This inaugural retreat offers a deeper look at mindfulness, a healthy critique of its limitations, and an exploration of the rich array of post-mindfulness meditations. With mindfulness as a platform, we will discover the wonders of the natural mind using a host of practices from the wisdom traditions.

What are the shadow sides of mindfulness? Where does insight meditation, mettā, and the practice of tonglen fit in? How does meditation lead to unconditional happiness? How do you handle the obstacles to meditation? This unique retreat draws on support from psychology, science, philosophy and integral studies to provide a broad-spectrum approach to meditation – and how to bring it to life.

Some Topics We Will Explore: 

• Strengths and weaknesses of mindfulness
• How does meditation reduce stress and suffering?
• Obstacles and antidotes to meditation
• Vipassana and Analytic Meditation
• Meditation snacks
• The art of contemplation
• “Emergency” meditations
• Integral meditation
• The role of the body in meditation
• Lujong or “body training”
• Meditative bypassing and other blind spots
• The practice of open awareness
• The reverse meditations
• The role of therapy on the path
• The nocturnal meditations
• Applying meditation to life
• The fruition of meditation

This retreat is for anyone interested in meditation, and the many practices that transcend mindfulness.

Beginning meditators will be gently led into the art of meditation, while intermediate students will greatly refine their understanding of meditation.

Advanced practitioners will learn about meditations not found anywhere else, and enhance their understanding of the scope of meditation. Break-out groups for these three levels will allow any stage of practitioner to feel comfortable, while simultaneously being stretched into healthy growth.

While centered on the teachings of Buddhism, this retreat is trans-religious in nature, and integral in spirit, drawing on teachings from ancient Eastern wisdom and modern Western knowledge. If you have any questions about attendance, write to Andrew at andrew@andrewholecek.com.

A luxurious lunch and open time (where you’ll have the option to practice liminal dreaming during “napping meditation”) follows. This is when you can roam the remarkable land, take a swim in the pool, or go for a run on the many trails.

The afternoon session will either refine the morning meditation, or introduce a new practice. Another talk will be presented, with more Q & A, followed by breakout discussion groups. Bodywork in the form of yoga (with a certified instructor), or Tibetan lujong (“body training”), will keep the energy moving and show us to engage meditation in action.

After dinner – with the best food we’ve ever had at any retreat center – we’ll return for an evening session on one of the nocturnal meditations, followed by a video, and more time for discussion.

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