Mettā Retreat: Teachings and Practices to Cultivate a Wise, Awakened, and Responsive Heart (202R25) - On Land

Registration opens at 9:00am (Pacific Time) on – September 10, 2024 and closes at 11:59pm (Pacific Time) on – January 9, 2025. A waiting list will be created if the retreat fills early. Continuing Education Credits? (see details below).

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

Retreat to be held on the land

Description

Mettā, or lovingkindness, practice is the cultivation of the intention of benevolence as the orientation of our heart and mind. It is also a path to wisdom. We develop our capacity for mettā through meditation (which is practiced steadfastly on retreat) in order for it to manifest in an ongoing way in our daily lives. In this retreat, we will learn the formal practice of mettā along with its companion practices of compassion, joy, and equanimity. All four of these practices—known as the brahmavihāras or Divine Abodes—strengthen self-confidence, self-acceptance, and steadiness of mind and heart, revealing our fundamental disposition toward kindness. We will be joined on one day of the retreat by Sylvia Boorstein, a beloved long-time teacher of mettā.

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

Teacher(s)-in-Training: Ronya Banks

Financial Details

Sliding Scale fees are for 7 nights including food and lodging. Please consider paying at the highest rate that you can afford: your generosity supports Spirit Rock’s efforts in offering lower sliding scale rates and supporting the large number of scholarship requests.*

Supporter Rate w/guaranteed single room – $4200
Benefactor Rate – $3360
Sustainer – $2520
Basic – $1680
Scholarship Rate (BIPOC, Mudita/Karuna, or Young Adult [ages 18-26 yrs]) – $665
*Registration fees DO NOT include teacher dana. At the end of the retreat, there will be an opportunity to offer dana to the teachers and to Spirit Rock.

Scholarship offerings: All scholarship rates require a minimum fee. 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.

EFFECTIVE OCTOBER 1, 2024 – Covid-19 Safety Protocols for residential retreats have been updated..

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:
Sustainer-Commuter – $1260
Basic-Commuter – $840

Continuing Education (CE) credit available:
This program offers 16.5 CE credits for $165 for psychologists, and California licensed MFTs, LCSWs, LEPs, LPCCs, nurses, and chiropractors. 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. By cultivating self-confidence, and self-acceptance through mindfulness practices and the development of loving-kindness, healthcare providers can enhance their ability to approach their patients with kindness and compassion, fostering a therapeutic environment. These practices are of relevance and significance for healthcare providers seeking to strengthen their capacity for steadiness of mind in their daily work, and enable them to navigate the challenges and demands of their profession with more patience and equanimity.

Learning Objectives for participating health care professionals-
At the end of the program you will be better able to:

• Describe the four practices that comprise the “Divine Abodes” that may be utilized to strengthen self-confidence, self-acceptance, and steadiness of mind and heart;
• Utilize a lovingkindness practice, when working with or in preparation for clients, in ways that may reduce stress;
• Utilize a lovingkindness, compassion, or forgiveness practice for working with difficult clients/patients or co-workers;
• Utilize kindness practices for motivation, rather than self-criticism, with self and share practices with clients/patience;
• Describe techniques to cultivate compassion, joy, and equanimity, that may be used to reduce compassion fatigue;
• Describe how a self-compassion break may be used to improve patient care and reduce emotional exhaustion;
• Describe how to shift inner dialogue from self-criticism to self-care and self-acceptance;
• Describe a practice to cultivate forgiveness, for self or others, that may be used to relieve the stresses of working in the health care field;
• Utilize a practice to cultivate sympathetic joy and bring more warmth, kindness, and balance into caring for patients and clients;
• Utilize an equanimity practice when working with clients or patients, or with coworkers, to transform reactive mind states;
• Utilize the principles of mettā and its companion practices (compassion, joy, and equanimity) in patient care to enhance therapeutic relationships and improve patient outcomes.

Continuing Education content level: Introductory

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

• January 10
  • No CECs
• January 11 – 16
  • 8:30am – 9:30am: – Instructions, Q&A, Guided Meditation Practice
  • 4:00pm – 4:45pm: – Brahmavihara Practice and Q&A
  • 7:35pm – 8:35pm: – Evening Dharma talk
• January 17
  • 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 the 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 16.5 contact hours.
• Credit is awarded for instructional time only and does not include extended silent meditation, if offered.