Living Dangerously: Finding Safety Through Discomfort
Half-day retreat with Chris Crotty & Rod Owens

July 7
Against the Stream Boston

Pursuing a spiritual practice confronts us with a paradox. For instance, in order to feel more safe and empowered in the world, we must become familiar with discomfort. In fact, we must become skilled in navigating and understanding the truth about discomfort. Spiritual practice can call attention to the reality that being uncomfortable doesn’t mean we are unsafe. The same can be said of our relationships, as well as our involvement with community. The forms of our life (dharma practice, relationship, community) that can help free us can also be challenging places to practice.

This program with Chris and Rod explores questions that arise as we surrender to relationship with others while simultaneously utilizing those relationships to strengthen our own sense of safety and agency. Through meditation and mindful dialogue we will explore core Buddhist principles such as appropriate speech, kindness, honesty, and non-harm alongside themes that are relevant to the lives of program participants.

Our intention for this program is to identify within the vulnerability that we share as human beings ways that we can care for each other through a better understanding of our own habits, fears, and desires.

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.

North Shore Center for Mindfulness & Insight Meditation

Date: Wednesday, July 25
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.

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.

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

September 8, 2018
Registration: Against the Stream Boston

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

Peace of Mind & Happiness: An Equanimity Retreat

September 22, 2018
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: Against the Stream Boston

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.

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.