Events and Training •
Wild Mind Retreat
Meditation Retreat
with Caitriona & Michele
Labor Day Weekend
September 3-6
NLP Level 1 & 2
and Coaching
Certification Training
Oct 25-Nov 6, 2010
Retreats and Workshops
at Manzanita Village
= A Five Changes Training
Ongoing
Talks, Talking points,
Guided Meditations, NLP,
and Hypnotic Inductions
Hypnotherapy, Coaching, NLP
Aikido and Iaido for adults and children
Distance Coaching, Learning, Training, through Teleseminars and Webinars
Trance Gender. Freedom from the binary paradigm. Retreats every Spring and Fall.
A Quotation for Today
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The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world's problems.
Mohandas K. Gandhi
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 Do you fear (as many people do) that true creativity is rare and special, something only for a lucky few, a gift from the muse, or a fortunate accident?
The truth is that everyone is blessed with a greater ability for creative innovation and solution-based inspiration than they could ever use up in a lifetime.
It is a lot simpler than most people think to get in step with yourself, to become congruent, to have your head meet your heart and your body and to tap into that inexhaustible source inside at will, whenever you need to, or want to.
How often do you really allow yourself focused quiet time, inner time, away from the daily habitual clutter?
And do you know that there are specific tools that shift habitual patterns of your self-limiting thoughts, beliefs, and emotions PERMANENTLY! Great spiritual teachers use them, some of the greatest world leaders have used them.
This is not just meditation by numers!
This is exactly why a meditation retreat can be powerfully life-changing. because It gives you enough time to really GET some of this.
We provide you with accomodation, food, and a structure that will help you accomplish more in 3 days of ‘not doing’ than you usually accomplish in three months of ‘working’ on yourself.
PS This has nothing to do with having you take on some extra new belief system or convert to some new ‘religious’ way of thinking … this is entirely about the timeless wisdom and awakening that evolves from within YOU
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Wild Mind Meditation Retreat
 Just as we put up walls and a roof in which to take shelter and live, just as we put up fences to delineate ownership, make maps, make distinctions between categories we invent, and then forget that the source of our life is in the primordial crucible or mud, volcanic ash, oceans, and intergalactic dust, and completely without boundaries .. so too do we make self-limiting distinctions within our minds that lead us to completely miss all that we truly are, and can be.
You could write a book to unpack the idea of the wild. In fact there have been several. I am thinking in particular of Gary Snyder’s Practice of the Wild.
Join us for a retreat to learn ways to open to the simplicity of living from the innate and naturally wild capacity of mind.
A three day silent retreat with Caitriona Reed and Michele Benzamin-Miki at Manzanita Village.
http://www.manzanitavillage.org/meditation-retreats-california-information/2010/#Quick_Links_7
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 Buddhism, Conscious Leadership, teacher abuse, ethics, and Precepts.
Among the community of teachers from several Buddhist traditions that I am a part of, there is a topic of dicussion that is frequently revisited. This is the subject of teacher misconduct, particularly in the areas of the sex and power. Misconduct in this instance means abuse of privilege and trust by teachers.
Over the past several decades many Buddhist lineage traditions in the west have had to deal with unfortunate incidents involving bad habits, or bad choices, by teachers. These have often resulted in fragmentation, confusion in the respective communities, and the disillusionment and departure of students. Though it must also be said that, as with any collective process, such things can often bring depth of understanding and maturity to the common experience. Yet when lessons come in this way, they come at a very high price.
It may also be true that such events have contributed to a growing puritanical tendency in Buddhist convert communities in the west.
Of course, abuse of authority occurs in other areas of our lives – in education, medicine, mental health, and in the military. However, Buddhist training usually involves a long-term relationship with a teacher, profound existential transformation, as well as the resulting vulnerability that can occur for the student on their journey.
In addition, Buddhism has been carried for centuries by a largely male dominated and significantly patriarchal Asian tradition. There are distinct cultural differences from culture to culture; but typically, the authority of the traditional Asian teacher, and teaching style, was rarely challenged. As Buddhism transitioned to the west, this has sometimes led to a confusion between authority and privilege.
Buddhist ethics in the form of the Five Precepts has been a basic guideline since the time of the Buddha. They are generic, and they may not address the full complexity of contemporary life. Yet as a broad set of principles they seem to be a perfect foundation for conscious leadership: non-violence, respect for property, sexual integrity, mindful speech, mindful consumption ..
Here is the Manzanita Village version of the five precepts that we wrote some time ago, and have been using as our own reference for several years.
- Aware of the violence in the world, and of the power of non-violent resistance, I stand in the presence of the ancestors, the earth, and future generations, and vow to cultivate the compassion that seeks to protect each living being.
