Community Retreat
2nd April 2023
Cultivating Equanimity
To join, just sign up to our community
A retreat for developing balance, stability and peace
Equanimity is quality of mind and heart that allows us to embrace the whole of our experience and the fullness of life.
So often in life we want to hold on to what is pleasant and avoid what is unpleasant or challenging. This habit is a deep source of suffering. It's a reflex that prevents us dwelling deeply and peacefully in the here and now.
Equanimity is a practice of cultivating both courage and love. It is the courage to really be here for all that life brings us, and the love to embrace and include all of experience - not shutting anything out.
On this retreat, we'll spend time practising this cultivation of courage and love - this cultivation of equanimity.
If you'd like to join the retreat, just sign up to our community membership. It costs £10 per month and you can cancel any time.
The online retreat will have a mix of teaching, guided meditations, and opportunities to share and connect with others in zoom breakout rooms. The schedule for the day will be as follows...
10am-11.20am Sitting, movement meditation & bodyscan
Break
11.35am-12.15pm Open awareness practice
12.15pm-1pm A mindful walk cultivating equanimity
Lunch
1.45pm-2.30pm Equanimity Practice
Break
2.45pm-3.30pm Listening Circle
3.30pm-4pm Closing Sitting Practice
Michael Bready
Lorna Walker
The retreat will start at 10am on Sunday 2nd April and runs until 4pm There are short breaks in the schedule as well as a longer break for lunch. We recommend that you keep the entirety of day free so that even when you're not on a live session you can still keep the energy of mindful practice alive.
We've put this retreat together as a complete experience so we think you'll get the most out of it if you attend all the sessions. However, if for some reason, you have to miss a session, it's not the end of the world.
What's most important is that you commit to the experience as much as you can - that's the way you'll get the most out of it.
Clear your diary and set up a comfortable space where you can be undistracted. Commit to putting aside other distractions - like your mobile phone and other devices for the duration of the day. Let any people you live with know that you'll be going on this retreat and think ahead to how that can work best in your household.
Absolutely! You don't need to live in a hut on a mountainside to participate in this retreat. In fact, part of the learning on this retreat can be an exploration of how to deepen our mindfulness practice in the context of our own home. It'll be helpful to talk with the people you live with before the start of the retreat to let them know your plans and that you'll need to be undisturbed during the sessions. Closer to the start of the retreat we'll send information on how to prepare.
The retreat is for anyone looking to deepen and refresh their mindfulness practice. We expect many people who have completed training with Youth Mindfulness, but we also welcome people who have never trained or followed a course with Youth Mindfulness.
We'll be hosting the retreat through zoom. You can access zoom through your web browser or by downloading the app. You can test zoom is working on your machine by going here: https://zoom.us/test
This could be an issue when you join the breakout rooms - it might be difficult for other participants to hear you.
If you can watch youtube videos alright with your internet connection, you should be able to follow the talks and the guided meditations.
While not essential, we do encourage this, as it creates a sense of connection amongst the whole group.
Yes you can. But we think the best experience will come from joining on a device with a larger screen - like a laptop or tablet. If a phone is most convenient for you - you're most welcome to join in this way.