Date: Monday, June 4, 3:00pm – Sunday, June 10, 11:30am
Cost: Sliding Scale $1505 – $685, PLUS a donation to the teacher(s) and retreat staff. Code 362R18.

This retreat is now in progress.

Retreat Description:
Prerequisite: Completion of at least one 5- to 7-night silent Insight meditation/Vipassana retreat. And, participants must be age 55 or above.

Living life fully includes aging and dying. It’s a natural process, and ripe with spiritual possibilities. Aging brings loss; what we once assumed to be “ours” slips away, revealing the pervasive truth of impermanence. But even as our memory slides, our cognitive speed slows down, and our bodies become more fragile, qualities of the heart reveal themselves. We see that the potential for wisdom and compassion does not depend on the state of the body or on our age, but rather on the training of the mind to abide in timeless awareness. It is best to begin this training before you are ill or dying. Then, like a treasured friend, your own mind can accompany you through the challenges of aging, loss, illness and dying. Right now, we know we will die but we do not know when or how. Through engaging in a variety of contemplations on death in the communal space of retreat, our confidence in our capacity to meet death peacefully increases.

Join a group of your peers who are interested in life after 55 as a new stage of life, one which offers opportunities for deepening in wisdom and compassion, and loosening our fears around dying. Teachings will offer a blend of the traditional ancient wisdom of the Buddhadharma with more contemporary views and resources for helping us prepare for death. This is a silent retreat with one period a day of interactive contemplative inquiry in dyads or small groups. In addition, there will be daily instructions in mindfulness, meetings with the teachers, dharma talks and qigong.