We Are Sacred Beings: Turning Loving Awareness Inward as we Care for Community (274R21)
Amana Brembry Johnson, Margarita Loinaz, MD, nakawe cuebas berrios, CNM, Yong Oh, Lissa Edmond, APN-C and Ramona Lisa Ortiz-Smith, MBA
June 29 - July 3, 2021
Registration open until 11:59 p.m. (Pacific Time) on June 28, 2021. A waiting list will be created if the program fills early.
OPEN TO ALL SELF-IDENTIFIED BLACK, INDIGENOUS AND PEOPLE OF COLOR
Description:
Our current world culture is wading through a time of unprecedented uncertainty, fear, and threat of violence and death. We must nourish the sacredness of our being and replenish the strength of our heart if we are to fully face this suffering with wisdom and compassion.
Dharma practice offers us a way to develop a deep and abiding freedom, beyond external conditions and changing circumstances. During this silent home retreat, we will practice forms of sitting and walking meditation that invite us to follow pathways that settle the mind/heart.
The retreat will offer Dharma talks, group meetings with teachers, and mindful movement practices. These activities will be geared toward turning our loving attention to the internal wisdom needed to connect more deeply to the root needs of our own hearts, families, and beloved communities. This retreat is appropriate for both beginning and advanced practitioners.
Participants are asked to attend the full duration of the retreat.
“To allow oneself to be carried away by a multitude of conflicting concerns, to surrender to too many demands, to commit oneself to too many projects, to want to help everyone in everything, is to succumb to violence.”–Thomas Merton
All BIPOC folks are welcome! No one will be turned away for lack of funds as space allows. For more information, please email Registration@spiritrock.org.
General Daily Schedule (for middle days of retreat; modified schedules for the 2 partial days on either end; schedule subject to change; times are Pacific Time)
Opening Day:
8:30-9:00 a.m. Tech Orientation (Optional)
9:30 a.m.-12:00 p.m. Opening Circle
12:00-1:30 p.m. Meal Break
1:30-2:15 p.m. Guided Meditation
2:30-3:15 p.m. Guided Movement; and Small Groups
3:15-4:15 p.m. Dharma Talk
4:15-5:00 p.m. Movement; and Small Groups
5:00-5:45 p.m. Stillness Meditation
5:45 p.m. Personal practice and rest
Main Days:
6:30-7:15 a.m. Meditation
7:15-8:15 a.m. Meal Break
8:15-9:15 a.m. Instructional Session
9:30-10:15 a.m. Walking/Movement Meditation or Small Group Practice
10:15-11:00 a.m. Meditation (Main Hall) and Affinity Groups
11:00-11:45 a.m. Walking/Movement Meditation or Small Group Practice
11:45 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Meditation (Main Hall) and Affinity Groups
12:30-2:00 p.m. Meal Break
2:00-3:00 p.m. Dharma Talk
3:00-3:45 p.m. Guided Movement or Walking Meditation
3:45-4:30 p.m. Brahma Viharas
4:30-5:00 p.m. Walking/Movement Meditation
5:00-5:45 p.m. Meditation Practice in Stillness and Chanting
5:45 p.m. Further Practice/Rest
Closing Day: TBD
About the Teachers
Amana Brembry Johnson
Amana Brembry Johnson, Residential Dharma Teacher and Community Leader, is a Core Teacher at the East Bay Meditation Center (EBMC), located in Oakland, CA and co-Guiding Teacher of EBMC’s Spiritual Teacher and Leadership Training. Amana mentors local and international groups of emerging Mindfulness teachers through the Mindfulness Meditation Training Certification Program (MMTCP) designed and developed […]
Learn more about Amana Brembry Johnson
Margarita Loinaz, MD
Margarita Loinaz, MD has trained in the Tibetan and Theravada traditions. She met her root teacher Kalu Rimpoche in 1977 and is a Dzogchen student of Lama Drimed Norbu. She is a graduate of the first Community Dharma Leader’s Program at SRMC and began teaching in l997 leading the Women of Color Sitting Group in Marin […]
Learn more about Margarita Loinaz, MD
nakawe cuebas berrios, CNM
nakawe cuebas berrios feels blessed to be able to study and journey through different healing and spiritual traditions in her life. The common thread between the many traditions that have touched her path has been the belief that health and wellness depend on a balance between the mind/heart, body, and spirit. The healing systems that […]
Learn more about nakawe cuebas berrios, CNM
Yong Oh
Yong Oh serves as a teacher on the Dharma Council for the Durango Dharma Center and is a core teacher for Sacred Mountain Sangha. Yong began meditating through the Soto Zen tradition and eventually transitioned to study, practice and teach in the Insight tradition. He is also a visiting teacher for the Chattanooga Insight Meditation […]
Learn more about Yong Oh
Lissa Edmond, APN-C
Lissa Edmond (they, them), APN-C, is a certified meditation and mindful movement teacher, a community facilitator, and a somatic integrative mental health nurse practitioner. Lissa began a dedicated practice in yoga and the dharma in 2008 as well as in qigong in 2018. Lissa studies in the Theravada and Zen Buddhist traditions. Lissa identifies practice […]
Learn more about Lissa Edmond, APN-C
Ramona Lisa Ortiz-Smith, MBA
Ramona Lisa Ortiz-Smith, MBA, has been practicing meditation for over 25 years and studying the Dharma in the Theravada tradition for more than 15 years. Ramona Lisa considers herself a dedicated lay practitioner of the Dharma and has spent the last four years undertaking contemporary vows and living as a lay renunciate householder. She enjoys […]
Learn more about Ramona Lisa Ortiz-Smith, MBA