- Aware of the poverty and greed in the world, and of the intrinsic abundance of the earth, I stand in the presence of the ancestors, the earth, and future generations, and vow to cultivate the simplicity, gratitude, and generosity that have no limits.
- Aware of the abuse and lovelessness in the world and of the healing that is made possible when we open to love I stand in the presence of the ancestors, the earth, and future generations and vow to cultivate respect for the beauty and erotic power of our bodies.
- Aware of the falsehood and deception in the world and of the power of living and speaking the truth I stand in the presence of the ancestors, the earth, and future generations and vow to cultivate the ability to listen; and clarity and integrity in all I communicate—by my words and actions.
- Aware of the contamination and desecration of the world, and of my responsibility for life as it manifests through me I stand in the presence of the ancestors, the earth, and future generations, and vow to cultivate discernment and care in what I take into my body and mind.
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 Every system of thought, however subtle and all-inclusive, is capable of dogmatically asserting its own universality, citing some higher truth or transcendent authority that trumps all argument and silences all questions. This is as true for Buddhism as it is for any other religious, political, social, or scientific system.
Even systems with broad ethical guidelines, and the ability to make subtle distinctions, sometimes fail to recognize their own, or is it perhaps the human, tendency to forget that the system is only a lens through which to view the world; and as such there are always limitations to its applicability.
If it were otherwise the world would be very dull. The reality is that no single perspective, or system, or body of teaching has the ability to address every aspect of life. History is filled with bloody attempts to do so.
How strange it is that the human mind, so capable of making subtle distinctions, so able to embrace the kind of conscious evolution it seems wired for, is also pulled back strongly into the habit of fighting turf wars, and with such stubborn sectarian blindness!
Sometimes those turf wars are fought for social, political, or economic reasons; sometimes they are fought to challenge the frightening notion that someone has another way of thinking that might be as good, or better, than your own.
When considering Conscious Leadership, whether or not it is from a Buddhist perspective, we should include among the qualities it embodies, the ability to see things from others’ points of view. More than that, to respect, to embrace, even to learn to love, those ways of seeing and learning that are so ‘other’ than your own.
For a person with a hammer, every problem is a nail. For a person with an open mind, every problem is going to suggest the most appropriate perspectives, skills, and strategies.
Religious or philosophical systems are lenses, so too are political of social points of view. Skills and interests are lenses too, inclinations you may have, preference, likes and dislikes, habits. Conscious Leadership is simply knowing what is most useful at any given moment, for yourself, as well as for others.
In the words of the teacher Atisa, “It is the job of a Bodhisattva to be interested in everything.”
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I listened to someone speak about a simple skill, a specific meditation, one that I have been teaching for many years. They spoke of its power, and how it has been used to transform lives, to save lives. They spoke of it as a rare and valuable commodity, a tool that is capable of bringing profound quality and precision to your life. They presented it as if it was something new, fresh, recently discovered – and indeed it was, in the way that they presented it, even though it is probably as old as human language itself.
What was it? More to the point, what do you know, what can you offer, that is as obvious to you as the air you breathe, embedded in your neurology, the Dharma of your life, yet which remains invisible to others? What is it that you embody and are not even aware of; which, when you become aware of it, when you show it and speak it will transform the lives of those around you?
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 To listen to this article click here
People often ask about silence and how silent our retreats are and why. And whether there’s any talking at all, if they get some guidance from us, the teachers.
Well, the answer to that is yes, we give some very specific guidance and instruction; and yes, these are silent retreats. Meditations are silent, meals are silent, and people are encouraged not to engage in social talk.
The purpose is not to close you down, or to cut you off from others. It’s something else, leading you towards a greater silence than can really only be found inside.
The world is filled with sound, and until your heart stops beating, and your blood stops pulsing through your ears, there will never be any true silence. It’s relatively quiet here, at Manzanita Village, where I live; but we’ve spent the last several weeks, listening to the outrageously cacophony of scores of nesting, orioles and finches, meadowlarks and more birds that I can name, in the trees and in the eaves of the buildings. Silent is one thing it’s not.
Then there is another sort of silence, that we have all experienced, which has less to do with sound than with our own internal disposition. There are times, for example, when the noise of the city can be a source of agitation and stress; and other times when the sound of traffic and human activity is soothing, exciting, or even comforting. That sort of silence comes from inside. It has to do with inner balance that is not dependent on where you are, or what’s going on around you. To embody it, it helps if you spend some time in a quiet place, away from the noise of your everyday life. But the silence, ultimately, comes from within you.
I am fortunate to live in these Southern California mountains, and to also spend a significant part of my time in Los Angeles. It means that I can appreciate both environments that much more.
