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Events and Retreats - 2022
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. COVID-19 (Coronavirus) Update Monday 3 January 2022: MIM has implemented a Covid-Safe Plan that is updated regularly to follow the most up-to-date government guidelines and we want to reiterate their guidance around vaccination, physical distancing, mask wearing, and hygiene practices. We will be offering both online and face-to-face retreats in 2022 in line with our Covid-Safe Plan and government guidelines and where there are further lockdowns we will revert to online only. 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. OCTOBER
"In Harmony with Nature" - One Day Retreat with Anton Eastick 10.30am - 4.30pm, Sunday 9th October 2022, Bargoonga Nganijin North Fitzroy Library & Online Establishing right view is like giving ourselves the framework for our experience, for our practice. Rather than having the view that we're someone needing to improve ourselves or change something, rather it’s ‘here is the awake mind knowing this moment’. So, establishing an attuned view, a view in harmony is taking the attention off whether we like something or don’t like it. But rather we enquire ‘is there dukkha?’. That’s where the letting go happens. Suitable for beginners or otherwise. Venue Bargoonga Nganjin Community Room, North Fitzroy Library, 182 St Georges Road, North Fitzroy Cost In-Person: $60 + dana for Anton's teaching Online: $40 + dana for Anton's teaching Bookings In-Person: to book click here Online: to book click here Enquiries insightretreats@hotmail.com "Open Heart, Open Mind" - 7-Day Residential Retreat with Carol Perry and Angela McGee Friday 14th October - Friday 21st October 2022, Kallara Conference Centre, Strathbogie Ranges This is the retreat that inspired the formation of Melbourne Insight Meditation. The 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 and free time. Carol Perry has 40 years experience in the Insight tradition. She is a senior teacher with Melbourne Insight Meditation. In 1972 Carol co-founded a rural community where she continues to live. Carol is a long-time social activist on ecological and social justice issues. She leads a monthly Women’s Wisdom & the Dharma group in the Northern Rivers area and is a Certified Hakomi Psychotherapist. 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. Download Flyer Important Retreat Information to read before booking Venue Kallara Conference Centre, Boho South, Strathbogie Ranges, VIC Cost (all accommodation is in single rooms) $920 + dana for Carol & Angela's teaching Bookings Waiting list only - email Emma on the address below to put your name down. Supported Place Our Supported Place Fund is able to give people experiencing financial hardship a 30% discount. Please contact Emma on the email below to apply Enquiries insightretreats@hotmail.com "Practice & Artistry": Urban Day Retreat with Jess Huon & Panel Talk in the Evening 10am - 4.30pm & 6.30pm-8pm, Saturday 29th October 2022, Abbotsford Convent ‘Underneath it all, we are wild and we know it’ - Reggie Ray Meditative practice is a training that asks us to arrest habitual movement of mind, and abide in an internal space where we are not jammed up against our ‘self’. This leaves room for a different kind of ‘knowing’ to arise. Whilst falling into depth loosens an isolated sense of ‘self’, this open space also shoots up wild arrays of distinct feelings, images and phrases - particular to our own nature. We can be instructed to not give this attention, to allow it to move on through, yet sometimes this creative material wants to leap out. What do we allow to roll by like unclaimed baggage and what do we pick up and handle? What makes us know, as artist Harry Dodge describes, when we are on the ‘beam’? How can we trust in our own movement, an inner quickening of congruency, and follow, follow, follow it, even if it doesn’t fit appearances, or seems ‘out of the box’? About the Evening Panel Talk An evening panel conversation framed within shared silence to look at the rich, edgier and sometimes less spoken of aspects of our meditation practice. This communal inquiry between Jess, students and guest speakers will draw on our collective richness and wisdom. In this session we will explore artistic practice and how this relates to our meditation practice. You are invited to bring the rawness and edges of your practice into the light of communal conversation. Let’s gather insight together. Come along, alone or with friends and partners - all welcome. Download Flyer Venue Abbotsford Convent, 1 St Heliers Street, Abbotsford, 3067 Bookings In-person Retreat & Panel Talk: $80 + dana for Jess's teaching In-person Retreat Only: $60 + dana for Jess's teaching Evening Panel Talk Only: $30 + dana for Jess's teaching Online Retreat & Panel Talk: $40 + dana for Jess's teaching Supported Place Our Supported Place Fund is able to give people experiencing financial hardship a 30% discount. Please contact Emma on the email below to apply Enquiries insightretreats@hotmail.com NOVEMBER
