In this Equanimity retreat, instructions are given to include the breath and body with a special focus on seeing the impermanent nature of experience as a support for cultivating Equanimity.

An overview of Equanimity: why it holds a special place in all the qualities of mind, its relationship to the other 3 Brahma Viharas and how it is cultivated.

Brief Overview of the Bramhaviharas and Guided Mettā Practiced. Gullu briefly describes the 4 divine abodes of Mettā (Benevolence), Karuna (Compasion), Mudita (Appreciative Joy) and Upekka (Equanimity). This is followed by a brief description of the difficulties often encountered in the mettā practice followed by a guided mettā practice using imagery and phrases to hold the intention for goodwill and even spark the actually feeling of goodwill

Begins with a 30m meditation & includes a dharma talk. (Group discussion has been omitted.)

A teaching on the Four Noble Truths. An exploration of suffering, clinging, release, and the path. Blending story, silence, and somatic ease, this talk reveals how the heart remembers freedom in small, human moments.

Sometimes people interpret the Buddha's teachings as suggesting giving up all wanting of the pleasant and all not wanting the unpleasant, and that equanimity has no wanting or not wanting; there are some passages in the teachings which seem to suggest this approach. However, the Buddha in a number of ways pointed to what we might call "skillful desire." We explore this in several ways. First, we go back to the teaching on Dependent Origination and the sequence from contact to grasping. We can identify that sequence as illustrating unskillful desire (or wanting) followed by grasping (as well as unskillful aversion). Secondly, we explore the Buddha's teachings on chanda, which could be translated as "skillful desire." Thirdly, we look at the role of experiences of pleasure, joy, and happiness in different practice contexts, and ask more generally about the nature of skillful desire (and some on "skillful aversion") in everyday life. What characterizes desire being unskillful or skillful? The talk is followed by discussion.

We start with settling for about 7-8 minutes followed by about the same time with basic mindfulness practice. Then we explore "moderate" experiences of pleasant or unpleasant when they occur, whether a bodily experience, an emotion, or a thought (or a mix), experiencing pleasant or unpleasant and seeing whether there follows wanting (or not wanting) and grasping (or pushing away). We close with some reflection on what we explored: Was some of the wanting or not wanting skillful? Unskillful. This exploration is related to the talk given a short time later.

Begins with a 30m meditation & includes a dharma talk. (Group discussion has been omitted.)