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Events and Retreats - 2023
Please Note: meditation can be contraindicated and may be harmful for people with Complex Trauma, PTSD. Substance Dependence or Psychosis. If in doubt, please seek advice from a psychologist or psychiatrist and speak to our Retreats Manager before booking your place. We are excited to be hosting the following events. We publicise the details of our retreats, and take bookings, approximately 3 - 4 months prior to each retreat. Stay in touch with details as they are publicised via our regular e-newsletters (subscribe via this website, top right of each page), this website, and our Facebook page. MIM Scholarship Fund Our Scholarship fund assists people living with financial difficulty, and who are unable to meet the full costs of a retreat. The fund is financed by donations from other retreat participants, cancellation fees and any MIM surpluses. A Supported Place is granted via an application process. Currently, a Supported Place attracts a substantial discount off the advertised shared room retreat cost. Three supported places are available per retreat. If you are keen to attend an MIM retreat but are unable to financially cover the retreat cost, please email Emma on insightretreats@hotmail.com FEBRUARY
"Out of Isolation": Urban Day Retreat with Jess Huon 10am - 4.30pm, Sunday 19th February 2023, Abbotsford Convent In this urban day retreat, we will look at the ways our practice might reinforce an individualistic go it alone attitude. We’ll explore the limitations of this mode of being, inquiring into what we habitually do when we’re in discomfort, opening up a way of practice that is more about partaking, where we don’t have to ‘hold on’ so tight… What is it to feel resourced by a sense of being included, of being part of a circle, a network of connections? There might be more room for our-selves and our experience than we initially thought. We’ll take our place, one among many, placing our awareness within a field of tangible support, and see how this feels in our bodies. Photos and retreat discussions From time to time photos may be taken and ideas discussed at the retreat may be shared (anonymously) in Jess’s communications. Download Flyer Venue The Sacred Heart Oratory, Abbotsford Convent, 1 St Heliers Street, Abbotsford. Cost In-Person: $60 + dana for Jess's teaching Online: $40 + dana for Jess's teaching Bookings In-person: Click here to book In-person: Click here to book Enquiries insightretreats@hotmail.com MARCH "Fresh View": Women's Dharma Circle with Angela McGee & Robyn Gibson 10.00am - 4.30pm, Sunday 5th March 2023, Armadale Each day, each moment, is unique and fresh - you might say we are born anew! But we often miss the freshness of each moment because we're caught up in our habitual views and struggles. And yet, as Jack Kornfield says: “Meditation is a practice that can teach us to enter each moment with wisdom, lightness, and a sense of humor. It is an art of opening and letting go, rather than accumulation or struggle. Then, even within your frustrations and difficulties, a remarkable inner sense of support and perspective can grow.” This day of group meditation practice will offer tools that allow us to see more clearly these habitual struggles, ushering in a wider view of ourselves and the world, and the ability to approach each moment with freshness and wisdom. Insight Meditation teachers Angela McGee and Robyn Gibson will lead and support this one-day silent retreat. The day will include: * Guided sitting meditation * Walking meditation * Dharma inquiry - investigating how practice is supporting your life * Dharma talks * Guided heart practice As with our regular Women's Circles, this day retreat aims to foster a community of fellow beginner and experienced meditators by practicing together, strengthening your home practice, offering each other support and connection, and welcoming sharing and dharma wisdom in a safe practice space. Now, more than ever, we need somewhere to step into quietude, seek refuge together and find solace in dharma practice. Now, more than ever, the dharma can offer us liberating tools to navigate the unpredictable terrain of this human life. If you identify as a woman and you’re looking for a day of support, practice and inquiry, please join us. Download Flyer Venue 24 Beatty Ave Armadale, 3143 Cost $50 + dana for Angela & Robyn's teaching Bookings Click here to book Enquiries insightretreats@hotmail.com APRIL 'Opening the Door to a Spacious Unbound Life': 7-Day Silent Retreat with Christine Thompson Friday 7th - Friday 14th April 2023, Kallara Conference Centre, Strathbogie Ranges This retreat offers