Manzanita Village was established as a meditation retreat center − though I’ve sometimes felt that meditation was extra, and that it might be enough for people to simply come here and enjoy the mountains, hills, grassland and forest, and all the noise of life going on around.
Well I’m joking, a little. Meditation is a profound way towards inner silence. And the natural sounds of the world can make meditation, and your journey towards inner silence, that much easier. They remind you that meditation is a natural thing, simple. Birds sing, your sit quietly listening. Meditation does not have to be a big project. But it can be antidote to the habit of being continually busy, or being continually involved in one sort of project or another.
Like silence, meditation is not a project, it’s a disposition. Silence has more to do with how you listen than with soundproofing yourself. Meditation has more to do with deliberate sensitization, than with isolation or sedation. So a meditation retreat is just a simple a way to restore inner balance so that you are better able to do that. It is not a model for how you should live your life, but it is a way to install a quality of silence that you can carry with you into your every day life.
Let me ask you to consider the difference between the sort of silence where, when you hear a sudden sound, it makes you jump; and the sort of silence where nothing could startle you. What’s the difference? Let’s say that it has to do with the silence that you experience inside, that filters the sounds of the world in a particular way. You can call it peace, or personal congruence, or integration.
At retreats we now offer some very specific tools and skills to help you get out of your own way. The rest of the time is meditation, sitting in the zendo, walking, lying in a hammock, listening through all the sounds to the silence .. to what’s underneath … to the silence inside yourself. To listen to this article click here
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Everything is alive, like Allen Ginsberg’s Footnote to Howl. Everything’s holy, everything wholly, everything’s whole. Which is not to say that it’s perfect just as it is and that there isn’t a job for you to do. Well, it may be perfect. But that doesn’t let you off the hook!
Meditation is not mere passivity
Some things are best accessed by sitting meditation, other things by action.
But that’s for another time…
The universe is a hologram,
a metaphor, and a mirror for whoever is considering it
 Some Buddhist teaching emphasizes the doctrine of rebirth. I hope this is an ethical device, rather than a metaphysical or ontological paradigm. Surely time, like space, as Einstein has taught us, does not travel in a straight line. Surely we are reborn into the past as much as into the future. Better still, can we not be reborn into the present. To become truly alive.
You just have to look at it, listen to it, imagine it, to know that the universe is alive, responsive .. then again, I only know the part of it that I experience. Then again, if it’s a hologram …
And if it is a choice, I choose to recognize the universe, every last part of it as alive, intelligent, and have no choice but to celebrate this living we do …
Everything is alive, like Allen Ginsberg’s Footnote to Howl. Everything’s holy, everything wholly, everything’s whole. Which is not to say that it’s perfect just as it is, and that there isn’t a job for you to do.
Meditation is not mere passivity. Some things are best accessed by sitting meditation, other things by action.
The universe is also a hologram, a metaphor, a mirror for whoever is considering it.
Some Buddhist teaching emphasizes the doctrine of rebirth. I hope this is an ethical device, rather than a metaphysical model. Surely time, like space, as Einstein has taught us, does not travel in a straight line. Surely we are reborn into the past as much as into the future. Better still, surely we are reborn into the present. To become truly alive.
You just have to look at it, listen to it, imagine it, to know that the universe is alive, responsive .. then again, I only know the part of it that I experience.
If it is a choice, I choose this.
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What the Buddha wants
Long ago I imagined living and working at a retreat on unspoiled land, far from the city, yet accessible enough for people to come here for workshops. I imagined that the land itself would be like a teacher. I imagined becoming native to this place, intimate with the animals and plants that lived here; as comfortable leaning on a rock in the silence of the night, far away from signs of our present century, as I would be in my own bed.
 I imagined creating a sanctuary, where those who might not otherwise do so, could venture away from their challenging work in the city to renew themselves, revaluate, contextualize what they did. I imagined it in a single moment; and I knew it would be so.
The winter sun warms the ground, still wet from rain. The scrub-jays and jack-rabbits I watch from the window are not concerned with the global economy, or climate change. The new grass turns the landscape green. Two days ago we ended a retreat. Sometimes people come from as far away as Europe or Australia.
The Buddha and the Law of Attraction?
Meditation doesn’t necessarily make you a better person, or even better at what you do. Meditation is simply the power to direct the focus of your attention. How and where you direct your attention will determine the outcome of your meditation. Whether it makes you a better person, or more skilled at what you do, is entirely up to you.
Let’s say that everything begins with dreaming and imagining. Your attention moves you toward what you have already dreamed and imagined for yourself. What you take to be brand new, is often just a variation of your old themes. Then, once in a while, what seems to be the same old story, turns out to be an entirely new one.
You discover clues for understanding and living your unique and amazing life among the fragments of ancient dreams, or in the whispering of a yet-to-be-discovered one.
