Be Who You Are, Live From the Heart: a Retreat at Southern Dharma Retreat Center

This Retreat is sponsored by Southern Dharma Retreat Center near Hot Springs North Carolina. In order to register, visit the event on the Southern Dharma website: https://southerndharma.org/retreat-schedule/1524/be-who-you-are-live-from-the-heart/

Here’s a description of the retreat:

Be Who You Are, Live From the Heart

It is sometimes said that the most essential question in life and spiritual practice is, “Who (or what) am I, truly?”
We are taught to believe a great many things about who we are that are not at all true. We learn to assume that we are separate from the mysterious and harmonious unfolding of life in each moment. We come to believe that we are not the person we should be, and then our imagined flaws prevent us from living happily and confidently, as we otherwise would do. Our spiritual work is to wake up to the truth, which is that we are good and beautiful people, each of us, in our authentic nature. Here is our opportunity in this life: to remember who we truly are, and so live in clarity and peace.

Over the course of this retreat we will explore the teachings the Buddha offered and the tools we may employ in order to dismantle the illusion of our separateness. In order to discover who we truly are, the best and most effective method is to identify what we are not, and so that’s where we’ll start. How do we unconsciously maintain the fictions we were taught? Who is this false person we sometimes believe ourselves to be? Then, once we’ve established that which is untrue about ourselves, we’ll take a look to see what is true. When the illusion falls away, what remains? What actually is this thing we call “our authentic nature”? And how does our practice assist us in living the reality, rather than the fiction? I look forward to exploring these and other interesting things during our days of practice together.

The retreat will include several periods of sitting and walking meditation, two group discussions, yoga, and three meals each day. The schedule will be somewhat relaxed in order to provide plenty of time to rest, to be outside, to move the body, and enjoy the beauty of the mountains all around. There will also be daily opportunities for one-on-one guidance. As usual, the retreat will be held in silence outside of the workshop sessions.

I hope you will consider giving yourself these several introspective days in which to explore the teachings, deepen your practice, connect ever more intimately with yourself, and enjoy a few precious days of life on this Earth without distraction. I very much look forward to being with you and practicing with you there!