Meditative Joy: Reclaiming the Heart of Practice

Instructor(s): Willa Blythe Baker and Elizabeth Monson

Program Description:

The practice of meditation requires discipline and commitment. For many of us, after years of practicing, meditation becomes a task that we undertake more from a sense of obligation than from a sense of sincere interest. This change can creep up on us until our meditation practice has dwindled or vanished. When we do show up on the cushion, we often spend more time struggling than resting in a state of tranquility and ease. In this weekend-long program, we will explore what gets in the way of a consistent meditation practice, and what methods we can employ to work with these blockages. In particular, we will focus on a key ingredient of successful meditation practice: joy. If joy in practice has diminished, our willingness to engage becomes diminished as well. During this weekend, we use three simple steps to re-establish our meditation or spiritual practice. First, we engage in exercises to explore exactly where we are in relationship to practice, with curiosity and self-honesty. Second, we begin a process of discovering what is in the way, and inquire into what work we need to do to move forward. This second step becomes an ongoing process that extends well beyond the program itself. Third, we explore the ways that our meditation practice can be reframed as an activity of spontaneity, delight and discovery of the unknown. This includes the possibility of widening our vision of what meditation is and does, in order to integrate practice into many aspects of our life. The weekend also includes introductions to easy techniques that can be employed on the cushion to reclaim the joyful heart of practice. Suggested Reading: Everyday Dharma by Willa Miller.

About the Instructor(s):
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  Willa Blythe Baker

  Willa Blythe Baker, Ph.D., is the founder of Natural Dharma Fellowship and its retreat center Wonderwell Mountain Refuge in Springfield, NH. She was authorized as a lineage holder (lama) in the Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism after twelve years of monastic training and two consecutive three-year retreats. Willa is the author of several books, including The Wakeful Body: Somatic Mindfulness as a Path to Freedom (Shambhala Publications, 2021) and The Arts of Contemplative Care (with Dr. Cheryl Giles, Wisdom Publications, 2012). She is currently working on a translation of a memoir by the Dzogchen master Jigme Lingpa.

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  Elizabeth Monson

  Elizabeth Monson, Ph.D., is the Spiritual Co-Director of Natural Dharma Fellowship and the Managing Teacher of Wonderwell Mountain Refuge, a Buddhist meditation retreat center in Springfield, NH. She holds a Doctorate in Religious Studies with a focus on Tibetan Buddhism and Ethics from Harvard University. She has been studying, practicing, and teaching Buddhism for over thirty years and has been ordained as Lama in the Kagyu tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. Elizabeth just completed a biography of Tales of a Mad Yogi: The Life and Wild Wisdom of Drukpa Kunley, for Shambhala Publications (April 2021). Elizabeth also regularly leads pilgrimages to Bhutan.