Touching the Earth: 5-Day Silent Retreat with Robyn Gibson and Rupert Marques Friday 25th November - Wednesday 30th November2022, Kailash Ashram, The Grampians We live in a time where the marriage of outer engagement and inner understanding is an essential feature of the movement toward an enlivening and equitable human presence on this earth. This retreat is an opportunity to explore this through slowing down and settling into a rhythm and quality of presence that supports us in remembering what is important, what nourishes us and allows us to more freely bring ourselves to this life. Supported by our relationship with the wider natural world, we will combine nature-based practice with contemplative practice, exploring the mutuality of these ways of deepening presence. We will explore the mutuality of experiential ecopsychology practices drawn from a four directions eco-centric wheel of development with meditation practice based around the four foundations of mindfulness. Dharma talks, the opportunity for group inquiry and individual interviews with teachers will also be offered. In support of deepening this exploration, the majority of the retreat will be held in silence, interspersed with periods of shared inquiry. Three threads of practice – individual contemplative practice, community inquiry and connection with the land – will serve as the foundation through which to explore a number of themes, including Belonging, Engagement and Reciprocity. To live in these times with the enormity of the problems we collectively face is at once both a challenge and a privilege; to live when so much is in the balance and yet so much is possible. This retreat is offered as support and inspiration for our collective engagement, well-being and even our flourishing in the midst of these times. Important Retreat information to read before booking Venue Kailash Ashram offers its accommodation on a gift/dana basis, and asks for a donation from participants at the end of the retreat (as do the teachers.) Cost (accommodation is offered on a gift basis, and asks for a donation from participants at the end of the retreat) Full fee places (all accommodation types) - $560 + dana for teachers and venue Supported places (all accommodation types) - $280 + dana for teachers and venue (email Emma on the address below to apply for a supported place) Bookings - Full Fee There are limited numbers of single and twin share rooms available. When booking your accommodation option, keep in mind that some people will need a room more than others due to health issues. If you are healthy and able, please consider booking a camping place. This will leave the rooms available for those for whom camping is not an option. We have camping equipment available to borrow if needed. Camping - book here Twin share - book here Single room - book here Bookings - Supported places Supported Places are available to people who need them at a 50% discount. Please contact Emma on the email below to apply Acknowledging the importance of supporting our youth in these times as those who will be inheriting the consequences of our actions with regard to both social and ecological justice, we are particularly keen to have the presence of young people on this retreat. In support of this, we will endeavour to not turn any young person away because of financial position. Please write to us if the supported place is beyond your capacity. Enquiries Emma - insightretreats@hotmail.com "Practice & Sexuality": Urban Day Retreat with Jess Huon & Panel Talk in the Evening 10am - 4.30pm & 6.30pm-8pm, Saturday 26th November 2022, Abbotsford Convent Working with energies When the going gets tough, or stressful, sadly, the playfulness of eros can clamp down. At some point, in an embodied mediation practice, sexual energy arises. Its resurgence can be a result of dedicated practice and its energy cultivated within the seat of practice. Whilst this energy animates and activates life, it can also be overwhelming, frightening, weird, addictive, and as we know, used in harmful ways. Some spiritual traditions have decided to safeguard against it; to negate it, wipe their hands of it. Yet the French remind us; “what has been denied will come back with a gallop.” This day will be rooted in foundational practices to support us to abide with our own energy in liberating and healing ways - in resonant connection with self, other, and the world. In this, we re-affirm and celebrate eros. We will practice courting the whole gamut of our ever-changing human experience and exploring this particular energy. About the Evening Panel Talk An evening panel conversation framed within shared silence to look at the rich, edgier and sometimes less spoken of aspects of our meditation practice. This communal inquiry between Jess, students