Tibetan Nyingma Institute Ancient Wisdom for the Modern World

Fall 2010 Workshops and Retreats

Weekend workshops and longer retreats offer fresh insights in a gentle, meditative atmosphere. Unless otherwise noted, Saturday workshops begin at 10 AM and conclude at 4:45 PM and include a vegetarian buffet lunch. Retreat schedules are available upon request. Workshop participants may arrange to stay overnight at the Institute for an additional $40 per night. If no prerequisite is listed, then a workshop or retreat is open to students at all levels of experience.

KNR406 Joy and Spaciousness

September 10-12*

Gentle Kum Nye movement and breathing practices enhance a sense of spaciousness and develop joyous feelings. Practicing mostly outdoors, we invite the beauty of nature to foster and expand inner joy.

Cost: $275 (residential only). Held at Ratna Ling. Begins with dinner on Friday and continues through Sunday lunch. Instructors: Sylvia Gretchen and Jack van der Meulen.

Continuing education credits available for MFT’s and LCSW’s. Retreat is part of the following Certificate Programs: Beginning Nyingma Meditation Program; Kum Nye (Tibetan Yoga) Program; Nyingma Psychology Program; Four-Month Human Development Training Retreat.

MED404 Unlocking Consciousness

September 18

Concentrating on an ancient Buddhist symbol for awareness, we catalyze meditation practice through visualization and mantra. Levels of consciousness emerge that are beyond words or labels.

Cost: $80. Instructors: Jack Petranker and Institute faculty. For those with meditation experience.

MED420 Expanding Awareness

September 25

When we touch each sense within the silence of meditation, deep feelings emerge that can be expanded beyond all boundaries. Mantra and visualization practices help contact a higher awareness, alive and healing.

Cost: $80. Instructors: Sylvia Gretchen and Institute faculty.

MED418 Gesture of Balance

October 2

Meditation is the process of self-discovery. On one level the meditation experience shows us the patterns of our lives—how we have carried on our emotional characteristics since childhood. But on another level it frees us from these patterns, making it easier for us to see our inner potentials. Tarthang Tulku, Gesture of Balance.

This workshop includes awareness and meditation practices that can be used in everyday life to balance and heal body, breath, and mind. Instruction draws on teachings from Buddhist Studies, Nyingma Psychology, Tibetan Yoga, and the Time, Space, and Knowledge vision.

FREE. Instructors: Nyingma Institute teaching staff. This special workshop is open to all interested students at no charge as part of the “Gesture of Balance” week that celebrates the Nyingma Institute’s 39th year.

NPR410 Dream Yoga and Authentic Communication

October 8-10

Meditation and visualization exercises from the Tibetan tradition bring a special awareness into the dream state that helps us use dreams to cultivate insight. The instructors will introduce practices that stimulate lucid dreaming, along with exercises that release tension in the head and neck, enhancing our ability to listen well and speak truly.

Cost: $275 (residential only). Held at Ratna Ling. Begins with dinner on Friday and continues through Sunday lunch. Instructors: Sylvia Gretchen and Barr Rosenberg.

Retreat is part of the following Certificate Programs: Nyingma Psychology Program; Two-Year Nyingma Studies Program; Four-Month Human Development Training Retreat.

KNR412 Inner Alchemy: Transformation through Tibetan Yoga

October 9*

Remarkable transformation occurs through Kum Nye, mobilizing the body’s natural healing as it literally remakes the physical body. The movement exercises introduced in this workshop stimulate the flow of subtle energy that can lead to amazing changes in body and mind.

Cost: $80. Instructors: Jack van der Meulen and Donna Morton. For all levels of students.

NPR401 Dream Lotus Evening

October 15, 7—9 PM*

The images which emerge from dream awareness will intensify our waking experience, allowing us to see more of the nature of existence. Tarthang Tulku, Openness Mind.

Instructions for dream yoga practice will be given, along with practices that relax tension in the throat area. This evening workshop opens the doors to vivid transformative experience.

Cost: $30. Instructor: Sylvia Gretchen. Based on Tarthang Tulku’s Openness Mind. For all levels of students.

