We’ll create a space of ease and support for QTBLGAI2S people to cultivate mindfulness, kindness and wisdom through insight meditation. Sharing silence and meditative space with community allows us to make greater peace with ourselves and our lives, one moment at a time. While listening to the teachings of wisdom and compassion and mindfully sitting, walking, eating and resting, liberating insights arise, and clarity and freedom is gained. We can learn to find an ever-deepening sense of well-being, touching joy and fostering the heart’s release. We practice in this way both for our own benefit and for the benefit of others. Open to beginning and experienced meditators who self-identify as queer, questioning, trans, genderqueer, non-binary, bisexual, lesbian, gay, agender, intersex or two-spirit.

Through registration and financial assistance, we are prioritizing the participation of BIPOC (Black folks, Indigenous people, and People of Color).

With Anushka Fernandopulle

Anushka Fernandopulle is a lifelong spiritual practitioner who has trained for over 20 years in the Theravada tradition in the U.S., India and Sri Lanka and teaches retreats and workshops around the country. Anushka also works as a leadership coach and management consultant, influenced by a BA in anthropology and religion from Harvard University and an MBA from the Yale School of Management. Anushka is on the Spirit Rock Teacher’s Council and leads a weekly group in San Francisco, Monday Night Dharma. Her teaching is informed by nature, creative arts, political engagement, innovation and modern urban life.

Il est essentiel pour notre santé physique, mentale, sociale et spirituelle de prendre parfois un moment pour nous retirer et ralentir un peu. Marquer un temps d’arrêt dans notre vie peut être agréable et sert à nous revitaliser à tous les niveaux; c’est donc un cadeau que nous nous offrons, et que nous offrons aussi à ceux qui nous entourent.

Nous profiterons de cette « pause-santé » pour pacifier et unifier l’esprit afin de prendre conscience de la fugacité et de la fragilité de cette vie précieuse qui nous est donnée. Calmer le mental, ouvrir le cœur, et inviter en nous la sagesse : voilà ce qui est au menu de ce week-end de méditation silencieuse en nature!

Cette retraite est enseignée en français.

We will explore together how mindful awareness can allow the fullness of our human experience to be felt with balance. We will sit together guided by the teachers, practice walking meditation in silence, and we will consider the Buddha’s teaching and make it relevant for us today. Our minds and hearts will be cultivated to become responsive, opening to all this life has to offer, healing the sharp edges and cultivating the truth and joy we can offer others and ourselves.

With Jill Davey

Jill Davey is the founder of RiverSound Retreat and Insight Meditation Fergus. She has been teaching Hatha Yoga and yogic meditation since 2003. Since her first meditation retreat in 2008, Jill has devoted herself to the study and practice of Vipassana (Insight Meditation) and sharing her understanding with others, both at her Retreat Centre and at other centres in Ontario. She has been mentored by Molly Swan and Norman Feldman; her offerings include retreats, daylongs, and courses. She is skilled at connecting the relevance of these ancient teachings of awareness, wisdom and kindness to daily life experience. Jill brings her previous years of experience as a community worker and lay chaplain to her teaching.

What does it mean to be present, connected and awake? How do we experience true freedom of body, heart and mind? This silent weekend retreat, open to all, is an opportunity to unplug and explore these questions through Buddhist philosophy and contemplative practices. Guidance in vipassana (insight) and metta (lovingkindness) meditation will be offered, encouraging greater awareness, calm abiding and openheartedness. We will practice mindfulness in sitting meditation, walking meditation, and even while eating. Through these ancient practices, still relevant for modern times, compassion and wisdom deepen, and our innate freedom is revealed.

Co-Teacher:

Bonnie Duran

Bonnie Duran, DrPH, began Buddhist meditation practice 35 years ago. She enjoys teaching Spirit Rock’s Dedicated Practitioners Program, short and long retreats, and holds a People of Color and Allies Sangha in Seattle, WA. She also directs the University of Washington’s Center for Indigenous Health Research.

