ABOUT DEEP REST RETREAT WITH OPEN DHARMA

~Intentions for retreat:
On this retreat we have a chance to relax into our genuine wisdom.  As habit-energies fade, we can more easily see what areas need release, energy or expression in our lives.  Nurturing the connection to a unique inner voice, we learn to be receptive to the vastness of what is.

The overall emphasis is on helping each person find her or his unique spiritual path, and on resting in the grace of the deep heart beyond emotions.

~Rest and energy:
Deep rest retreat allows us to experience power in a new and transformative way: ease and flow instead of tension and contraction.
Restful connection within allows unnecessary burdens to release.
But even more importantly, restful meditation allows energy to come through as inspiration, as passion for life, as thriving independence.  We can sense our unique and creative calling, and we can bear the vastness of our own hearts, our connection to a power that is inseparable from wise care for the wellbeing of the whole. 

~Training:
We train the mind to rest from all its busy-ness, but we also learn to relax into the deep heart - the place of our quiet voice of courage, unexpected creativity, and the joy and fullness of simply being. 
Relaxation helps us uncover new ways of being in the body.
Simply resting helps erase accumulated exhaustion.
The thinking mind can start to find its place, not as the executive planner, but as a helper in carrying out plans.
As we tap into and nourish our depths, we can feel the eyes of our deepest wisdom opening. 
Inspiration and insight transform our lives, and passion for awakening helps us meet challenges with gusto.


~Tools:
Meditation practices can help us find or deepen our own unique and alive paths. 
We will have the chance on retreat to experiment with several different techniques. 
Some of these practices help harness the power of the mind, and others help unveil subtle levels of the heart. 
Relaxation, mindfulness, inquiry, and heart meditations are some of the tools offered.

Being in silence allows us to rest from “presenting” ourselves and to invest attention in the deeper questions of life.  The silence is enriched with teachings, instructions, interviews, questions, and optional singing.
The stillness of meditation also helps us unwind accumulated tension and automatic activity.  The stillness is enhanced with walking meditation and “connected movement” exercises.

~Facilitators:
Jaya Ashmore and Gemma Polo have both dedicated their lives to spiritual practice for more than 20 years.  Their teachings emphasize human, rather than religious, tools to support awakening.  However, they draw on personal experience with several schools of Buddhism, Christianity, Advaita-Vedanta, Hinduism, and the mystic heart of humanity.

They have offered meditation retreats in 10 countries to thousands of people, but their joy is to connect personally with people in interviews, teachings, and silence.  They live part of the year in India and also host individual retreatants at Dharmaloca, their tiny place on a holy mountain in Catalonia, Spain.

~ Jaya, who has lived much of her adult life in India, studied religion and art at Harvard, spent over 6 years with the Indian teacher Poonjaji, has practiced Jin Shin Jyutsu since 1994, and co-founded Open Dharma in 1999 with Ajay Singh.

~Gemma began meditating at the age of 11, and began practicing Zen intensively for 10 years in 1992.  During this time, she also studied Agriculture and spent two years as a contemplative nun in Spain and a Catholic activist in Latin America. Later, while working as an organic beekeeper, she studied International Development and Religious Sciences.  Since 2003 she has taught with Open Dharma in India and elsewhere.  


~Postures:
The sitting posture, often associated with work, can be counterproductive for spiritual practice--it often tends to bring out competitive or tense reaching outward for results.
We encourage lying down for meditation so that the body can arrive at a restful place.  From here, the mind and heart may also dive into the ease of their true calling.

We may think that lying down for meditation is an escape from the physical pain and the mental challenge associated with sitting meditation.  In fact, while there is definitely an intention to move away from distracting pain levels, lying down also eventually feels physically uncomfortable, too. 
We will have a chance on retreat to explore postures for lying down that can allow us to experience the original definition of yoga posture: "that posture in which the body can be happily still for a long time."
Meanwhile, we bypass unconstructive struggle with artificial and more superficial tensions in
the body.  And we have fresher, wiser energy to meet and heal the deeper, already existing tensions in the being.

~Please bring comfortable mats, blankets, and cushions to lie down on.

~Whether sitting or lying down, meditation posture can seamlessly integrate simple hand positions that help the body and mind settle into a dynamic and streaming harmony.  (These hand positions come from the Japanese tradition called Jin Shin Jyutsu, literally, “human-spirit/heart-art.”)

~There can be a temptation to think of the retreat--if not "hard work"--as simply "a break," to relieve the stress of our busy lifestyles. 
To allow this subtle and powerful training to have the greatest impact, please come to the retreat already as rested as possible.