We invite you to the residential/online retreat Feeling Freedom, held between 7-14th September 2024 in Zen center Vrážné and led by Gaia House teachers Zohar Lavie and Nathan Glyde, who will be joining us and guiding us online.
To live is to feel. We feel the contact of breath and touch; we feel our inner and outer world through our heart-mind; and in the Dharma, feeling specifically refers to vedanā—the feeling we have about sensations: pleasant, unpleasant, or neither. Each of these distinct meanings of ‚feeling‘ calls for an appropriate response, for we can all too easily get desensitized, overwhelmed, or reactive to what we feel. Dharma teachings and practices reveal ways to meet the full range of feelings we encounter in our lives in transformative ways. What we feel through contact can be sensitively shaped towards harmonious well-being. All we feel through our resonant heart-mind can be nurtured into liberating beauty. And vedanā, when met with wholesome skilfulness, eventually frees everything.
All are welcome to come and explore these practices on this residential retreat. This retreat is appropriate for everyone, whether they have a lot of meditation experience or none. However, if you cannot attend the residential retreat, you can still join online for the Dharma teachings, meditation instructions, and guided meditation sessions. For the online attendance, you will need some stability in your practice, as you will need to sustain your practice independently between sessions.
Teachings are offered in English and will not be translated. The daily routine consists mainly of sitting and walking meditation and includes instructions for meditation, an evening talk, a working period, and a voluntary mindful movement exercise. The retreat is held in silence except during individual or group interviews with a teacher.
NATHAN GLYDE has been practicing and studying meditation since 1997 and sharing teachings on retreats since 2007. In 2004, he co-founded SanghaSeva.org, whose retreats emphasize wisdom and compassion in ecological and humanitarian service. Nathan’s schedule and teachings can be accessed at DependentOrigination.org.
ZOHAR LAVIE has been practicing meditation in different traditions since 1995. Since 2006, she has been teaching at silent retreats and Dharma gatherings in India, Europe, and Israel. She also facilitates retreats that offer service as a spiritual path with SanghaSeva | Meditation in Action.
Date: 7-14th September 2024
Place: Zen center Vrážné, vraznezen.org
Financial contribution:
- In-person attendance: 4300 CZK standard price, 3500 CZK students and seniors. This contribution covers the costs of accommodation, food, and basic costs for organizing the retreat; however, it does not cover the financial support for the teacher. The financial contribution for the teacher – dāna – is a voluntary, however very welcomed way of generosity of supporting the teacher.
- Online attendance: on dāna.
Food: vegan meals with optional dairy products will be provided 3 times a day. If you have any food restrictions, let us know.
Accommodation: in shared rooms in sleeping bags. Alternatively, the participants can sleep in their small tents in the garden.
Applications: For residential and online attendance, please send applications to retreats@meditacevhledu.cz. We ask both the residential and online applicants to attend the retreat for its whole duration until 12:30 pm, Saturday 14th September. Reservation of the place for residential retreatants is made by the non-refundable prepayment of 1000 CZK.