The Hermitage: Meditation Retreats

Beginner-level Meditation and Yoga
Alison Yarwood combines her personal experience of the meditation path with physical yoga and body-work in this introduction to sitting meditation, which has been appreciated by long-term meditators as well as beginners. This five day silent retreat provides an ideal environment to find peace within and provides a foundation for building your personal meditation practice. In easy-to-follow guided steps Alison will show you how to attain inner tranquility, personal insight and renewed joy. Alison Yarwood has decades of experience in teaching the methods taught by her master, Yogacarya B.K.S. Iyengar.

• Silent. Teachings / Yoga / Meditation.
• Led by Alison Yarwood, certified IYAC yoga instructor.

Kundalini Yoga and Meditation
Kundalini Yoga and Meditation as taught by Yogi Bhajan in the sublime Sikh Tradition. This retreat will explore self-healing yogic techniques that awaken the consciousness and potential of the individual. Through the daily practice of powerful Kundalini Yoga Kriyas, Meditations, Mantras and Pranayama (breathwork), we open the heart and awaken the spirit within. Practical teachings and tips of the Yogic Lifestyle, such as healing foods and herbal teas, hydrotherapy, etc. Optional early morning sadhana practice will also be offered. This class is great for beginners as well as advanced students of meditation and yoga.

Led by the yogi Devmurti and the yogini Hari Amrit Khalsa, KRI-Certified Kundalini Yoga Instructors who have taught yoga and meditation for over 30 years. Devmurti and Hari Amrit also had the good fortune to study and live with the great Kundalini Yoga master, Yogi Bhajan, for over 25 years. Teachings/Kundalini Yoga Practice.

Natural Liberation:
Awakening to Your True Nature
This year the Hermitage is privileged to offer a retreat led by Canadian meditation master Doug Duncan Sensei, a teacher known for his energetic, humorous and highly practical approach to the personal Path of Awakening. Doug Sensei has been teaching at Dharma centres around the world for over twenty years. His principal teacher was Ven. Namgyal Rinpoche, the great Canadian-born lama who was recognized as a tulku by the heads of all four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism (including His Holiness the Dalai Lama). Doug Sensei has also studied with the late Kalu Rinpoche, the Nyingmapa master Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, Sakya Trizin (head of the Sakyapa school of Tibetan Buddhism), the great 16th Karmapa of Tibet, and His Holiness the Dalai Lama. He is well-versed in all the major Buddhist traditions and systems of meditation, including Japanese Zen, and additionally has considerable experience in the Sufi tradition of Islam, the Western mysteries and orthodox Christian mysticism. The rare opportunity to meet with him here, on the West Coast, is not to be missed.

• Silent. Teachings/Meditation Practice.
• Led by Doug Sensei.
• IMPORTANT: Registration for this retreat only is through MuditaBC.

Summer Solstice Retreat
Calm-abiding meditation is the basis and foundation for all other forms of meditation. The method mainly consists of applying concentration as a means of developing inward meditative absorption (dhyana). The focus is on the breath and usually includes a visual object. At the Hermitage, this practice is performed, whenever possible, in nature and according to one’s own capacity, with length of sitting determined by the individual. Beginners often start with short, ten minute sittings, and over time work up first to twenty minutes, and then to hour-long sessions, all the while making sure that their meditation experience remains enjoyable, comfortable and pleasant. By ensuring that meditation be a physically pleasant experience, students are surprised to discover how very quickly they get into “deep” states of true absorption. Emphasis is laid on the fact that Calm-abiding Meditation is intended to lead to bliss, Samadhi and spiritual awakening.

• Daily private time with the teacher.
• Silent. Teachings/Calm-abiding (Shamatha) Meditation Practice
• Led by Lama Rodney Devenish

Anapanasati Meditation Retreat
Let the breath lead you rapidly into deep meditation. Anapanasati, attention to the inward and outward flow of the breath, is the method taught by the Buddha as the surest path to Enlightenment. Lama Gerry Kopelow, from Winnipeg, Canada, is a highly respected teacher who has guided many seekers to higher states of consciousness through Anapanasati. This meditation technique has also proved highly successful in clinical trials as a way of dealing with and conquering anxiety, depression and other stress-related problems. It is so direct, so simple, so to the point, that it is considered by many who are seeking liberation and the acquisition of real peace and wisdom to be the greatest of all meditation paths.

