People [...]]]> The relationship you have with others, whatever sort of relationship that may be – professional, romantic, and everything in between—is inevitably a reflection of the relationship you have with yourself.  That means that any internal conflict you have within yourself— any conflict of values, or unfinished business – will show up on the outside.

People ask how they can change what they are  completely unconscious of. “How can I change what I haven’t been able to change through years of therapy, counseling, meditation, visualization etc.?”

The truth is that the energy you have devoted to the negative, and the difficulty you have assigned to changing it, is a big part of the problem.

It’s not a question of struggling to solve your problems and achieve your dreams. It’s a question of coming from the place where you dreams already live, that forgotten place where you KNOW solutions are possible.

That and some specific, seldom taught  tools to help you clear the debris from your heart and spirit. People who love learning to change their old limiting beliefs and world-view love this work. 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 [...]]]> 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

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 [...]]]> 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

Meditation is not something to isolate you from the world. It is something to give [...]]]> A silent meditation retreat in California over the New Year holiday. We will use the healing process of vipassana, or insight meditation. It will integrate techniques that help you truly bring meditation practice into your everyday life. Beginners are welcome.

Meditation is not something to isolate you from the world. It is something to give you the insight and power to determine your own course amidst the challenges of your every life. It does not ask you to conform to any set way of thinking, it actually gives you more choices, so that you can free yourself from limiting beliefs, decisions, and habits.

Although the intention is to integrate mediation and mindfulness into your everyday life, going away on a retreat to learn transformational techniques and perspectives will provide you with skills you need to bring meditation home. If you are a beginner it will give you a jump start to continue meditating through the new year, and if you are already meditating regularly, the retreat will strengthen and deepen your meditation.

“The Way is easy
for those who are not rigid.

“When love and hate are both absent
everything becomes clear and undisguised.
Make the smallest distinction, however,
and heaven and earth are set infinitely apart.”
from the Hsin Hsin Ming

The purpose of meditation is not to be devoid of feeling – ‘When love and hate are both absent‘ -  rather it is to help you become so fluid that all the natural feelings that go along with being human simply pass, like clouds in the sky, allowing you to choose how you respond, and to let go of old fears, resentments, disappointments – to begin anew.

Feelings are inevitable, they are part of living. Meditation is to transform the stickiness of certain feelings through clarity and awareness, and develop the habit of simply letting go. Meditation is a reliable teacher. The process of meditating leads you to towards the simple capacity of letting go of you ‘stuff’.

Loving Kindness and Compassion are key elements in this process also. Loving kindness and compassion begin with how you treat ourselves, how you respond to the inevitable mistakes that occur in daily life. Learning to forgive and let go are essential; allowing you to become expansive, so that you are able to engage in the world with awareness and congruity – so that you become happy, and so that your happiness becomes contagious..

“Angels fly because they take themselves so lightly”

Retreat Information