NPS406 Activating Joyous Feeling

October 16*

By stimulating and directing positive, joyous feelings we can change the essence of our inner patterns and experience. When positive or joyous feelings and attitudes pass through each organ and circulate throughout our whole system, our physical and chemical energies are transformed. In other words, we have the opportunity to recreate our bodies through positive energy. Tarthang Tulku, Gesture of Balance.

Meditation, awareness, and movement practices awaken and expand joyous feelings. You will learn exercises that distribute deep feelings of joy through both body and mind.

Cost: $80. Instructors: Sylvia Gretchen and Robin Caton. Based on Tarthang Tulku’s Gesture of Balance and Kum Nye Relaxation. For all levels of students.

DHS412 The Heart of Purity Retreat

October 21-24

Since everything is but an apparition, perfect in being what it is, having nothing to do with good or bad, acceptance or rejection, one may well burst out in laughter. Longchenpa, Kindly Bent to Ease Us.

A mind that dwells on the flaws of the world encounters them inwardly as well. A mind that judges others as being right or wrong will be beset by inner judgment. In this retreat, we will strive to reach through the turbulence of acceptance and rejection to their source, discovering there the heart of purity and the heart of sameness.

Cost: $375 (residential only). Held at Ratna Ling. Begins with dinner on Thursday and continues through Sunday lunch. Instructors: Sylvia Gretchen and Barr Rosenberg. Based on the writings of Rongzom Mahapandita and Longchenpa’s Kindly Bent to Ease Us.

Prerequisite: Consent of instructors. For those with a background in Buddhist studies looking for an advanced approach.

Retreat is part of the following Certificate Programs: Two-Year Nyingma Studies Program; Four-Month Human Development Training Retreat.

TSK405 Conducting Perfect Knowledge through Time

October 23

Breaking through solid limits, students learn ways to enter a different dimension of time, where freedom opens into the perfection of being. This workshop focuses on experiential exercises and interactive discussion.

Cost: $80. Instructor: Jack Petranker.

KNR420 The Art of Sitting Comfortably

October 30, 10 AM—1 PM

Personalized instruction in how to sit comfortably is given by Nyingma instructor and trained physiotherapist Donna Morton. Donna will lead participants through a motion assessment of back, hips, knees, and ankles. She will then introduce a variety of sitting strategies and will tailor a personal home program of Kum Nye exercises for each student to address specific motion limitations.

Cost: $45. Instructor: Donna Morton. 10 AM—1 PM, followed by lunch. Register early, since class size is limited.

MED415 Cutting off Negative Thoughts

October 30

Meditative action can help us break free of cloudy mental dialogues, bringing greater clarity to the specific situations we find ourselves in. This workshop presents non-conceptual ways to release the hold of negative thoughts, working especially with practices that allow us to sustain mindfulness and openness.

Cost: $80. Instructors: Sylvia Gretchen and Robin Caton. Based on Tarthang Tulku’s Gesture of Balance. Prerequisite: Previous meditation or Nyingma Psychology course.

NPS407 Transforming Personal History

November 6*

In every time and place throughout history, people have been lifted out of their daily routines by moments of beauty when they sensed the wonder of being alive in this world. Tarthang Tulku, Knowledge of Freedom.

Habits and patterns intertwined with painful past memories often prevent us from enjoying the freedom and beauty that the human body and mind offer. It is possible to skillfully touch these memories in a way that cuts through their power to restrict us. Practices from Knowledge of Freedom can help transform personal history from a source of pain into a wellspring of renewal.

Cost: $80. Instructors: Sylvia Gretchen and Robin Caton. For all levels of students.

MED409 Silent Mind, Peaceful Mind

November 13

Everything is existing perfectly as complete openness. Tarthang Tulku, Hidden Mind of Freedom.

By letting go of expectations the mind becomes silent, peaceful, and aware. Meditation practices that transform mental experience can lead to this form of perfect equanimity.

Cost: $80. Instructor: Bob Byrne. Based on Tarthang Tulku’s Hidden Mind of Freedom. For intermediate and advanced meditators.

