North Shore Center for Mindfulness & Insight Meditation

Date: Wednesday, Sept 5
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.

Peace of Mind & Happiness: An Equanimity Retreat

September 22, 2018
9am-1:00pm
Insight Meditation Center Newburyport (IMCN)

Buddhist meditation pursues happiness by using knowledge to achieve mental balance. Buddhist teachings describe a boundless well-being attainable by understanding that attachments and repulsions disturb the mind. Equanimity, or peace of mind, is one of twenty-five “beautiful mental factors” (sobhaana) taught by the Buddha and thus represents one of the highest goals of practice and one of the deepest forms of happiness we can experience. 

In this retreat, silent periods of sitting and walking meditation will combine mindfulness (insight) meditation with instructions in equanimity aimed at developing an attitude of even-mindedness in the face of all experiences, both pleasurable and painful. Retreat will close with a dharma reflection and an opportunity for discussion with the teacher and other students.

Calm, Clarity, & Wisdom
Meditation & Study Retreat w/ Chris Crotty

Oct 25-28
(3 nights; Thurs-Sun)
Registration: Boston Meditation Center

Retreat provides a unique opportunity to slow the pace of your life, quiet the mind, and investigate the Buddha’s teachings. Supported by silence, nature, daily meditation, and periods of study, this practice and study retreat provides a unique setting to still the mind and then examine core Buddhist teachings through Dharma talks, personal reflection, and discussion. The purpose is to develop a better understanding of how meditation helps us investigate Buddhist teachings, and how study of Buddhist teachings helps us understand and integrate meditative experience into our life in ways that are personally and socially relevant – the wisdom that results helps us avoid the causes of suffering, allowing happiness and wellbeing to blossom within ourselves, our family, communities, and society.

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 teacher guided periods of study and reflection. An excellent opportunity for anyone who wants to include or further integrate Buddhist suttas into their Dharma path.

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.

Calm, Still, Quiet: Winter Residential Retreat
w/ Chris Crotty

January 11-13, 2019

Registration options:
Residential: $300
Commuter: $200

Retreat location: Insight Meditation Center Newburyport

Registration:
Boston Meditation Center (BMC)

In winter, the stars seem to have rekindled their fires, the moon achieves a fuller triumph, and the heavens wear a look of a more exalted simplicity.  – John Burroughs

Winter is a natural time for turning inward, while retreat provides an opportunity to focus attention on your meditation practice and contemplate the Buddha’s teachings. In this second annual Winter Residential Retreat with Chris, the outer stillness of the natural world supports us in quieting our mind, and directly experiencing the calm and stillness of concentration. With a mind free from distraction, we use mindfulness (insight meditation) to investigate the path to peace taught by the Buddha and perfected during retreat practice for over 2500 years.  

Combining periods of sitting and walking meditation, with Dharma teachings, the Winter Residential Retreat is held in noble silence.

This retreat is suitable for those who have not yet sat retreat, as well as ongoing practitioners who wish to further their practice–meditation instruction and dharma talks will accommodate all experience levels.   

Calm, Still, Quiet: Winter day-long Retreat
w/ Chris Crotty

January 12, 2019
$90

Retreat location: Insight Meditation Center Newburyport

Registration:
Boston Meditation Center (BMC)

In winter, the stars seem to have rekindled their fires, the moon achieves a fuller triumph, and the heavens wear a look of a more exalted simplicity.  – John Burroughs

Winter is a natural time for turning inward, while retreat provides an opportunity to focus attention on your meditation practice and contemplate the Buddha’s teachings. In this second annual Winter retreat with Chris, the outer stillness of the natural world supports us in quieting our mind, and directly experiencing the calm and stillness of concentration. With a mind free from distraction, we use mindfulness (insight meditation) to investigate the path to peace taught by the Buddha and perfected during retreat practice for over 2500 years.

Combining periods of sitting and walking meditation, with Dharma teachings, the Winter retreat is held in noble silence.

This day-long retreat is comprised of the middle day of a three day residential retreat, and is suitable for those who have not yet sat retreat, as well as ongoing practitioners who wish to further their practice–meditation instruction and dharma talks will accommodate all experience levels.   

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.

The Wisdom of Vulnerability
A residential practice and study retreat with Chris at Barre Center for Buddhist Studies

April 4-7, 2019

Scholarships of 50% for those under 32 or POC. Other scholarship requests can be made directly to BCBS.

Registration: Barre Center for Buddhist Studies

Course Description:
The Buddha himself, despite his spiritual achievements, endured human predicaments and difficulties. This course examines the Buddhist ideal of a life beyond suffering alongside the reality of day-to-day living, balancing the Buddha’s radical optimism with the practical concerns of our human lives: physical and emotional health challenges, past regrets and future desires, relational challenges, and enduring questions related to finding and sustaining purpose in our life. Through this approach we learn to appreciate our own vulnerability, empathically acknowledge it in others, and allow it to bring us closer to our own freedom while creating caring communities where connection, compassion, and mutual support encourage each other’s awakening. Combining meditation and sutta study with dialogue and relational mindfulness practices, we will co-create an experience that merges the clarity of wisdom with the acceptance of compassion.

Learning intentions:
• Recognize how self-judgment and doubt can arise in response to archetypal images of progress on the Buddhist path.
• Understand Buddhism’s ideal of cessation (freedom from suffering), while experiencing the value of vulnerability in serving that goal.
• Promote self-awareness and empathic connection amongst group members through relational mindfulness practice.
• Understand how vulnerability can be practiced and expressed through three modes of action: body, speech, and mind.
• Integrate two modes of understanding: relative and absolute.
• Recognize and become familiar with sutta passages that convey both the ideal of going beyond suffering and the inevitable human task of embracing suffering.

Attachment and Non-Attachment: The Dharma of Relationship
with Chris Crotty, M.A. & Julia Barry, LMFT, SEP 

Date TBD

Registration: Boston Meditation Center

One of the basic tenants of Buddhist practice is that attachment causes suffering. Western psychology promotes secure attachment in relationship as central to physical, emotional and psychological well being, health and happiness. How do we resolve this paradox? How do we resolve our need for deep connection in relationship alongside our wish for the deep happiness espoused by Buddhist teachings? How can meditation help us achieve greater ease, skill, and satisfaction in our relationships?  

In this program we will explore Buddhist teachings on impermanence and not-self, as well as attachment theory, which addresses how our early childhood relationships inform our adult views and behaviors. The format will include meditation instruction, Buddhist and western teachings on attachment, and relational mindfulness practices.  

We are all in relationship, whether it be intimate partnership, family, friendship or community – all are welcome and encouraged to attend this program! This program will serve as a foundation for future programs focusing on Buddhism, meditation, and relationship and is recommended for anyone who may want to further their practice and understanding in these disciplines.

Teachers
Chris Crotty
Julia Barry, LMFT, SEP