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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 JUNE
"The Winter of Our Content": 9 or 14-Day Silent Retreat with Patrick Kearney 2nd - 16th June 2023, Kallara Conference Centre, Strathbogie Ranges This retreat is held in the depths of winter in beautiful Australian countryside in the foothills of the Snowy Mountains. The weather is cold; conditions are simple. Ideal circumstances for practice. The retreat is held for two weeks, allowing time to settle into the present and to discover what is really going on. Patrick Kearney has practised mindfulness meditation (satipaṭṭhāna vipassanā) since 1977. At that time there was little or no Buddhist meditation training available in Australia, so he spent years travelling in Asia and the USA working with teachers from different Buddhist traditions to learn the craft of meditation practice. Most of his training has been in the insight meditation lineage of Mahāsī Sayādaw of Burma, which included several years as a Buddhist monk. His main teachers were Sayādaw U Paṇḍita and John Hale. He has also trained in the Diamond Sangha lineage of Zen where his teachers have been Robert Aitken Rōshi and Paul Maloney Rōshi. Patrick has been a full-time teacher of mindfulness meditation for over 20 years. He conducts residential and online retreats, workshops and seminars. He has studied early Buddhism at post-graduate levels and has a particular interest in the original teachings of the Buddha, before the invention of “Buddhism.” This allows him to bring the radical insights of the Buddha to our contemporary situation. He sees meditation as a physical practice that reconnects us with the felt world of our senses, allowing us to live our lives directly rather than through the cling-wrap of our habitual thinking. Download Flyer Important Retreat information to read before booking Venue Kallara Conference Centre, Boho South, Strathbogie Ranges Cost & Booking 9-Day Single Room: $1120 + dana for Patrick's teaching - click here to book 9-Day Shared Room: $820 + dana for Patrick's teaching - click here to book 14-Day Single Room: $1706 + dana for Patrick's teaching - click here to book 14-Day Shared Room: $1306 + dana for Patrick's teaching - click here to book Scholarship Places There are 3 supported places in twin share rooms available for people for whom the full price is a barrier to attendance. This may be students, young people or those facing a difficult financial circumstance. If this is you we really encourage you to apply. Please email Loretta on insightretreats@hotmail.com for an application form. Enquiries Loretta - insightretreats@hotmail.com JULY
The Heart Opening Practice of Gratitude: A Day of Meditation & Enquiry with Robyn Gibson 9.45am - 5.00pm, 1 July 2023, Fryerstown (10 minutes from Castlemaine) “You can pick all the flowers, but you can’t stop the spring.” – Pablo Neruda Cultivating a practice of gratitude is a powerful antidote to taking life for granted and forgetting to pay attention to the gifts that are bestowed on us moment-to-moment. When we feel and express gratitude with awareness, it becomes a gateway to love and joy, and can transform how we see, and act in, the world. Gratitude can liberate us from what John Ortberg calls ‘the prison of self-preoccupation’ – freedom from a sense of separateness and isolation we so easily feel in the modern world. With a practice of gratitude, we can find relief from suffering, and respond more reverently and wisely to what life brings. As the great Sufi poet, Rumi, says: “Wear gratitude like a cloak, and it will feed every corner of your life.” This one-day retreat will offer tools of mindfulness meditation and inquiry from the Buddhist tradition to bring us back in touch with the experience of life as a gift, allowing us to connect more fully and authentically with our bodies, hearts and minds, and by extension, with other beings and the world around us. Join us for this (mostly silent) retreat, in a lovely old schoolhouse in a bushland setting, to ignite a sense of gratitude for what is already here and happening - the unfolding of life - and an opportunity to become more intimate with it. The retreat will include: - Sitting and walking meditation (guided and silent periods) - Lying down relaxation practice - Dharma talk by Robyn - Discussion, Q&A - Gratitude circle All are welcome - the retreat is suitable for beginning and more experienced meditators. Download Flyer Venue Fryerstown School, 5 Camp Street, Fryerstown, Central Victoria (10 mins from Castlemaine) Cost $60 + dana for Robyn's teaching Bookings click here to book Enquiries Loretta - insightretreats@hotmail.com Urban Day Retreat with Jess Huon 10am-5pm, Sunday 30th July 2023, Abbotsford Convent and online via zoom Bookings opening soon AUGUST "Practicing Intimacy": 9-Day Silent Retreat with Patrick Kearney & Robyn