North Shore Center for Mindfulness & Insight Meditation

Date: Wednesday, May 2
Time: 7:00-8:15pm

72 Grapevine Rd, Wenham, MA 01984

Drop-in class: no registration required  

This event is offered in the tradition of dana (Pali for giving or generosity): while there is no set cost of attending, we invite you to consider making a donation to support the teacher and The Center for Mindfulness and Insight Meditation.

Yoga & Insight Meditation: Half-Day Retreat 

Against the Stream Boston
May 19
9:30am-1:00pm

This program is open to anyone interested in exploring the relationship between yoga asana (postures) and insight meditation. Often separated, asana and meditation are mutually supportive practice forms.  Yoga helps to open and relax the body in preparation for meditation, while meditation allows us to bring greater attention and presence to our yoga. Together these two forms foster self-awareness and insight into the conditions that underlie greater well-being and personal freedom.

This half-day retreat includes alternating periods of yoga postures and guided meditation based on the Four Foundations of mindfulness, and is aimed at helping students expand their understanding of Buddhist practice and Hatha yoga. Yoga sessions will be accessible to all-levels of practitioners, including beginners, and will focus on slow movement, stretching, and breathing. Suitable for beginner and experienced meditators.

Metta Meditation Retreat
with Sayadaw U Inndaka, May Mint Oo, Chris Crotty

Details
May 30-June 6, 2018

• Co-sponsored by Against the Stream Boston (ATSb) and Insight Meditation Center of Newburyport (IMCN)
• Retreat Location: 443 Middle Street, West Newbury, MA 01985

Registration: Against the Stream Boston

Description
For the Third year in a row, Burmese meditation master Sayadaw U Inndaka is joining Chris Crotty to offer a residential retreat on the East Coast. This seven-night silent retreat will offer instruction in metta or loving-kindness meditation, and will include periods of sitting and walking meditation, dharma talks, and one-on-one teacher interviews. This retreat is suitable for both beginning and experienced meditators, and will be held at IMCN’s beautiful rural meditation center in West Newbury, Massachusetts.  

Sayadaw U Inndaka is from Myanmar (Burma) and was ordained in 1972 by Mahagandhayon Sayadaw. In 1976 he practiced vipassana meditation in the Mahasi Meditation Centre in Mandalay, where he was taught by Chanmyay Sayadaw. Some years later he went to the Chanmyay Yeiktha Meditation Center in Yangon, Myanmar, where he was commissioned to teach meditation. Since 2004 he has been the sayadaw (head monk) of the Chanmyay Myaing Meditation Center, which has locations near Yangon and Mandalay. His books on the practice of metta meditation and the factors of enlightenment have been translated into English and German.

May Myint Oo (Mimmi), Sayadaw U Inndaka’s translator, has been practising meditation since 1992. She sat intensive retreats for many years at the Chanmyay Yeiktha Meditation Center, where she studied under Sayadaw U Janaka and was a volunteer translator and assistant to meditators. Since 2004 she has translated on a volunteer basis for Sayadaw U Inndaka at Chanmyay Myaing Meditation Center and on his teaching trips to Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, India, Switzerland, Germany, the United States, and elsewhere. She has also translated many of his writings.

Chris Crotty is the guiding teacher of Against the Stream Boston. He met Sayadaw U Inndaka in 2010 while sitting the traditional three-month “rains retreat” at Chanmyay Myaing Meditation Center, Yangon, Myanmar. Chris continues to practice with Sayadaw U Inndaka both in Myanmar and the United States.

* Against the Stream Boston is committed to ensuring that the Dharma is available to everyone – Please contact us if cost is prohibitive.

The Body’s Way to Wisdom
Mindfulness Yoga & Meditation Retreat (half-day)

Location: BLDG7 Yoga, Wyomissing, PA
Date: July 22, 2018
Time: 10-2pm

Registration: http://bldg7yoga.com

Description: Yoga and Buddhism share the same aim – the liberation of body, mind, and heart.  Postures and breath practice support the body for meditation, and mindfulness enables a more intentional, awareness-based yoga. When integrated, asana and meditation foster self-awareness and insight into the conditions that support greater well-being and personal freedom. This half-day retreat includes alternating periods of yoga postures and guided meditation, and is aimed at helping students expand their understanding of the deepest potential of Buddhist practice and Hatha yoga.

Yoga sessions will be accessible to all-levels of experience and will combine yin, Kripalu, and viniyoga.  Meditation instructions based on the Satipatthana Sutta will guide both beginners and experienced practitioners through the Four Foundations of Mindfulness.

