Online – Zoom Sessions
You are warmly invited to join Certified MSC Teachers David Spound and Beth Mulligan for a five-day online, silent, meditation retreat.
This is a special opportunity to engage in a silent retreat from the comfort of your own home. The format and content of this retreat will closely follow retreats offered in major and well-known retreat centers. The main difference is that you will engage fully in these practices without the requirements and expense of travel, and without the potential uncertainties and health risks that have arisen in these challenging times due to COVID-19.
This retreat is open to:
- Anyone who wishes to train to teach MSC, MBSR, and similar programs. This retreat meets the teacher training prerequisite of most mindfulness-based teacher training programs including those from CMSC, USCD, and Brown University.
- Anyone who is already teaching such courses and would like the opportunity to deepen their personal practices in an environment that many teachers have called restorative. We strongly encourage all MSC and MBSR teachers to participate in retreats on a regular basis.
- Any graduates of MSC, MBSR, and similar courses who do not aspire to teach but wish to deepen and strengthen their practices.
The practices in this retreat are inspired by, and drawn from, the MSC and MBSR programs. Participants will engage in full days of mindfulness and compassion meditation practices, including periods of sitting, walking, and gentle yoga. There will be some instructional and inspirational talks as well as opportunities to meet with the teachers in small groups to explore any questions that arise. There is also time set aside each day for self-care and for informal practices.
Silent retreats are designed to support participants in:
- Nurturing a deeper and more embodied meditation practice.
- Developing greater awareness and compassion for what it means to be fully human.
- Discovering practices that can enrich and support our lives well beyond the time of the retreat.
- Coping with the stresses and challenges of life.
- Embracing who we are and releasing harsh judgments, self-criticism, and shame.
- Opening to experiences of calmness, clarity, insight, kindness, acceptance, and love.
- Preparing oneself to teach and (especially important for teachers) allowing yourself to be a student of the practices.
- Benefitting from the richness that arises from practicing mindfulness and self-compassion in a safe and supportive community and with experienced teachers.
David Spound and Beth Mulligan are long-time practitioners, certified teachers, and teacher trainers of both MSC and MBSR. They are also dear colleagues and friends who enjoy teaching together. Please join them for this special online retreat, November 29–December 4, 2022.
Online Retreat Schedule
All times in Pacific Daylight Time
The approximate schedule for the program (subject to change):
| Tuesday November 29:
4:00 to 6:00 pm Opening |
Wednesday November 30 –
Saturday, December 3:
6:30-8:00 Morning Practice
8:00-9:00 Informal practice/meal break
9:00-10:30 Practice period
10:30-11:30 informal practice/ work practice/meal
11:30-2:30 Practice period (movement, sit, walk, teaching)
2:30 – 4:00 Informal practice/meal break
4:00-5:30 Practice period |
Sunday, December 4:
6:30 AM-8:00 Morning Practice
8:00-9:00 Informal practice/meal
9:00 AM-12:00 PM sit and closing |
RETREAT SUGGESTIONS
Keeping Silence –
Please treat this retreat as a residential retreat as much as possible and make any necessary accommodations before the retreat begins (e.g., please take care of all your grocery shopping prior to the retreat week and make sure that there are no meetings scheduled in your calendar for this week). Please consider ways of organizing your time and space so that there is as little external stimuli as possible to help you be fully present and open to your retreat experience.
During the silent retreat, please refrain from using email, phone, television, reading and writing, as well as other ways of communicating during the retreat. This is your time! And we would like to invite you to honor the time and space you have created for yourself–a true gift to yourself.
Attendance –
Retreat participants are expected to fully attend all sessions. Please do not attend this retreat if you cannot clear your calendar of all other obligations. We would love for you to be able to devote yourself fully to the experience that will be unfolding for you.
If you are attending the retreat as a teacher training prerequisite, you will need to attend all sessions, except for medical emergencies, weather-related outages, and unexpected issues.
Fees –
There is an investment of $650 in tuition fee. MSC teachers will receive a $100 discount. There will also be a limited number of scholarships in the amount of $150 USD available. Please contact Rachel Tayse at [email protected] for teacher discount or scholarship information.
Cancellation –
A $100 USD non-refundable cancellation fee will be subtracted from the paid registration fee. Payments (less the $100 USD non-refundable cancellation fee) will be refunded if participants notify by email at least 14 days prior to the start of the retreat. If such a notification is not received or received after the 14 days, no refund is issued, except on compassionate grounds.
A minimum number of 15 registrants is required to offer the retreat. Please note that in the unlikely event that the retreat is canceled, CMSC is responsible only for a full refund of the registration fee and not for any miscellaneous expenses. Thank you for your collaboration.
REGISTER:
