed information: Hemera Contemplative Fellowships. ONE scholarship allowed per person, per calendar year.

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.