During this retreat we will explore the Buddha’s foundational teachings of kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity. Known as the Brahma Viharas, or Divine Abodes, these inner qualities of heart and mind can be cultivated amidst all the conditions and events of our lives, the delightful, the difficult, the uncertain.
This retreat is an invitation to nurture what is already alive in each of our hearts. While the Brahma Viharas are natural human capacities, if cultivated they can support us when most needed. Over the course of the retreat, each of us will be invited to make kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity the home of our hearts. We will develop these inner qualities in our formal meditation practice and explore them through inquiry and dialogue.
Courage of the heart teaches us that each moment of our precious lives is an opportunity to cultivate inner clarity, ease, and freedom. The Brahma Viharas can help us face the many difficulties of our country and world today in a more skillful, spacious way. This is an extraordinary way of living our lives, here and now.
Program Format: Each day will include guided and silent meditation practice, teachings, exploration, and daily contemplative group inquiry of how to cultivate the Brahma Viharas.