Befriending Mortality: Living An Awakened Life Through Mindfulness of Death (Maraṇasati) (374R24) - On Land

Registration opens at 9:00am (Pacific Time) on June 26, 2024 and closes 11:59pm (Pacific Time) on October 26, 2024. A waiting list will be created if the retreat fills early.

Interested in Commuting to the retreat? – learn more below.

RETREAT TO BE HELD ON THE LAND!

Open to: Everyone

Description:
Death is not exactly a typical dinner table topic in modern, dominant Western culture. We all “know” that we die, yet we tend to ignore it and put our collective heads in the sand. Rather than running away from our inevitable mortality, we can harness the power of this reflection to stay aligned with our deepest values and to live and love more fully. Through mindfulness of death (maraṇasati), we become more present for this miraculous, passing show called life with gladness and gratitude.

Fully embracing our life’s impermanence can give rise to a deep letting go and freedom, so that we can be fearlessly and peacefully prepared for our death as a potentially liberative moment. Considering the myriad spiritual benefits of maraṇasati, let us come together to explore this supreme practice, one on which the Buddha invited us to reflect daily for the sake of ourselves and others.

This silent retreat includes one daily session of interactive practice which is particularly essential for deepening and supporting our engagement with maraṇasati practice.

This retreat is silent except for teacher-led Q&A, small groups, or other practice meetings.

Financial Details
Residential Retreat Sliding Scale: (prices subject to change)*
Supporter Rate w/guaranteed single room – $3600
Benefactor Rate – $2880
Sustainer – $2160
Basic – $1440
Toni Ko Scholarship Rate (1st time retreatants, ages 27-55 yrs) – $50
Scholarship Rate (BIPOC, Mudita/Karuna, or Young Adult [ages 18-26 yrs]) – $390
*Fees DO NOT include a donation to the teacher(s). You will be given an opportunity at the end of the retreat to offer Teacher Dana.

Scholarship offerings: All scholarship rates require a minimum fee ($65/night). Scholarships are limited to TWO per calendar year for on-land retreats. And, while we are not able to offer “pay what you can”-type of scholarships for in-person retreats, they are still available for online offerings as space allows.

Room Occupancy: We have double and single occupancy rooms. Many of our rooms are single occupancy (only 16 of 80 rooms are double occupancy). We offer a “guaranteed single room” rate and these will be limited (20). This rate guarantees a single room while helping to support scholarships and all we do here at Spirit Rock. The remaining single rooms are not exclusive to the top end of the sliding scale; however, they are initially prioritized for those with serious medical needs.

IMPORTANT – Details on our current COVID Safety Protocols for In-person Retreats.

CANCELLATION POLICY (Residential Retreats):**
Standard Cancellation Fees:

• $100 On or before 8 weeks
• $175 4-8 weeks before
• $300 2-4 weeks before
• No refunds as of 2 weeks before

Scholarship and Commuter Rate Cancellation Fees:

• $75 On or before 8 weeks
• $100 4-8 weeks before
• $200 2-4 weeks before
• No refunds as of 2 weeks before

**Fees reduced for serious illness or death in family

Retreat Commuter Option:
The retreat commuter option will only become available once the retreat is full with a waitlist.

Prerequisite to Attend as a Commuter:
You must have attended at least one 7-night or two 5-night silent, Insight (vipassanā) meditation residential retreats PRIOR to attending this retreat.

What is a Retreat Commuter?
A retreat commuter is a practitioner who attends a full residential retreat, including all meals, but they are not provided with overnight accommodations. Instead practitioners stay in their own home or find local accommodations. A communal resting area is provided during the day while on campus for the retreat. The retreat commuter is expected to attend the entire retreat just like residential retreatants. Special reduced rates are listed below for retreat commuters

If you have questions about being a retreat commuter, please email Registration@spiritrock.org

Commuter Sliding Scale:
Commuter-Sustainer – $1080
Commuter-Basic – $720

Continuing Education (CE) credit available:
This program offers 18 CE credits for $180 for psychologists, and California licensed MFTs, LCSWs, LEPs, LPCCs, nurses, and chiropractors supporting patients coping with end-of-life situations. Please review our Continuing Education Credit information page to determine if your association or board will accept credits offered by Spirit Rock.***

Teachings are appropriate for health care professionals as well as the general public.

Learning Objectives for participating health care professionals-

• Describe the benefits of reflecting on mortality and death, in ways that may be used with clients.
• Describe one form of avoidant behavior in response to mortality according to Terror Management Theory.
• Describe a mindfulness of death meditation practice, designed to foster meeting our fear, suitable for implementation with clients.
• Incorporate the meditation of “this breath could be my last,” with self and others, to appreciate the immediacy and intimacy of life-and-death.
• Describe, and examine with clients, the entanglement of attachment and the liberation in letting go.
• Incorporate practices with clients to visualize body’s decay postmortem, to embrace death as nature’s ordinary process.
• Incorporate practices with clients to meditate on both the inevitability and the uncertainty of death’s timing.
• Examine relationship to uncertainty, or “not knowing,” in ways that may be used with clients.
• Incorporate practices with clients to recognize the aliveness and life force present in this moment to cultivate embodied presence and appreciation for being alive.
• Utilize art, such as poetry or prose, as tools for embracing one’s own finitude and letting go, in ways that may be used and shared with clients.
• Write your own obituary as a tool to gain perspective, in ways that may be used and shared with clients.
• Utilize visualization practices regarding one’s own death as a tool for informing one’s life path, in ways that may be used and shared with clients.

Continuing Education content level: Introductory

Schedule: (Full attendance is required. Times are listed in Pacific time.)

• 10/27
• No CECs

• 10/28-11/1
• 8:30 am – 9:30 am; Guided Practices with Instructions, Q&A
• 3:30 pm – 5:15 pm; Contemplative Inquiry Practice with Guided Meditation
• 7:30 pm – 8:30 pm; Evening Discourse
• 11/2
• No CECs

***Please note:

• For full Provider information, and additional CEC information, including attendance requirements, cancellation, and grievance policies, please visit our Continuing Education Credit information page.
• For those with a different license than listed above, or with a license from a different board or association than listed on our CEC info page, please contact your licensing board or association directly to request pre-approval/acceptance of CE credits offered at Spirit Rock. Spirit Rock does not confirm applicability of credit for those with licenses different than those listed.
• Spirit Rock is a provider approved by the California Board of Registered Nursing, Provider Number CEP16905 for 18 contact hours.
• Credit is awarded for instructional time only and does not include extended silent meditation, if offered.