Assisted by:

Roxanne Dault

A dedicated student and practitioner of Insight Meditation for the last 10 years, Roxanne has completed nearly 350 days of silent residential retreats in Asia and in the USA, including a 3-month retreat at the Insight Meditation Society. She recently completed a 2-year meditation teacher mentorship program with Daryl Lynn Ross and Pascal Auclair of True North Insight in Montreal. She has also completed a 2-year intensive Buddhist study and practice program with TNI, and MBSR training with Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn.

We’ll create a space of ease and support for QTBLGAI people to cultivate mindfulness, kindness and wisdom through insight meditation. Sharing silence and meditative space with community allows us to make greater peace with ourselves and our lives, one moment at a time. While listening to the teachings of wisdom and compassion and mindfully sitting, walking, eating and resting, liberating insights arise, and clarity and freedom are gained. We can learn to find an ever-deepening sense of well-being, touching joy and fostering the heart’s release. We practice in this way both for our own benefit and for the benefit of others.

This retreat is open to both experienced and beginner meditators who self-identify as queer, questioning, trans, bisexual, lesbian, gay, agender, intersex or two-spirit.

A limited number of You Choose fee spaces are available for ages 18 – 26. This means you can establish your own retreat fee, based on your financial means. A minimum of $20 per day is required (i.e. a minimum of $100 for the entire retreat).

Co-Teacher: Jean Esther

Assisting: Shelly Graf

Shelly Graf started their meditation practice in 2004 at Common Ground Meditation Center. Since 2010, they’ve taught this practice to young adults, in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction classes, and at meditation retreats. They are a participant in the 2017-2021 IMS Teacher Training Program.

This retreat will include periods of silence and discussion, in which we will explore the links and differences between the Dharma (Buddhist teachings and meditation techniques) and Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT).

Co-teacher:  Patricia Rockman, MD CCFP FCFP

Patricia is a Family Physician with a focused practice in mental health. She is an associate professor at the University of Toronto, department of Family and Community Medicine, cross appointed to Psychiatry. She initiated and chaired the Ontario College of Family Physicians, Collaborative Mental Health Care Network for a decade and continues to act as a mentor to Family Physicians delivering mental health care. She has extensive experience training healthcare providers in Stress Reduction, CBT, Mindfulness-based practices and other related areas. She maintains a private clinical practice and runs Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy groups. She maintains both a personal meditation and yoga practice.

This retreat is organized by the Dutch Insight Meditation Foundation, in cooperation with Sangha Metta. The retreat will be held in Noble Silence and is suitable for beginners as well as more experienced meditators. 

We’ll create a space of ease and support for LGBTQ people to cultivate mindfulness, kindness and wisdom through insight meditation. Sharing silence and meditative space with community allows us to make greater peace with ourselves and our lives, one moment at a time. While listening to the teachings of wisdom and compassion and mindfully sitting, walking, eating and resting, liberating insights arise, and clarity and freedom is gained. We can learn to find an ever-deepening sense of well-being, touching joy and fostering the heart’s release. We practice in this way both for our own benefit and for the benefit of others. Open to beginning and experienced meditators who self-identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer or intersex.

For more information, please check the organizer website. Thank you!

Can the qualities of friendliness, care, courage, joy and balance create the right conditions for the deepening of wisdom? Or are they simply beautiful expressions of it? Or both? While silently sitting and walking with meditative presence, and with guidance from the teachers, we can open more fully to the life both around us and inside of us. Through the quality of this connection, we can discover for ourselves how living with a sense of fullness and engagement might be possible. This retreat is open to all.

Co-Teacher:

Bonnie Duran

Bonnie Duran, DrPH, began Buddhist meditation practice 35 years ago. She enjoys teaching Spirit Rock’s Dedicated Practitioners Program, short and long retreats, and holds a People of Color and Allies Sangha in Seattle, WA. She also directs the University of Washington’s Center for Indigenous Health Research.

Assisted by:

Roxanne Dault

A dedicated student and practitioner of Insight Meditation for the last 10 years, Roxanne has completed nearly 350 days of silent residential retreats in Asia and in the USA, including a 3-month retreat at the Insight Meditation Society. She recently completed a 2-year meditation teacher mentorship program with Daryl Lynn Ross and Pascal Auclair of True North Insight in Montreal. She has also completed a 2-year intensive Buddhist study and practice program with TNI, and MBSR training with Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn.