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Past Retreats

Online Sponsored by Spirit Rock

Retreat Description:
This is a wonderful opportunity for our LGBTQI Gender Non-Conforming community to come together in support and exploration of our inner capacity to realize the authentic and free expression of life living through us. We begin the retreat on election day and will be able to invite our commitment to non-harming and justice as blessings throughout the retreat. There will be time each day for the BIPOC and Trans sangha to sit together. This retreat is open to beginners and experienced students.

DATE AND TIME DETAILS:
Tuesday to Saturday, November 3 – 7, 2020

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The Dharma of Illness and Well-Being Online Retreat

With Kate Lila Wheeler & Katy Wiss

December 11-13, 2020

Sponsored by Dhamma Dena Meditation Retreat Center

All who have been or will be sick are welcomed to this retreat. All who have been caregivers, or will be caregivers for ourselves or others are welcomed to this retreat. Indeed dis-ease is universal for living beings, well-being our deep-rooted concern. At this retreat we will explore the supportive role that practices of mindfulness and kindness can offer within the continuous experiences of well-being and dis-ease of mind and body.

With the support of the online retreat community, we will explore illness and wellbeing in our collective sphere and the ways that they are both mental and physical experiences. We will inquire how they are influenced by cultures of separation or inclusion; by greed, hatred, delusion and their opposites, generosity, kindness, and wisdom.

Concerns of those currently working with chronic illnesses, and those currently in caregiving roles, will be specifically referenced. There will be an exploration of self-care, as the aim of the retreat is to support us all to move through life in a more skillful way, relying on Dharma practices that can bring a sense of relief even in the midst of great challenges.

Mindfulness and compassion practices, guided meditations and group discussions will invite gentleness and letting go. Lying-down meditation will be encouraged.

There will be Dharma instructions and times for interaction with the teachers and community. Our schedule will offer generous breaks for rest and movement, and encouragement toward self-care.

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Day Interactive Online Retreat
Wheel of Life
Saturday, Sept 26th, 2020
To Sunday, Sept 27th, 2020
Led by Lila Kate Wheeler
and Katy Wiss
Sponsored by Insight Meditation Houston

Description: Do we ‘get’ that our life is entirely composed of creative engagements? That emotions make a huge difference in how we experience things? Or that the quality of our relationships can bring well-being or misery to ourselves, others, and our shared world?

If so, we already understand something about the teachings of Dependent Origination, also known as The Wheel of Life, interdependence, inter-being, karma, and even rebirth. These are some of the most essential, practical and powerful teachings of Buddhism; they can also seem daunting and complex with infinite ramifications. On this weekend retreat, we will explore them in our real lives, as a virtual community. The colorful Wheel of Life, a teaching through art, will be offered as grounding for seeing how healthy and unhealthy emotions create very real waves and distinct experiential tones — every day. We can “awaken” directly within our experience of the everyday cycle and begin to see that awareness, waking up to what is, begins to generate spaces, inwardly as well as externally, that feel more open, supportive and real.

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Freedom and Illness 9/26-9/29/2019

Lila Kate Wheeler with assistance from Katy Wiss
Margaret Austin Center

“All conditioned things will not last – when one sees this with wisdom, one turns away from suffering.”    -The Buddha

Description: On this silent retreat we will practice opening to the full range of our daily experiences with gentle, balanced attention. Grounded and embodied, we can see how harsh we are when we insist on always feeling good and reject all pain, unease or dis-ease in our bodies, hearts, and the outer world. As we open and relax these patterns, our wholeness emerges. We sense directly the freedom that arises from truly accepting both health and illness. We can be more realistic, present and supportive for ourselves, others, and our world. There will be guided sitting and walking meditations, nightly Dharma talks, question and answer periods and interviews with the teacher and assistant teacher.

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Vipassana Retreat for the Queer & Genderfluid Community

October 1 – October 15, 2019

A Retreat for the GLBT Gender Non-Conforming Community

These two weeks are a wonderful opportunity to practice together in support of opening into love and wisdom. You can come for just one or both weeks. Two weeks offers a unique length of time for us to strengthen the conditions for insight. Open to beginners and long standing students.

There will be guided sittings, walking and movement meditation, group sharing and dharma talks. This retreat will be primarily in silence.

Retreatants are welcome to attend either the first or second week or both. We ask that you arrive either on October 1st or 8th. Coming any other time is strongly discouraged and needs the permission of the teacher.

Including accommodation and three vegetarian meals daily

Housing is simple, most in double-occupancy rooms; all meals are vegetarian with vegan & gluten-free options.

According to the ancient tradition of dana, those who carry on the teachings of the Buddha are supported through the generosity of the community; thus dana to support the teachers, manager and cook at Dhamma Dena may be offered at the conclusion of the retreat.

Work exchange & scholarships available according to need, upon request. Due to our current focus on overdue repair and maintenance we ask those who need financial assistance pay at least $10 per day to cover our food costs.

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Taking Freedom To Extremes: Teachings for Responsible Social Action

Dates: Dec 12, 2019 – Dec 15, 2019
Days: Thu – Sun (3 Nights)

Instructors: Lila Kate Wheeler, JD Doyle, Katy Wiss

What instructions does the Buddha offer as we seek an appropriate response to the challenges and complexities of our social and political lives? Through the close reading of two suttas, “What Do You Think About Me?” and “The Simile of the Saw,” we will explore the Buddha’s teachings on the social allocation of power. In these texts, the Buddha instructs practitioners on how to enact responsible social action. He offers advice about allyship: when to speak out or not. He gives direction on how to deal with unruly others. He suggests basic attitudes and practices to stay in balance and at peace when we do enter into conflict. These are practical teachings to support us in caring for others who are enduring intolerable situations. Through meditation, reflection, and discussion, we will investigate our own attitudes and reactions as we rub up against these often demanding instructions. We will connect with others to collectively gain clarity that will support us as we engage in liberation practices for the sake of all beings.

Learning Intentions:

To connect with others and create community in resistance to oppression; encourage a view of practice that includes both formal sitting practice and action; learn how to grapple with demanding texts and find one’s own position informed by the discourses; recognize how the stories presented in the discourses invite us to deeply consider the often troubling nature of the social allocation of power and our resistance to it; understand from the Kinti Sutta (What do you think about me?) how Buddhist practice does not mean building a bubble of personal comfort but instead involves renunciation of despair and anger in service of wholesome action; consider action vis-a-vis non-action: not only how meditation can dissolve distress incurred in our worldly practice of Dharma; and also how ‘sharp speech’ may also imply that we may need to redirect others, or even rebuke them, and take action when we are not fully calm.