Day Retreat

Body - Heart - Love

Metta is unconditional and, ultimately, unconditioned love. Even though we learn to cultivate metta through phrases and imagination, it is by nature a quality or expression of our whole being. If we open to metta through the 'aliveness' of our body and heart (soma) it opens out and finds its true nature and home. We'll explore this, in practice, during this Saturday morning.

Join Seattle Buddhist Center for this Day Retreat with Bodhipaksha.

Dhyana is a state of “flow” in which meditation becomes effortless.

On this retreat Bodhipaksa will break down the components of the dhyana experience and introduce a step-by-step approach to cultivating it. You may not experience dhyana on this retreat, but you’ll certainly move in that direction and come away with a whole new bunch of meditation skills.

The Myth of Meditation: Restoring Imaginal Ground through Embodied Buddhist Practice

Join us for a special morning meditation with Paramananda - joining us all the way from London.  

Paramananda was instrumental in getting the San Francisco Buddhist Center started back in the 90s and was our Chair until 2001, when he returned to the UK.  

Many Suttas in Buddhism  show the Buddha quietly and beautifully guiding his followers towards real tranquility and wisdom through awareness of the body.  As part of our "Simply Practice" theme this month and year, Prasadachitta will explore with us the power of simply paying attention to the senses. 

A spacious, mostly silent morning of meditation – walking, sitting, and lying down. Open to anyone with some meditation experience. 

We’ll also have an opportunity at the end for those who wish to share what we’ve learned and ask questions.

A Day Retreat with Special Guest, Aryajaya, from the UK

What does Buddhist practice have to say about being human? Using the traditional Buddhist teaching of the Wheel of Life this day retreat will explore the advantages and opportunities of being in the mental states of the human realm. We'll meditate, reflect, discuss and maybe answer the question by the poet Mary Oliver, 'What is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious human life?'

During this daylong workshop Acarasiddhi will share ways to connect with our natural creativity through writing.  

The workshop will be positive, friendly, encouraging and productive, with helpful and inspiring writing exercises to get us started, and reflections on the link between words and practice. 

No writing or any other experience required. Bring your curiosity and your favorite writing tools (although pens and paper will also be available if you need them).

Mindfulness in an urban environment. How do we manage? What are the challenges?

Special guest Paramabodhi will lead us in meditation, reflection and discussion as we step back for a day from our usual routine to explore ways to respond with more kindness and care when we return.

Paramabodhi helped get the SFBC going back in the early 90's before going back to London to work on his art.  He has remained a good friend to us and visits regularly to share his interest in Mindfulness practice and creativity. 

If an approach to practice is not working for you, do you just carry on doggedly hoping that it will somehow improve? It’s not very likely that this will work!

This is as true of dhyana or absorption practice as any other area. So, on this Day Retreat Tejananda will be suggesting approaches people have found to be helpful and effective in opening to dhyana through exploring body, breath and awareness. By exploring and uncovering the actual nature of our bodily experience, resources for entering dhyana can be discovered right here, already present – just waiting to be noticed.

The anapanasati (mindfulness of breathing) sutta is a much-loved teaching from the Buddha that quietly and beautifully guides us towards real tranquility and wisdom through awareness of the breathing body.  

On this day retreat we will explore experientially the key themes from the sutta - body, feelings, mind and wisdom - to enhance our experience and practice of both mindfulness and metta (kindness).

The day will include meditation, reflection, body work and communication.