Tag: parents retreat 2015

Gratefully Stopping - Going on the Retreat for Mothers

By ElkeWeiss on Mon, 5 Oct, 2015 - 15:33

Gratefully Stopping - Going on the Retreat for Mothers

By ElkeWeiss on Mon, 5 Oct, 2015 - 15:33

On Friday last week I was running around. It was just a normal day at work: my new office is still not entirely sorted, and I don’t have a phone. This isn’t ideal when you are trying to chase up things for students. It’s even worse when you lose your own mobile phone on the way to work. Thank God for colleagues with mobiles with unlimited minutes. Oh, and here’s the head of department, wanting to organise what needs organising...

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Meditation Workshop - Five Breaths

By Free Buddhist Audio on Thu, 1 Oct, 2015 - 23:28

Meditation Workshop - Five Breaths

By Free Buddhist Audio on Thu, 1 Oct, 2015 - 23:28

As a companion to her talk, The Possibility of Practice and her guided Meditation on the Three Bodies (physical, emotional, and mental) this workshop is indispensable. Amaragita explodes and expands notions around the practice of paying attention via awareness of the breath, using the deceptively simple exercise of taking just five breaths through the day.

We hear how the practice relates to the theory of Buddhist meditation and are encouraged to choose and learn from our direct experience...

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The Possibility Of Practice

By Free Buddhist Audio on Tue, 29 Sep, 2015 - 00:13

The Possibility Of Practice

By Free Buddhist Audio on Tue, 29 Sep, 2015 - 00:13

If a talk could ever be described as beautifully bracing, this is it! Amaragita brings a sharp-edged mind and a long-term perspective to the whole question of what practice is.

As you might expect, she also brings humour, warmth and kindness too, qualities that more than balance out the penetrating clarity and sometimes challenging questioning underpinning this exploration of the possibility of practice - for all, and especially for those raising families at any stage of life.

Amaragita offers three principles for...

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Stop, Look and See What Arises

By sheena on Sun, 27 Sep, 2015 - 15:30

Stop, Look and See What Arises

By sheena on Sun, 27 Sep, 2015 - 15:30

I really loved hearing Amaragita’s welcome to the retreat. I also found it painful. I experienced envy and jealousy. A hunger to ‘intervene in [my] life as usual’ and ‘untangle [my] existential knots’. I resonated with her description of a sense of needing to stop; of everything shouting ‘stop’!

I have stopped a few times today. I woke early to meditate and check in to the retreat. Instead both my children woke early too. I...

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At the Close of the First Full Day

By karunagita on Sun, 27 Sep, 2015 - 15:04

At the Close of the First Full Day

By karunagita on Sun, 27 Sep, 2015 - 15:04

It is a privilege to be able to support mothers on a retreat and inspiring to see how much impact a relatively short space of time in a place such as Taraloka can have. There is a huge amount of appreciation and the atmosphere on the retreat was warm and friendly from the Friday evening, as mothers connected easily with each other.

This afternoon people met in smaller groups to discuss whatever was arising for them at the time. One...

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Karunagita - Lightening the Load

By Free Buddhist Audio on Sun, 27 Sep, 2015 - 00:39

Karunagita - Lightening the Load

By Free Buddhist Audio on Sun, 27 Sep, 2015 - 00:39

A great talk from Karunagita, author of A Path For Parents, with some key practical insights for anyone trying to figure out how to go deeper with their practice while raising children. We get a moving evocation of parenting as a distinct context for working with our conditioning, our views, and for learning to break our habits in order to cultivate ever deeper levels of awareness and love.

And as you might expect, all the earned wisdom of this talk...

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A Morning Puja - Four Reminders, Three Terrible Oaths

By sheena on Sat, 26 Sep, 2015 - 13:52

A Morning Puja - Four Reminders, Three Terrible Oaths

By sheena on Sat, 26 Sep, 2015 - 13:52

The Terrible Oaths bit is something that Dayaka added for Buddhafield North to Vessantara’s Morning Puja!

It’s very helpful and bracing if I pay attention to it…

The Four Reminders
Life has inevitable difficulties. No one can control it all.

This body is impermanent. Death is certain.

The karma I create shapes the course of my life.

This human birth is precious, an opportunity to awaken.

These four reminders
...

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The Dedication Ceremony - A First Post To Set My Intention...

By sheena on Fri, 25 Sep, 2015 - 22:28

The Dedication Ceremony - A First Post To Set My Intention...

By sheena on Fri, 25 Sep, 2015 - 22:28

I have just read aloud the dedication ceremony sat on my cushion surrounded by the train track I have left out so I can meditate first thing tomorrow morning. I found it very moving to describe our home as ‘this sacred spot’ – and to dedicate this place to my best intentions. It reminded me of Ratnavandana’s talk ‘Living In the Mandala’ from Bristol’s Rainy Season Retreat.

We dedicate this place to the Three Jewels:
To the Buddha, the Ideal of Enlightenment to which we aspire;
...

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Buddhism and Meditation for Parents - Online This Weekend!

By Candradasa on Fri, 25 Sep, 2015 - 18:08

Buddhism and Meditation for Parents - Online This Weekend!

By Candradasa on Fri, 25 Sep, 2015 - 18:08

Update: we’ve had so much great material from Taraloka we’re going to keep going with this well into the week! Meditations and talks coming soon…

This weekend we’re focussing on how to practice Buddhism and meditation as a parent (or parent-to-be!), and we’re delighted to be able to bring you resources live from the Retreat for Mothers that’s just getting started on at Taraloka Retreat Centre for women. We hope mums and dads everywhere will...