Use this contact form if you missed the retreat and would like to know about future dates for similar retreat when they are offered!
Join Heart of Wisdom Monastery for
Meeting Suffering with Compassion: Christian & Buddhist contemplative practices retreat
Registration now closed.
Saturday, April 1st, 2017 – 11am-5pm
pop-up location: Plymouth Jazz & Justice Church, Oakland, CA in the Fireside Room
Gather with a diverse and inclusive community*
Led by Abbess Joellynn Monahan & Teacher Maxwell Pearl
People, it’s hard out there!!! Ordinary and extraordinary stresses of life take a toll…the political landscape, especially since last November, weighs heavy on us and the communities we belong to and care about…how do we find relief from suffering? how can we be sustained in our living, our service, and our witness for justice?
Cultivating compassion can allow us to move through these difficult times with less suffering, greater ease, and more energy to bring to service and justice-making. How can we rest in spaciousness, while in prayer and contemplation, while paying attention, and cultivating compassion? How can we find refuge in the Way of Jesus and the Middle Way of the Buddha?
Explore with us the richness in our embodied experience of meditation and prayer, in an open, welcoming space for people from different streams of Christian and Buddhist tradition and community, people from other traditions and spiritual paths, seekers and those simply curious.
Join Heart of Wisdom Monastery, in a diverse and inclusive* community to explore together how these two traditions can intertwine in our lives. We come together in contemplative practice, diving into both Christian and Buddhist contemplative practices during a day of quiet, reflection and refuge.
Register now to reserve your space!
Cost is $110/$90 / $70 / $50 sliding scale (please be in touch if cost is a concern)
Registration deadline 3/31/17
Retreat participants agree to be present for the entire time of the retreat from 11am-5pm.
*diverse and inclusive
>Tired of being the only person of color in the room? [You won’t be – you’ll join a retreat teacher and other participants of color.]
>Wondering if you would the only LGBTQ person present? [Nope, you’ll join both retreat leaders and other lesbian, gay, bisexual, same-gender-loving, all-gender loving, queer, trans and genderqueer participants.]
>Hoping the retreat space is accessible? [It is pretty accessible – be in touch if you have specific needs.]
> Wanting a space where you don’t have to choose between or defend your interest in the teachings and practices of both Christianity and Buddhism? [Here you go: in this retreat we honor the gifts of both/and refuge and give thanks for the how the Way of Jesus and the Middle Way of the Buddha are uniquely embodied in our lives. Yours. Mine. Ours.]
> Bring your gloriously whole self on retreat – ’cause that’s how we roll at Heart of Wisdom Monastery!
Rev. Joellynn Monahan 