ANNUAL MEDITATION RETREATS

(Held at various locations; see Retreats for complete schedule.)

Life Transition Institute offers retreats several times a year to the public, including youth and families. The Institute also offers specific People of Color and Diversity Retreats. A retreat offers a safe place to experience intensive meditation. The central practice is mindfulness, a practice that helps us to see the ways we create difficulties in our lives, to discover freedom from our attachments, and to develop compassion in the midst of all things. Mindfulness practice is complemented by loving-kindness meditation.

Silence is observed during each retreat, except during organized discourses, group discussions, and individual interviews. Reading is also discouraged so that participants will stay more closely in touch with the present--and thus more "present" with experiences as they unfold. In this quiet and mindful environment awareness sharpens, the body becomes still, the mind clears, and space opens for insight and understanding. In this framework the teacher/facilitator becomes a compassionate, talking mirror.

During retreat one discovers that meditation is a direct way to experience reality, offering insight into the healing process and promoting a compassionate attitude towards inner struggles and conflicts. Such a non-threatening approach helps to create unconditional acceptance of self and others, as well as to generate awareness and well-being.

Retreat participants learn that there is a choice: we can live each moment with inattention, fear, and judgment, or we can choose clarity, kindness, and wakefulness. By cultivating--or choosing--the power of awareness, we discover our deep potential for inner freedom and a peaceful mind.

SCHEDULE OF RETREATS & MORE INFORMATION ON SPECIFIC RETREATS