Your Body, Buddha’s Body. A One Day Retreat with Catherine McGee, 21st April 2018

Your Body, Buddha’s Body

A One Day Insight Meditation Retreat in Cambridge with

Catherine McGee

Saturday, 21st April 2018

What perceptions of your body do focus on? Do they lead to or away from wisdom and kindness and meaningful participation in life?

Friends Meeting House, 12 Jesus Lane, Cambridge, CB5 8BA

(by kind permission of the Society of Friends)

Registration: 9.30 am Start: 10.00 am Finish: 5.00 pm

Cost: £12, or £15 for Supporters. (+ teacher Dana*)

[Concessions (students, unwaged, retired) £7]

To book in advance, please go to our eventbrite booking page. More details at https://cambridgedayretreats.wordpress.com/about/booking-and-payment/

* The registration fee only covers running costs and travelling expenses. Teachers rely on the financial generosity of retreatants for their living; there will be an opportunity to offer contributions (dana) on the day.

Catherine McGee has practised and studied Buddhist meditation with senior teachers from Asia and the West since 1991. She has been teaching Insight Meditation at Gaia House and internationally since 1997. Her teaching emphasises embodied practice and the integration and translation of our deepest understandings into our life. She is also a student and teacher in training of Diamond Approach of AH Almaas.

Please bring your own cushion or stool and mat, if desired, (there are plenty of chairs), and a packed lunch (tea and coffee will be provided). If coming by car, Park and Ride is a way to avoid difficult and expensive parking in Cambridge.

Day retreats offer a chance to practise meditation and mindfulness in a supportive environment. They include alternate periods of sitting and walking meditation, and the teacher provides guidance through meditation instruction, a Dharma (teaching) talk, and a question and answer session. Beginners are offered additional instruction and assistance. For experienced meditators the day is an opportunity to refresh and deepen practice. The retreats are normally held in silence.

Please download our poster and put it up where you can.

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Audio from Kirsten Kratz Day Retreat 2018

Here is the recording from a day retreat led by Kirsten Kratz in February 2018 in Cambridge. The theme of the day retreat was “The Mystery of Being Human”. You can listen below or go here to download all the mp3 files.

Introduction and Guided Meditation:

Dhamma Talk:

The Mystery of Being Human – A One Day Retreat with Kirsten Kratz, 24th February 2018

The Mystery of Being Human

A One Day Insight Meditation Retreat in Cambridge with

Kirsten Kratz

Saturday, February 24th 2018

Friends Meeting House, 12 Jesus Lane, Cambridge, CB5 8BA

(by kind permission of the Society of Friends)

Registration: 9.30 am Start: 10.00 am Finish: 5.00 pm

Cost: £12, or £15 for Supporters. (+ teacher Dana*)

[Concessions (students, unwaged, retired) £7]

To book in advance, please go to our eventbrite booking page. More details at https://cambridgedayretreats.wordpress.com/about/booking-and-payment/

* The registration fee only covers running costs and travelling expenses. Teachers rely on the financial generosity of retreatants for their living; there will be an opportunity to offer contributions (dana) on the day.

Practice invites us to be present to our whole being, with its inner landscapes of interplaying sensations, emotions, and movements of mind. In meditation we discover that the beautiful and nourishing qualities of care, compassion, joy, and wisdom are found and known in the body. It is intimacy with this body/mind/heart that allows us to experience them deeply. During our day together we will explore what it might mean to abide wholeheartedly in the beauty and challenges of our experience, to realize our connection with all things, and to know a more embodied life that can trust the potential and mystery of being human.

Kirsten Kratz has practised Buddhist meditation in Asia and the West since 1993. In 2006 she started to teach and since 2008 teaches in Gaia House where she also supports those on personal retreat. One of her particular passions is exploring how wisdom teachings can foster appropriate responses to the challenges of our time; she is co-initiator of the Dharma Action Network for Climate Engagement (DANCE).

Please bring your own cushion or stool and mat, if desired, (there are plenty of chairs), and a packed lunch (tea and coffee will be provided). If coming by car, Park and Ride is a way to avoid difficult and expensive parking in Cambridge.