This program is open to anyone who wants to integrate Hatha yoga and Buddhist practice, yoga students who want to begin or develop their meditation practice, and yoga teachers from all traditions who want to experience effective strategies for practicing and teaching with greater presence and ease.

Concentration, Insight, Freedom
Half-day meditation retreat

Saturday, July 28
9:30am-1:00pm
IMCN, Newburyport MA

Location & Registration: Insight Meditation Center Newburyport

The Buddha’s meditation instructions emphasize concentration as a foundation for the development of insight. First, we learn to focus our attention and stabilize the mind. As the mind becomes tranquil and calm we turn our attention toward investigating the mind’s true nature. Seeing more clearly we are able to renounce reactivity and open to the freedom of the present moment where we learn to appreciate our life just as it is.

Beginners and experienced meditators welcome.

East Coast Insight Meditation Retreat
with Chris Crotty, Vinny Ferraro, Cheryl Slean

August 19-26, 2018
Dharma Drum Retreat Center (DDRC)
Pine Bush, New York

Registration: Against the Stream Buddhist Meditation Society

Cost
$685 – 1,085 (sliding scale).  Anything you pay above the lowest amount on the sliding scale will support help to support our scholarship program and is tax-deductible.  All rooms are single rooms with shared bathrooms.

Limited scholarships available for a minimum of $385.  We currently have limited scholarship funds available and may not be able to support all who need a scholarship to attend. Please consider making payment arrangements if you need support to attend the retreat. If you are interested, please contact us. Download the forms to apply for a scholarship.

The teachers and staff (cooks and retreat manager) are offering their services on a dana basis and you will be given the opportunity to offer dana for them at the end of the retreat. Please feel free to write if you have any additional questions about this.

This retreat is eligible for the following Hemera Fellowships:
Educators
Healthcare Professionals
Artists

Retreat Description
At this Insight Meditation retreat, we focus our attention on breath, body, heart and mind.  The instructions will be based on the Four Foundations of Mindfulness, in combination with exercises in lovingkindness and compassion.  Each day will include periods of sitting and walking meditation,  dharma talks and interviews.

This retreat is suitable for both beginning and experienced dharma students.

Chris on Personal Retreat – Maine – September

I will be on personal retreat and not teaching for part of September.  I look forward to seeing you upon my return.

In the Footsteps of the Buddha: Cultivating Calm, Clarity, & Wisdom
3rd Annual Fall Insight Meditation Retreat

Oct 25-28
(3 nights; Thurs-Sun)
Registration: Against the Stream Boston

Retreat provides a unique opportunity to slow the pace of your life, and quiet the mind. Supported by silence, nature, and daily meditation instruction, we first cultivate calm and stability, and then observe the mind’s activity with greater clarity. Once we are able to consistently observe the mind we see into the true nature of things as they are – the wisdom that results helps us avoid the causes of suffering, allowing happiness and wellbeing to blossom.

Open to both new and experienced meditators, this residential retreat will consist of alternating periods of sitting and walking meditation, daily instructional talks (Dharma talks), and opportunities for questions and discussion with the teacher.

Retreat center
This retreat will take place at Angel’s Rest in the Berkshires, easily accessible from Boston and New York City. A quiet, secluded retreat, Angel’s Rest consists of 19 acres of private woodlands and meadows in the foothills of western Massachusetts. Homemade vegetarian meals will be prepared on-site by Angel’s Rest chefs with local, fresh ingredients.

Johnson State College Wellness & Alternative Medicine Department.

Fall 2018

Course: Living the Good Life: Practicing Health and Wellbeing (3-credits)

Professor Chris Crotty, M.A.

The emphasis of this course is to expand and refine a theoretical understanding of stress and wellness by combining study with experiential learning focused on the actualization of stress reduction. Students will assess their own life-style conditions that support or undermine health, while learning through direct experience specific ways to transform unhealthy behavior patterns through mindfulness, self-awareness, connection to nature, and easy to learn evidence-based skills for emotional regulation and stress reduction. You will explore a variety of mind-body techniques including meditation, yoga postures, and yogic breathing. You will experience the healing power of nature through ceremony, nature-based Rites of Passage, and medicine walks. The goal of this course is for you to gain skills necessary to begin, refine, or deepen your own spiritual life, while developing insight into compassionate and skillful ways to contribute to a globally conscious and sustainable lifestyle of health and wellbeing. This course will also prepare you to bring greater presence, ease, and sustained care to personal and professional relationships in your life.

http://www.jsc.edu

Chris on Personal Retreat –  Chanmyay Myaing Forest Meditation Center, Burma

I will be on personal retreat and not teaching from January 15-February 12.  I look forward to seeing you when I return.