Gibson `Friday 4th August - Sunday 13th August 2023, Kallara Conference Centre, Strathbogie Ranges When we practise mindfulness we become intimate with our moment-to-moment experience in ways that are not possible in the chaos of our everyday lives. In this retreat we will explore intimacy and what this intimacy reveals. Patrick and Robyn will conduct one-on-one interviews together. The interviews give you the opportunity to have an objective, external view on how your practice is developing. This will help you fine-tune your practice. Kallara Conference Centre lies in the foothills of the Snowy Mountains. It provides ideal conditions for deep practice. Robyn Gibson has been practising and studying meditation for over 25 years, predominantly in the Mahāsī lineage of Theravāda Buddhism. Her principal teachers have been Patrick Kearney and Carol Perry. Teaching since 2016, Robyn’s approach brings together the radical teachings of freedom through embodied presence that the Buddha taught, deep ecology and other nature-based practices, and creative expression – allowing for inquiry into what it means to live a full and just human life on this earth, and how to face the challenges of our current times with courage and integrity. Patrick Kearney has practised mindfulness meditation (satipaṭṭhāna vipassanā) since 1977. Most of his training has been in the insight meditation lineage of Mahāsī Sayādaw of Burma, including several years as a Buddhist monk. His main teachers were Sayādaw U Paṇḍita and John Hale. He has also trained in the Diamond Sangha lineage of Zen with Robert Aitken Rōshi and Paul Maloney Rōshi. Patrick, a full-time teacher of mindfulness meditation for over 20 years, has studied early Buddhism at post-graduate levels and has a particular interest in the original teachings of the Buddha. This allows him to bring the radical insights of the Buddha to our contemporary situation. He sees meditation as a physical practice that reconnects us with the felt world of our senses, allowing us to live our lives directly rather than through the cling-wrap of our habitual thinking. Download Flyer Important Retreat information to read before booking Venue Kallara Conference Centre, Boho South, Strathbogie Ranges Cost & Booking 9-Day Shared Room: $820 + dana for Patrick's teaching - Click here to book 9-Day Single Room: $1120 + dana for Patrick's teaching - Waiting list only Scholarship Places available for people facing financial hardship - email Loretta on the address below to apply Enquiries Loretta - insightretreats@hotmail.com Half Day Retreat 1.30pm - 5.00pm, Saturday 19th August 2023, Ceres Environment Park, East Brunswick Bookings opening soon October 'Open Heart, Open Mind': 7-Day Silent Retreat with Carol Perry & Angela McGee 13th - 20th October 2023, Kallara Conference Centre, Strathbogie Ranges This is the retreat that inspired the formation of Melbourne Insight Meditation. Carol Perry has over 40 years of meditation experience and is a senior teacher with Melbourne Insight. She is a long time social and ecological activist with an extensive history in fostering harmonious community, conflict mediation and skilful communication. Carol is a Certified Hakomi Therapist Angela McGee is a Dharma teacher in the tradition of Insight Meditation. She teaches regularly with Melbourne Insight Meditation Group and teaches retreats in Australia and Bali. Angela is keen to explore how the Dharma teachings can open our hearts, guide our day to day lives and deepen our connection to all of life. She is a psychotherapist in private practice in Melbourne and has also taught Yoga for 25 years in the tradition of Krishnamacharya. This retreat includes: Sitting, walking and standing meditations, Optional yoga asana to assist in sitting, Private and group interviews, Questions and inquiry with teachers, Dharma talks, Instructions for meditation, Mindfulness work period, Free time Important Retreat Information to read before booking your place. Venue Kallara Conference Centre, Boho South, Strathbogie Ranges Cost & Booking Shared Room: $673 + dana for Carol & Angela's teaching - Click here to book Single Room: $973 + dana for Carol & Angela's teaching - click here to book Scholarship Places There are 3 supported places in shared rooms available for people for whom the full price is a barrier to attendance. This may be students, young people or those facing a difficult financial circumstance. If this is you we really encourage you to apply. Please email Emma/Loretta on insightretreats@hotmail.com for an application form. Enquiries Loretta - insightretreats@hotmail.com November Touching the Earth: 6-Day Silent Retreat with Robyn Gibson & Rupert Marques 13th - 19th November 2023, Kallara Conference Centre, Strathbogie Ranges Bookings opening soon 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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