and guest speakers will draw on our collective richness and wisdom. In this session we will explore psychological terrain and how this relates to our meditation practice. You are invited to bring the rawness and edges of your practice into the light of communal conversation. Let’s gather insight together. Come along, alone or with friends and partners - all welcome. Download Flyer Venue Abbotsford Convent, 1 St Heliers Street, Abbotsford, 3067 Bookings In-person Retreat & Panel Talk: $80 + dana for Jess's teaching In-person Retreat Only: $60 + dana for Jess's teaching Evening Panel Talk Only: $30 + dana for Jess's teaching Online Retreat & Panel Talk: $40 + dana for Jess's teaching Supported Place Our Supported Place Fund is able to give people experiencing financial hardship a 30% discount. Please contact Emma on the email below to apply Enquiries insightretreats@hotmail.com DECEMBER Women's Dharma Circle with Angela McGee & Robyn Gibson 1.30pm - 4.30pm, Sunday 11th December 2022, Armadale Insight teachers Angela McGee and Robyn Gibson lead and support these monthly, half day retreats, held in noble silence. The afternoons include: * Guided seated meditations * Walking meditation * Dharma inquiry - investigating how practice is supporting your life * Dharma talks by the teachers * Guided heart practices This regular Women's Circle aims to foster a community of fellow beginner and experienced meditators to share meditation practice together, strengthen your home practice, offer each other support and connection and welcome 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 an afternoon of support, practice and enquiry, join us. Venue 24 Beatty Ave Armadale, 3143 Cost $20 + dana for Angela & Robyn's teaching Bookings Click here to book Enquiries insightretreats@hotmail.com New Years Retreat with Anton Eastick Tuesday 27th December 2022 - Monday 2nd January 2023, Gilwell Park, Gembrook The New Year is a wonderful time to touch sacred presence and deepen our roots in our life's aspirations. This retreat is a chance to set new or reaffirm existing pathways that open our hearts and minds through practices that help shape a more beautiful mind. In the words of David Whyte... this is "Asking questions that help us re-imagine ourselves, our world and our part in it, working to reshape our identities and become larger, more generous and more courageous as we grow and mature". In this opening to the new within ourselves, we open the doorway to fresh and energising states of being that lay waiting for us. Rather than setting New Years resolutions, we'll be exploring the nature of Vows. It can be freeing to understand that the vows we unconsciously took at an earlier stage of our life, possibly as far back as childhood can be consciously changed, modified or let go of. A vow is a promise to your future self. It is a contract with yourself. A vow is an aspiration to give life to a spiritual path, a project, a relationship or anything that comes from the core of your being. It is part of your life’s purpose. A vow serves as a channel for your life’s energy, so it is not scattered or frittered away. "A vow is a deep commitment to see something through no matter the obstacles. A vow is different from a new year’s resolution. Resolutions have the air of self-improvement while vows speak to something larger. Vows ask us to continually return over and over again to our deepest intentions. They help us orient our life to what is most beneficial. And vows emerge from our own unique life and circumstances." From Zendust.org This is an Insight Meditation retreat where we will offer teachings in the service of meditative ease and grace. Along with encouraging mindful and loving presence, we will do so with a curiosity about "What are your habits of awareness?" and in line with Buddhist teachings, what else might you include to broaden and claim other aspects of your being? There will be meditation instructions and guided meditations, Dharma talks and inquiry, question and answer sessions and also opportunities for personal interviews if you wish. Along with sitting and walking meditation, we encourage you to experiment with meditation, and at times try lying down for meditation. Deep rest turns out to be surprisingly and delightfully, undemanding and rewarding. As the mind and body become deeply rested, a natural meditative awareness emerges where awareness becomes bright and clear. This retreat is suitable for beginner or experienced meditators. Venue Gilwell Park, 2555 Launching Place Road, Gembrook, Dandenong Ranges Cost (all accommodation is in single rooms) $790 + dana for Anton's teaching Bookings & Information www.antoneastick.com.au THE MIM SUPPORTED PLACE FUND
Our Supported Place 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 30% discount off the advertised retreat cost. One or two 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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