Curious Questioning
Reflective Meditation is rooted in questioning and discernment. There are many forms of questioning: some open up our views and uncover more about experience. Others are too probing or provoking and feel judgmental; close down inquiry and exploration. In meditation some questions come in rapid fire succession. Sometimes they float up out of a calm and peaceful state. We want you to be more curious about your questions. Know when they lead to self doubt and take you down. When they go towards more ingredients for wisdom.
On this retreat, we’ll discern how we question ourselves about our meditative and life experiences. We’ll cultivate a kinder curiosity in our reflective process.
With Linda Modaro and Nelly Kaufer
Friday, April 28 – Monday, May 1, 2023
Online via Zoom — Link will be sent after registration
During this online retreat, we will teach an open meditation practice that is followed by reflection and journaling. We welcome continuing students, as well as meditators who are new to our orientation towards meditation practice and retreats. The roots of this practice are to be found in the Buddha’s early teachings and are based on learning to trust the ways of knowing that develop in meditation, enabling you to be more responsive and present in your life.
WHY MEDITATE AND REFLECT?
We believe that you can learn beneficial ways of meditating by seeing how your mind operates within meditation. This kind of “seeing” can be naturally developed through recollection and reflection, whether done in a journal or expressed verbally to an experienced teacher or peers.
Most likely you will have a goal in mind when you come to meditation practice. What is in your mind and heart matters deeply and does not need to be separated out from your meditation practice. Much of the learning comes from your own recognition and insight, rather than from an authority, a tradition, or any dogmatic and rigid way of thinking about meditation.
This retreat will be beneficial for you if:
• You want to have a retreat in your own home.
• You want to participate in an online group practice with a live teacher and sangha.
• Want to choose your own getaway destination while participating in an online meditation retreat
• Your work schedule does not allow you to get away for a longer retreat.
During this retreat we will have a lighter schedule. Our experience with online retreats shows that having more open space in the schedule helps prevent the fatigue of being online.
Periods of meditation and free time will be on your own. The Dharma talks will be given online, but recorded, so you can log online to listen “live” or listen later to the recordings. Small group sharing will be scheduled online and is optional.
Reflective meditation encourages and supports an independent practice that fits with the conditions of your life. For most of us, our practice at home is usually quite different from when we go on retreat. An online retreat helps establish or deepen your independent practices, and integrate them into your everyday life. You will inevitably bring your life right into your meditation and your retreat, because the retreat resides wherever you are.
DANA & SUPPORT RANGE
Sati Sangha has a desire to lead a generous, respectful life and to share it with others. Your giving and generosity for the teachings will be received with gratitude.
For retreats and larger workshops we have established our registration fees and dana as a range, rather than setting one amount to cover expenses with a request for an additional donation for the teachings. The low end of the range covers expenses for the online retreat. Payment at the higher ranges supports the teaching for Linda and Nelly, and helps students experiencing financial challenges. We do not want to turn anyone away for lack of financial resources. Your support will benefit both Linda and Sati Sangha, and Nelly and Pine Street Sangha.
Deposit: $50 non-refundable deposit
Suggested Support and Dana Range: $100-700
Pandemic Assistance: pay as you are able
Sati Sangha will be taking care of the dana for this retreat and splitting it with Pine Street Sangha. Deposits and support/dana can be given via paypal or check. When you make a donation, please note that it is for the online retreat. https://satisangha.org/donate/
SCHEDULE
Friday night, April 28, 2023
5:00-6:30pm Introductions and Orientation
7:30-8:30pm Meditation and reflection
Saturday, April 29, 2023 through Monday, May 1, 2023 (Monday ending at 6:30pm)
9:00-10:00am Daily online group – short talk, meditation, reflection, short sharing
10:30-11:30am Reflection Group – longer time to explore your experience in meditation
3:30-4:30pm Meditation and reflection
5:00-6:30pm Dharma conversations and small group conversations
7:30-8:30pm Meditation and reflection
*All times are in PDT
**Monday 5:30-6:30pm we will facilitate a closing circle to end the retreat.
USING ZOOM
• Log in a few minutes early for meetings. Your device will be muted upon entry. Please keep silence when you come on the call.