Day retreats offer a chance to practise meditation and mindfulness in a supportive environment. They include alternate periods of sitting and walking meditation, and the teacher provides guidance through meditation instruction, a Dharma (teaching) talk, and a question and answer session. Beginners are offered additional instruction and assistance. For experienced meditators the day is an opportunity to refresh and deepen practice. The retreats are normally held in silence.

We have a poster – please download it and print it off.

Audio from Laura Bridgman day retreat 2017

Here is the recording from a day retreat led by Laura Bridgman in June 2017 in Cambridge. The theme of the day retreat was “Discovering the Heart’s Guidance – Going beyond the Inner Critic”. You can listen below or go here to download all the mp3 files.

Dhamma Talk:

Discovering the Heart’s Guidance – A One Day Retreat with Laura Bridgman, 16th September 2017

Discovering the Heart’s Guidance – Going beyond the Inner Critic

A One Day Insight Meditation Retreat in Cambridge with

Laura Bridgman

Saturday, September 16th 2017

Friends Meeting House, 12 Jesus Lane, Cambridge, CB5 8BA

(by kind permission of the Society of Friends)

Registration: 9.30 am Start: 10.00 am Finish: 5.00 pm

Cost: £10 in advance*, £12 on the day (+ teacher Dana**)

[Concessions (students, unwaged, retired) £7]

* To book in advance, please email cambridgeinsight@gmail.com for details of the bank account to pay money into. More details at https://cambridgedayretreats.wordpress.com/about/booking-and-payment/

** The registration fee only covers running costs and travelling expenses. Teachers rely on the financial generosity of retreatants for their living; there will be an opportunity to offer contributions (dana) on the day.

The inner critic or “critical inner voice” is a concept used in popular psychology to refer to a sub-personality that is judgemental and demeaning. It is usually experienced as an inner voice attacking us, saying that we are bad, wrong, inadequate, worthless and guilty, producing feelings of shame, deficiency, and doubt.

It is a major obstacle to the path because it doesn’t allow us to simply be as we are; according to it’s narrative we always ‘should’ be another way, so we cannot be present to our body and mind and allow what is here in our field of awareness. The rigidity and judgement of the inner critic also makes it difficult for us to go deeply into ourselves.

In this day retreat, we will be inquiring into the nature of this aspect of our conditioning through meditation, and contemplation to know how the inner critic arises, what feeds this particular demon, and see beyond this critical voice to access a deeper, wiser guiding quality within our hearts.

Laura Bridgman ordained as a nun with Ajahn Sumedho in 1995, and was resident at Amaravati and Chithurst monasteries for eighteen years until she moved out to live as a solitary nun in 2010. Over the past ten years she has spent extended periods of time with the Burmese teacher Sayadaw U Tejaniya. In 2015 Laura left the monastic tradition to pursue the Diamond Heart (Ridhwan) spiritual path alongside her Vipassana practice. There is much overlap as it incorporates Buddhist principles and practices.  You may have known her as Sister Kovida while she was ordained.

Please bring your own cushion or stool and mat, if desired, (there are plenty of chairs), and a packed lunch (tea and coffee will be provided). If coming by car, Park and Ride is a way to avoid difficult and expensive parking in Cambridge.

Day retreats offer a chance to practise meditation and mindfulness in a supportive environment. They include alternate periods of sitting and walking meditation, and the teacher provides guidance through meditation instruction, a Dharma (teaching) talk, and a question and answer session. Beginners are offered additional instruction and assistance. For experienced meditators the day is an opportunity to refresh and deepen practice. The retreats are normally held in silence.

Here is a poster for the day retreat – please print it out and put it up if you can.

Audio from Martine Batchelor day retreat 2017

Here are the recordings from a day retreat led by Martine Batchelor in June 2017 in Cambridge. The theme of the day retreat was “Effortless Effort”. You can listen below or go here to download all the mp3 files.

Introduction:

Dhamma Talk:

Morning Questions and Answers:

Afternoon Questions and Answers:

Audio from Bhante Bodhidhamma day retreat 2017

Here are the recordings from an evening talk and day retreat led by Bhante Bodhidhamma in May 2017 in Cambridge. You can listen below or go here to download all the mp3 files.

Part 1:

Part 2: