Receiving the Blessings of Mindfulness in Everyday Life

October 24-26, 2008
Spirit Fire meditative Retreat Center
Leyden, MA

Spend the weekend
Renewing and Deepening your Practice

All-Inclusive Retreat $400 **

Cost includes all yoga instruction, props,
2 nights lodging and all meals and beverages

In the spirit of the sangha, all accommodations are shared—breaking down barriers and living our yoga within an interdependent and like-minded community…

*Limited number of private Rooms available
at a cost of $500—reserve early!

* Partial scholarship available for students who have a great desire to deepen their practice on retreat, but who are of current limited financial resources—contact Chris personally for details and to confidentially apply

What is retreat?
Every retreat is different.

For some, it is a time of peaceful reflection about one’s life and spiritual path.

For others it is a time of healing, using the tools of meditation and yoga asana practice.

Yet others may use the time of stillness as preparation for change or decision-making.

For the participants in this Yoga and Meditation Weekend, I might suggest using the time as a space in which to let go of any need to do or to be…  A time in which we just notice….

Why practice ‘Smiling Social Silence’?

Because we use stillness as a vehicle by which we might begin to access our true, inner selves, begin to touch upon the wisdom that comes only from quietude,  practicing ‘silence’ frees us from our conditioned social responses.  That is, in our everyday lives, we habitually ‘meet and greet,’ making dutiful, polite social talk;  we tend to put our smiles on ‘autopilot,’ offering them unthinkingly whenever we make eye contact with another.  Silence is meant to free us from mind-less duty and obligatory behaviors.  However, for the novice, the practice of Social Silence is often thought of as an avoidance of eye contact, and may have the energy of ‘shouldn’t’ make contact, ‘shouldn’t’ smile, ‘have to’ be quiet—carrying the feel of artificiality, and thus, being something that we need to ‘make fun of.’  Silence as a practice can feel artificial, but need not carry the feeling-tone of an ‘edict’ or a ‘should.’  In ‘Smiling Social Silence,’ we are given explicit permission to either keep our attention focused within, not pressured to ‘meet and greet,’ freed from the ‘duty’ of smiling, OR we are given explicit permission to joyfully, and from the depths of our being, SMILE as we encounter ourselves and each other….Making each smiling moment a ‘Namaste’ moment, wherein the light within me truly and joyfully bows to the light within you… Free from the tyanny of the shoulds...

October Retreat to be held at
Spirit Fire Meditative Retreat Center
a space dedicated to retreat and renewal. 

Sample Retreat Program
Friday
Arrive by 5 or 5:30 pm
Dinner 6-7 pm
Evening Program 7:15—9 pm
Begin Smiling Silence
Optional Evening Meditation 9-9:30 pm

Saturday
Optional Morning Meditation 6:30-7 am
Breakfast 8-9am
Morning Program 9:30-11:30 am
Lunch Noon-1 pm
Afternoon Program 1-4 pm
~Free time~
Dinner 6-7 pm
Optional Evening Activity
Optional Evening Meditation 9-9:30 pm

Sunday
Optional Morning Meditation 6:30-7am
Morning Program (Breaking Silence)
8-11am
Brunch Noon
Depart for home...

Bring along a Journal as we will be
writing about our retreat experience...

$100 Deposit Due September 10th
to secure a place in the retreat

Final Payment due October 14th

Registration limited to 10

Early Bird!
Pay in full by September 10th and save $50

Please call with any questions,
or if I might be of further assistance in helping
to understand the process of going on retreat!

I encourage students of all levels and abilities
to join us—as well as those for whom this will be
their first retreat experience.