• In the upper right hand corner of the video you can choose speaker view or gallery view. Speaker view allows you to see the speaker full screen, and gallery view shows all participants.
• Mute and stop video functions are in the lower left hand corner. Locations may be different on iPad or smartphone.
• Unmute when you choose to speak. You can choose to turn your video on or off. Please keep your video off during meditation sessions. If you are using an iPad or smartphone, please stabilize the device. If you need to move around, please turn off the video.
• We request that you use a private room whenever possible. A headset with a built-in microphone is optimal, but not required.
• For optimal video conferencing, please consider rebooting your computer (and modem in some cases) some time before the meeting, and closing out all browser windows when on the call.
• Please understand that we will not be able to offer technical assistance once each segment of the day has started. You can email before or after the segment and we will try to help at those times.
AGREEMENTS TO PARTICIPATE
• Beginning with self honesty – being truthful with yourself
• Respecting autonomy – the right for you to control the direction of your meditation practice
• Avoiding actions that harm yourself and other participants during our sessions
• Practicing confidentiality
• Treating different kinds of experience and people equitably
BASIC INSTRUCTIONS FOR PRACTICE
• Choose a comfortable position – we will be meditating for 30-40 minutes. You can choose to meditate for a shorter amount of time.
• Let your thoughts, feelings and sensations move, holding your body relatively still. You may start with any practice you feel comfortable with, and change the focus of your practice at any time during the sitting.
• If you feel overwhelmed at any point you can open your eyes, you can bring your focus to an object (your body, a phrase or picture, the breath), or you can get up and move around.
• At the end of your meditation session, reflect back upon your experience by writing it down or simply remembering.
• We encourage you to explore your experience in meditation daily in the small reflection groups.
RETREAT TEACHERS & FACILITATORS
Linda started “seeking” in her early twenties. Unsure what she was looking for, she experimented with many eastern practices and landed in traditional Chinese medicine studying and teaching Qi Gong, Tai Ji and Acupuncture for over fifteen years. After a near death experience in 1998, her Taoist philosophy led to Buddhist philosophy and psychology and changed the course of her spiritual practice, teaching, and work with others. She trained and worked closely with the teachers in the Skillful Meditation Project and Recollective Awareness Meditation, put together by Jason Siff. Eventually, she had to leave the SMP home, and founded Sati Sangha so that she could continue teaching Buddhadharma and Reflective Meditation. Thirty years of listening, observing, teaching and being taught by patients and students; traveling to China, Nepal, Iran, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, Canada integrating aspects of their cultures. She tries to hold this all lightly, yet cannot deny the sense of having ‘a calling’ rather than a job.
Nelly Kaufer is the founder and lead teacher at Pine Street Sangha, a Meditation center in Portland, Oregon. Witnessing an intimate understanding of dharma along with a kind regard for the variety of meditative experiences, she teaches Reflective Meditation. Nelly was introduced to Vipassana (Mindfulness) meditation in 1978 on retreats taught by Ruth Denison and began teaching women meditation soon thereafter, as there were no female teachers in her community at that time. She co-authored A Woman’s Guide to Spiritual Renewal (HarperOne,1994), a book for which she interviewed women about their spiritual experiences. In the 1990s she completed a 3-year mindfulness teacher training with Jacqueline Mandell. Nelly met Jason Siff at a Buddhism and Psychotherapy conference in 2004, entered the Skillful Meditation Project teacher training several months later and completed this in-depth training in 2008. Nelly is a psychotherapist in private practice, integrating Buddhist psychology into her clinical orientation and in continuing education workshops for mental health professionals. “I think what really attracts me about this approach is the spirit of exploration and the quality of kindness to myself and others that seems to arise from the practice.”