The Buddha spoke of intention as being central to every moment of our experience. Intention is at the beginning of every thought, every word, every action. No one knows where intention comes from. Even brain scientists are unclear about how the initial impulse of thought begins. Let’s call it a dream. Yet out of that dream there will always be choices for you to make.
You will naturally direct your attention to what you value — to what is important in your life. Learning continues forever, if you want it to … as you marvel at the way the world dreams back at you.
Some people say that we are like fishermen caught in our own nets. Some say that meditation makes things clearer, some say it just colors the dream with new colors.
We watch the geese fly overhead each year, south in November, north in February. The pond in front of our window is visited by bobcats, deer, blue heron, and red-tailed hawks. People sit there sometimes during silent retreats, re-visioning their lives perhaps.
Our dream is one we share with countless others. We draw into us what we already see. Yet no one can describe the rich patterns that are made there.
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Mindfulness has become synonymous with Meditation,
 insight, the discipline of sustained awareness. It is your capacity to extend non-judgmental attention to the world around you, as well as internally, to your various responses to it.
Given the distractions we encounter every day, the discipline of mindfulness, with or without formally sitting quietly in meditation, would seem a worthwhile skill to develop. But is it enough? Or is it just a skillful way to keep distractions at bay?
Mindfulness alone is not enough!
Let me ask you …
What if you were able to never repeat the same mistake twice?
I’m talking about several kinds of mistakes:
- Mistaken perceptions that lead to self-defeating emotions; resentment, fear, self-judgment, judgment of others, anger, stubbornness, pride.
- Mistakes in communication, failure to communicate with others, and the myriad ensuing misunderstandings.
- Mistakes of omission, mistakes of impatience or pride, and the unskillful actions that follow.
We can certainly learn from our mistakes. But what if we have already learned the lessons, but keep on making the same mistakes? What would it take to change the things that have had us keep on making those same mistakes long after we have learned that they don’t serve us?
Mindfulness is not enough. It’s a great start, and it complements just about anything you do, from having a conversation, starting a business, to playing sports.
But any skill can be used wisely or badly. You may have heard the saying that for a person with a hammer every problem is a nail. Sometimes a hammer can do a lot of damage; sometimes it just weighs you down, carrying it around all the time.
What other skills can complement Mindfulness? Here’s a few.
Mindset
Attitude and the ability to change old self-limiting beliefs about what may or may not be possible for you to accomplish.
Energy
Energy is supported by good health, and good health is supported by your being in agreement with yourself. Enthusiasm, loving what you do, doing what you love.
Flexibility
Adaptability, the willingness to experiment with new strategies. Curiosity.
Gratitude
Hey! whatever’s going on your life is miraculous! Your eyes, ears, mind, body, friends; all of it miraculous.
Trust
Faith in the unfolding process of your life, intertwined with mind and intention in inexplicable ways. Your generosity as it emerges from that realization.
The list goes on.
Mindfulness is a good starting point, but mindfulness alone is not enough.
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Retreat February 12-15
Meditations on Love
The ancient Greeks had many words for it, while we have only one. We send it in emails, and at the end of messages, without a thought. We may long for another person, and yet we use that same word, with great intensity. We may use it to describe our feelings for a place, a pastime, a possession, a country, a meal. Everyone understands it, yet we seldom allow ourselves to taste the full significance of it.
The word of course is love. Love is not just desire, though it can be that. It’s not just affection or affinity, patriotism; though it can be all of those things.
One of the best definitions of love I’ve ever heard, a Buddhist one perhaps, is that love is the celebration of another. In particular, it is love as a the unconditional celebration of another. We become conscious of that other (person … or thing) as a unique expression of life, of the universe — rare, one of a kind, marvelous, miraculous in ways it would be hard to fully comprehend.
How simple! Yet how often are we interrupted in our celebration by judgments and by our own predisposition? How often are we interrupted in our appreciation and celebration of ourselves and our own lives by the harsh judgments we make on ourselves?
So, love is also forgiveness. Love in the Buddhist conception of it — metta or maitri — is understood to be both boundless and innate. In other words there is no end to the degree to which we can experience or express our love, and that the boundlessness of it is something we are already born with, a capacity that extends our reach to the stars.
I can’t honestly say that I understand fully what this might mean. I only understand that at those moment when I am able to surrender to the immaculate moment, the pleasure of celebrating my own life and the life of others around me is inexpressibly exquisitely sweet.
The good news is that there are some specific meditations which help you learn to cultivate and develop these qualities of Love.
We have a three day retreat in February in which we focus exclusively on these meditations.
http://www.manzanitavillage.org/meditation-retreats-california-information/2010/#Quick_Links_2
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