the opportunity to feel our way into a deep connection with an expansive silence and awareness that is not dependent on inner and outer experiences being a certain way. We give ourselves permission to pay more attention to how we relate to suffering, impermanence and the trap of fixed identities so they don’t remain theoretical constructs but become dynamic doorways to an expansive present. The three characteristics as described by the Buddha, become a core practice in unveiling and acknowledging painful mind states and their dissolution. We come to see how we lean towards and are bound by self-perpetuating habits of heart, mind and body causing pain and distress to ourselves and others. Unlocking the way we relate to our inner life gives us the energy and confidence to be fully engaged and present. The retreat includes being attentive to meditation in the four postures. This includes mindfulness of all the activities we engage in throughout the day. You are invited to explore through a range of meditation techniques natural ways of being. We will use Mindfulness of breathing and body as gentle reminders of the simplicity and beauty of existence. We will explore our feelings of dissatisfaction and worry, by sitting with body/mind sensations without judging, as they arise. In this way we will work towards feeling more in touch and grounded and able to recognise thought patterns and processes which are not useful and create suffering for ourselves and others. There will be a day of self-motivated activities in order to further develop our receptivity and responsiveness to what arises in awareness. Confidence and faith in ourselves and the practice is further strengthened. There will be group and individual interviews, Dharma talks, and at least one inquiry session. Christine Thompson is a long-term practitioner of Insight (Vipassana) and Mindfulness meditation and has studied in the East and West. As well as dharma teaching in India and Australia, she has been a Buddhist Prison Chaplain both in Victoria and N.S.W. for the past 12 years. Even as we sit together in silence on retreat, Christine emphasises our interdependence with each other and with nature. Our natural, wise and compassionate responses are encouraged to flourish in the face of negative mind states. Important Retreat information to read before booking Venue Kallara Conference Centre, Boho South, Strathbogie Ranges Cost Shared Room: $688 + dana for Christine's teaching Single Room: $888 + dana for Christine's teaching Scholarship Places for people facing financial hardship: $410 + dana for Christine's teaching Bookings Shared room: Click here to book Single room: Click here to book Scholarship place: Please contact Emma on the email below to apply - there are 3 places available in shared room accom Enquiries Emma - insightretreats@hotmail.com MORE 2023 - Dates for your Diary
Women's Dharma Circle Full-Day with Angela McGee & Robyn Gibson 1.30pm - 4.30pm, Sunday 30th April 2023, Armadale Weekend Retreat with Jess Huon 6th & 7th May 2023, Abbotsford Convent Day Retreat with Robyn Gibson 1pm - 5.00pm, Saturday 20th May 2023, Fryerstown 14-Day Silent Retreat with Patrick Kearney 2nd - 16th June 2023, Kallara Conference Centre, Strathbogie Ranges 10-Day Silent Retreat with Patrick Kearney 4th - 13th August 2023, Kallara Conference Centre, Strathbogie Ranges Day Retreat with Robyn Gibson 1pm - 5.00pm, Saturday 19th August 2023, Ceres Environment Park, East Brunswick 7-Day Silent Retreat with Carol Perry & Angela McGee 13th - 20th October 2023, Kallara Conference Centre, Strathbogie Ranges THE MIM SCHOLARSHIP FUND
Our Scholarship fund assists people living with financial difficulty, and who are unable to meet the full costs of a retreat. The fund is financed by donations from other retreat participants, cancellation fees and any MIM surpluses. A Supported Place is granted via an application process. Currently, a Supported Place attracts a substantial discount off the advertised shared room retreat cost. Three supported places are available per retreat. If you are keen to attend an MIM retreat but are unable to financially cover the retreat cost, please email Emma on insightretreats@hotmail.com COVID-19 (CORONAVIRUS)
MIM has a Covid Safe Plan for all our face-to-face events in line with guidance from the Department of Health and Human Services. If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to contact us on melbourneinsightmeditation@gmail.com to discuss them. Our dharma practice is very important during this time to acknowledge our feelings, see clearly and take practical steps, whilst also remaining calm. |
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