Retreats, Classes, and Events
Retreats at PIMC
Deepening Our Joy, Being with Discomfort, and Letting Go.
A Online Half-Day Retreat
with Candle Summers
Saturday, April 1st
9 am - 2 pm
$60 Suggested Fee (No one turned away for lack of funds)
This retreat will be meeting ONLINE ONLY.
The Buddha indicated that it is possible to be happy in the present moment no matter what is going on. Nibbana is not a place you go. Nibbana is not the future. Nibbana is the nature of reality as it is. We can access freedom.
We can practice like this: ‘Breathing in, I feel joyful. Breathing out, I feel joyful. Breathing in, I feel happy. Breathing out, I feel happy.’
Let’s keep practicing these skills of taking that sacred pause every day and remembering right now: What is bringing me joy? Where have I noticed the joy of letting go? Where have I found freedom?
Experience the generosity and joy of letting go of grasping and clinging and being in the present moment seeing clearly what is arising. We can find joy in releasing what is unhelpful, and cultivating the good. During this 1/2 day retreat we will address the 3 Jewels of the practice: Dana, Sila, and Bhavana (generosity, harmonious living, and meditation practice) and the ways to deepen and cultivate joy, ease, and calm in our practice. There will be times of sitting meditation, mindful walking, movement, Dharma talks, and conversation with a 40 min. lunch break. Discover the joy of deepening your practice in the company of others of like mind.
TEACHER BIO
Candle Summers arrived in Portland from Maui, Hawaii in 2013. She has practiced for over 20 years with her root teachers Kamala Masters and Steve Armstrong. She completed Spirit Rock’s four year Dharma Leader program in 2001 and her Theravadan background includes the teachings of Anagarika Munidra, Sayadaws U Pandita and U Tejaniya, Gil Fronsdal, Mark Nunberg, and more. Candle has been offering a monthly insight/metta meditation gathering on Mondays (currently on Zoom) in SE Portland and previously led a women’s group, a Buddhist book club and managed retreats for the Vipassana Metta Foundation on Maui for 12 years.
Teacher Website: https://www.givenfreely.com/
Half-Day Qi-Gong Retreat
with Jim Dalton
Saturday April 15, 2023
9 am - 1 pm
$35 Suggested Fee (no one turned away for lack of funds)
No experience is necessary and beginners are welcome.
These unique retreats combine elements of basic Vipassana practice, mindful movement (QiGong), and quiet contemplation using poetry. Short periods of movement are followed by listening to poetry, and then short periods of sitting. These alternating practices create an atmosphere of relaxation and alert interest, a rhythm of deep explorations of a whole range of mindfulness tools.
This retreat will take place in-person at PIMC and online via Zoom.
TEACHER BIO
Jim has studied the Dharma since 1990. Ever since his teenage years he has been grappling with questions like: Who am I? Where did I come from? What am I here for? It is only since practicing in the Portland Insight Meditation Community that he has found the tools to effectively address those fundamental questions. He doesn’t have the answers to his own questions, but his greatest joy is trying to teach so he can learn.
What he teaches reflects the constantly changing nature of his practice while also returning to his foundations in the Four Noble truths: how to understand suffering; how to abandon clinging; how to learn to let go of clinging; how to find the path to freedom and stay on it. If he can inspire others to practice with him, he feels successful.
Most recently he has established mindful movement as the foundation of his practice, deepening his investigation of the body through QiGong and Tai Chi, deepening his exploration of the body as the First of Four Foundations of Mindfulness.
His aging body has become his new teacher, lending a sense of urgency to his own search for liberation, focusing more and more on aging as a spiritual journey. As the sands of his personal time on this planet continues to run out, he draws more and more inspiration from the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha.
Teacher Website:
http://www.mindfulbalancetaichi.com
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