NPS411 Joyous Dedication on the Bodhisattva Path

November 20

May I be the island that men seek, the lamp they need, and the home where they find shelter. Shantideva, Guide to the Bodhisattva Way.

Buddhist masters speak of the profound delight that emerges with the realization that we can truly benefit others. This joyous engagement with the welfare of others is said to be strong enough to wash away all fear and all personal suffering.

Cost: $80. Instructor: Barr Rosenberg. Workshop practices and readings based on chapters one and three of Shantideva's Guide to the Bodhisattva Way. Prerequisite: Sincere interest in the Buddha’s teachings.

NPR402 Cultivating Compassionate Love Retreat

November 26-28

We can learn to love ourselves and others more deeply through actively cultivating compassionate love. This kind of love heals the painful divisions between living beings, allowing us to forgive others and to cleanse ourselves of ill-will. The retreat introduces gentle visualization, mantra, and meditation practices given by the Buddha.

Cost: $190 (nonresidential); $275 (residential). Friday 10 AM—9 PM; Saturday, 10 AM—5 PM; Sunday, 10 AM—3 PM. Instructors: Lama Palzang and Pema Gellek.

Retreat is part of the following Certificate Programs: Two-Year Nyingma Studies Program; Four-Month Human Development Training Retreat.

MED410 Origin of Appearance

December 4

Each moment of our lives is like a tiny bud, a precious spark of creativity with subtle beginning, middle, and end points, and each of these points continues to open up more petals. The rippling effect radiates outward, opening channels and disclosing field after field of beauty. Tarthang Tulku, Seeing the Beauty of Being.

Through meditation we can trace back from the sensory object to the origin of appearance--that moment of pure creativity that gives rise to experience.

Cost: $80. Instructor: Sylvia Gretchen. Based on Tarthang Tulku’s Joy of Being. Prerequisite: three years of meditation practice.

MED506 Relaxation, Reflection, and Insight Retreat

December 6-11

This end of the year meditation and Nyingma Psychology retreat is designed especially to allow you to quiet the mind and release any emotional tension that has accumulated over the past twelve months, making room for insight that can lead to healing and renewal in the New Year. We work with both meditative practices and analytical techniques to relax, reflect, and set wholesome aspirations.

Cost: $360 (nonresidential); $550 (residential). Begins Monday morning and concludes Saturday at 4:45 PM. Primary Instructor: Robin Caton. Based on Tarthang Tulku’s Gesture of Balance and Knowledge of Freedom.

'Retreat is part of the following Certificate Programs: Beginning Nyingma Meditation Program; Nyingma Psychology Program; Two-Year Nyingma Studies Program.

MED401 How to Meditate

December 11, 10 AM—1 PM

Learn how to begin and sustain a daily meditation practice. This workshop provides instruction in sitting and walking meditation and Tibetan chanting.

Cost: $45. Instructor: Olivia Hurd. Includes lunch at 1 PM.

MED416 Touching Pure Experience

December 11

When our actions arise naturally from a celebration of living, all concepts drop away. We become meaning itself, enlightened by all existence. Tarthang Tulku, Openness Mind.

Meditation techniques provide the tools to touch the seed of pure awareness within each moment of experience.

Cost: $80. Instructors: Sylvia Gretchen and Robin Caton. Prerequisite: previous meditation class.

KNR501Tasting Relaxation Retreat

December 27-January 1

This annual holiday retreat, held in the tranquil environs of the Nyingma Institute, offers a time to relax deeply through meditation and Tibetan Yoga practices.

Cost: $360 (nonresidential); $550 (residential). Begins Monday at 10 AM and concludes Saturday at 4:45 PM. Primary Instructor: Santosh Philip. Includes the “Renewing and Refreshing the Senses” workshop on January 1, 2011.

Retreat is part of the following Certificate Programs: Beginning Nyingma Meditation Program; Kum Nye (Tibetan Yoga) Program; Two-Year Nyingma Studies Program.

KNR401 Renewing and Refreshing the Senses

January 1, 2011

Relax with a day of restful Tibetan Yoga exercises to refresh the senses.

Cost: $80. Instructor: Jack van der Meulen. For all levels of students.