• Silent. Teachings / Meditation Practice.
  
• Led by Lama Gerry Kopelow

The Kasina Retreat
A long time student of Namgyal Rinpoche and currently residing at the Hermitage, former Buddhist monk Lama Lodroe Rinpoche (Sidney McQueen-Smith) is giving a special “Kasina Retreat” this year: a rare opportunity to learn the esoteric techniques of creating and using Earth, Air, Fire and Water “Kasinas” to enhance your meditation experience. You will receive instruction on how to make each kind of Kasina, and how to work with these devices to take your meditation to a whole new level. Used primarily as a powerful tool for Awakening, Kasina-meditation has also proven to stimulate psychic faculties – clairvoyance, telepathy, even healing powers and levitation. These teachings are rarely given in the West. Lama will be teaching from the tradition of the Visuddhimagga, “the path of inner catharsis,” as taught in Burma and Ceylon. Other Visuddhi-magga practices will be taught if time allows.

• Silent. Teachings / Meditation Practice.
• Led by Lama Sidney McQueen-Smith

Calm-Abiding in the Midst of Nature
This silent practice retreat will focus on the nine stages of what is called Shamatha or Calm-abiding Meditation. Primarily a practice aimed at attaining inner states of profound concentration, this retreat is led by Lama Rodney, with daily teaching, personal interviews, and with each practitioner encouraged to practice at their own pace, on their own in the midst of nature. The aim of Calm-abiding meditation is bliss and Samadhi, a state of one-pointed lucidity or heightened consciousness, as the ground for the acquisition of personal Insight. Five days is short for this kind of work, but enough to attain unusual levels of calmness, peace and self-integration. Calm-abiding meditation is considered the foundation upon which all other forms of successful meditation practice depend.

• Silent. Teachings / Shamatha Meditation Practice.
• Led by Lama Rodney Devenish

Mahamudra Retreat
This highly disciplined meditation retreat involves daily instruction each morning, followed by private interviews with the teacher, carried out in a traditional manner based on the meditation lineage of Namgyal Rinpoche. Because it is important that those attending be familiar with Hermitage routine and knowledgeable in the centre’s style of meditation practice, it is a requirement for admission to this retreat that applicants have completed at least one Calm-abiding meditation retreat at the Hermitage.

Mahamudra is considered the “pinnacle” or “summit” of meditation – the core instruction of the ancient Kagyu school of Tibet, and the supreme means for coming to experience the true nature of the mind. It is the very heart of the Buddha’s teachings. Inquiry is conducted in precise steps through a combination of deep meditation and pointed questions, according to a program proven successful for thousands of years. Strict silence during the retreat and many, many hours of disciplined meditation practice are expected from all who attend.

• Silent. Teachings / Meditation Practice.
• Led by Lama Rodney Devenish

Avalokitesvara: Way of Love and Compassion
Lama Shenpen has led a full life, first as a married woman with children, and then as an ordained Buddhist nun. She is best described as a true spiritual elder, having spent much of her life studying and practicing the Dharma. In 1995 she accomplished a Three Year Retreat on Mt Tam, Salt Spring Island, with the guidance of by her root Lama, the late Kalu Rinpoche.

 Lama’s retreat will focus on the practice of devotion, love and compassion, particularly embodied in the luminous ideal of Avalokitesvara. She will explain what is required to access the purer level of your being through meditation. Lama’s instruction will cover such subjects as Calm-abiding (shamata) practice, meditation posture, sitting and walking meditation, going-to-sleep meditation, the four thoughts that turn the mind, silence, and how best to establish a daily routine. There will be plenty of time for questions and answers. Learn how the power of love for others is capable of profoundly transfiguring your heart and mind.

