Retreats
Structure
Supportive, not prescriptive.
Some common components
- 30m sits
- silent
- guided
- focused series
- 10m or 20m walking
- 1h dharma talk
OMB programme
- welcome, introduction
- silence begins, 20m guided sit, 20m guided walk, 30m sit
- morning tea
- 30m sit, 20m walk, 30m sit
- lunch
- 30m sit, 20m walk, 30m sit
- afternoon tea
- 30m sit
- silence ends
Waking Up programme
- 30m sit, 20m walk
- 10m guided reflection
- 1h dharma talk
- 10m walk, 30m sit
- 1h dharma talk
- 20m walk, 20m sit (metta)
Sesshin (multi-day)
- 30m sit, 10m walk, repeating
- An hour or two of gardening, cooking, or cleaning a day
- Minimal sleep
- Yaza: more time in zazen on the penultimate day of 5-day or 7-day, when the mind and ego are tired
Often takes about three days to really settle in.
April one day
- 30m silent sit, 10m walk
- “The Headless Way” guided sits (9 Sessions, 1h 39m), with 10m walks
- Morning break
- 30m silent sit, 10m walk
- “Experiments in Having No Head” guided sits (13 Sessions, 1h 55m), with 10m walks
- Lunch break
- 30m silent sit, 10m walk
- 30m silent sit, 10m walk
- Afternoon break
- 30m silent sit, 10m walk
- 30m silent sit, 10m walk
- Closing reflections
September one day
- Read Tao Te Ching
“Study” bits
- A copy of Tao Te Ching.
- Zen poetry or koan-like things.
- A Dharma book, usually only for a weekend-long.
- One of the slim tomes.
- Dharma talks, audio only.
Observations and reflections
- I like having a Theme for the retreat, to tie it all together a bit.
- Having a specific plan for post-retreat, or end-of-the-day, is helpful.
- After the retreat ends, something that’s similar in vibe. Quiet and calm. Not immediately right back into it.
- I tend to like starting with guided, then tailing off into silent.
- But keeping some guided ones in my back pocket.
- I’ve just noticed that I haven’t (officially (?)) incorporated art into retreats.
- Sketching nature.
Helpful things
- Plan and write out the schedule. Don’t have to stick to it, but having it is good.
- Put away most technology.
- Use the iPod instead of the phone for playing guided meditations / talks.
- Home samu (looking after the house).
- Set interval bells if you’re struggling to focus.
Themes
- Koan(s)
- The Headless Way
- Henry Shukman and Original Love, Original Nature
- Nondual roundtable. Sam Harris, Adyashanti, Jayasāra, Jitindriyā, Loch Kelly, John Astin, Diana Winston, more.
- Retreatvening: an evening-long retreat.
- Start immediately after work.
- It’s a (‘)treat!
- Precepts, a Precept.
Added 2024-03-31, last updated 2024-11-24.