• Teachings/Meditation
• Led by Lama Shenpen

Chöd: The Sweet Laughter of the Goddess

Notice: The Chöd retreat with Ngakpa Kalsang Dorje has been cancelled.

In its place we will have... "Natural Mind," a Calm-Abiding retreat.

• Silent meditation practice retreat appropriate for all levels of experience.
• Led by Lama Rodney Devenish
  

Uniting Calm-Abiding and Transcendant Insight
Shamatha and Vipasyana – Calm-abiding meditation and Insight practice – are two aspects of the Buddha’s path to awakening. Merging them both brings meditation practice to fruition and opens the door to self-knowing. Without internal direction, meditation can lead nowhere if the seeker does not understand what it is that he or she is looking for. But when self-inquiry is brought into one's meditation practice, signs of progress can appear quickly. This retreat focuses on using inquiry to investigate the nature of the mind and explore the nature of one’s personality and behavior.

• Silent. Teachings / Meditation Practice
• Led by Lama Rodney Devenish

Kundalini Yoga and Meditation
Kundalini Yoga and Meditation as taught by Yogi Bhajan in the sublime Sikh Tradition. This was such a success last year, that we have been asked to present it a second time this year. The program will be similar to the May retreat described above. We will explore self-healing yogic techniques to awaken the consciousness and follow through with daily practice of powerful Kundalini Yoga Kriyas, Meditations, Mantras and Pranayama (breathwork), to open the heart and awaken the spirit within. Optional early morning sadhana practice will also be offered.

This class is led by the yogi Devmurti and the yogini Hari Amrit Khalsa, KRI-Certified Kundalini Yoga Instructors who have taught yoga and meditation for over 30 years. They also had the good fortune to study and live with the great Kundalini Yoga master, Yogi Bhajan, for over 25 years. Teachings/Kundalini Yoga Practice.

Yoga Nidra: Awakening in the Deep Sleep State
Sleep your way to enlightenment? Yes, its true. Yoga Nidra is a skill that has been taught in India since ancient times. There are references to the art of Yoga Nidra in the Mandukya Upanishad. The term “nidra” refers to the state of conscious awareness that is ever present in the deep sleep state, an awareness referred to as our “inner wisdom” (prajna). The methods of Yoga Nidra taught by George McFaul aim at realizing this naturally present inner awareness through yoga and sleep. Yoga embodies our innate well-being, and Nidra leads to realization. These ancient techniques can equally be used to promote physical and emotional healing, deep relaxation, a balanced life, and inner peace and happiness, as well as to attain higher levels of consciousness. You will learn skills that can be applied in the midst of daily life, providing a sense of confidence when encountering difficult situations, and helpful in dealing with depression, anxiety/fear and the experience of chronic pain. Under George’s calm guidance you will learn how to embody joy and gain renewed energy in your life.

• Teachings / Yoga Practice
• Led by George McFaul

Maitri Bhavana: Meditation on Love
For the last meditation retreat of the year we focus on Opening the Lotus of the Heart, or in other words, Meditation on Love. What is love? There is love for one another, love for friends, children, mother and father, and then there is romantic love. But there is also something called unconditional love – Upeksha. What is this power, that some have described as the greatest force in the Universe? As Namgyal Rinpoche taught it, much of our love (i.e., ordinary love) is passive – we feel love when stimulated by an external phenomena; for example, when we are loved by another. We “fall” in love, and we “fall” out of love. Much of the time we are only theoretically “in love” because our love is not activated by our will or coming from the core of our being. These teachings say that we can change passive loving into a state of “proactive love” through meditation, and that this change alters the human being. The power of love becomes an actual force that transmutes the individual, and we become what in the tantric tradition is called a Great Lover (mahakrpa), a Vidyadhar or “wisdom-centred being.” Learn what the Buddha called the four Divine Abidings, the four stages of Prem or Love, and how to develop each stage in turn. Learn to open the heart. Learn to be genuinely transformed by love.

• Silent. Teachings / Meditation Practice
• Led by Lama Rodney Devenish