Open Hearted Presence in Challenging Times (TI-O-221027)

Open Hearted Presence in Challenging Times

October 27-30, 2022

As the world around us changes in often perplexing ways, staying in touch with our own inner resources helps us be flexible, resilient and responsive.  During this retreat, we will use meditation to discover qualities within that help us navigate a life of uncertainty with openness and ease. 

In this beautiful residential retreat setting, we will explore how the stability of awareness helps foster qualities that can transform the difficulties of our lives into inner strength and a compassionate relationship to ourselves, others, and the world around us. These qualities allow us to be as we are, supported by awareness, love and compassion. 

Offering a unique opportunity to gather together with the encouragement of fellow practitioners, this retreat can strengthen and refresh our practice while exploring the meditation teachings of Mingyur Rinpoche.

The schedule includes six to eight hours of meditation per day. These meditation periods are practiced in 30-minute sessions and include movement, periods of silence, video teachings by Mingyur Rinpoche, and presentations on the key points of meditation by Tergar Guides Myoshin Kelly and Kell Juliard. Optional group discussions and individual interviews will be available.

The retreat will be held at the Sirius Community in Shutesbury, Massachusetts. With its organic gardens, labyrinth, stone circle, and 90 acres of forest with trails, Sirius provides a beautiful setting for contemplative practice.

This retreat is open to anyone with an interest in meditation. Whether you have never done a retreat before or are a seasoned practitioner, it provides an opportunity to taste the benefits of sustained meditation practice. It is also a good follow-up for anyone who has done a Tergar Joy of Living or Path of Liberation program.

Schedule Overview:  (Eastern US Time)

Thursday, October 27 - Check in from 3:00 - 5:30 p.m., Dinner at 6:30 p.m. Program begins at 7:30 p.m.

Sunday, October 30 - Program ends at 1:00 p.m.

Cost of program:

$175 base rate

$225 sponsor rate

If you need financial assistance, please contact Kell Julliard, openhearted@tergar.org or 917-648-7695

Location:

Sirius Community, 72 Baker Road, Shutesbury, MA 01072

Accommodations and vegetarian meals: 

Registration for meals and accommodations will be handled separately. To stay at Sirius, the cost is $68/night for a shared room and $95/night for a single room. Room charges include a hearty continental breakfast.  Eating lunch and dinner onsite (recommended) costs $35/day x 3 days = $105 total.  Payment may be made upon arrival.  To reserve accommodation and meals, please email siriusguestdepartment@gmail.com.  Please inform the Sirius Guest Department at time of booking of any food allergies.

Transportation: 

Participants can park in the Sirius parking lot. Shuttles will be provided from and to local bus and rail stations (Amherst, Northampton, or Springfield, Massachusetts) before the start of the retreat and after lunch on Sunday.

COVID Policy:

The COVID policy is based on the current rates for Franklin County, Massachusetts, as follows.  Participants will be notified at least one week ahead of time as to which of these rates apply. 

If the local COVID rate is less than 80 per 100,000 persons: Masks will be required in all public spaces. Upon arrival, participants must sign a COVID waiver agreement. A rapid test must be taken upon arrival (cost $10, or bring your own rapid test). Masks will NOT be required in the workshop space (though they are recommended).

If the COVID rate is over 80 per 100,000 persons: in addition to the above-mentioned waiver and rapid test, participants must either be fully vaccinated or show PCR test results obtained within 3 days prior to arrival.  

If the COVID rate is over 100 per 100,000 persons: the retreat center will close and all money collected will be refunded.

Questions?:

Contact Kell Julliard, openhearted@tergar.org or 917-648-7695 

About your program instructor and facilitator: 

Tergar Instructor Myoshin Kelley

Myoshin Kelley attended her first meditation retreat in 1975 at the age of 20. Through the ensuing years she has received dharma instructions from several renowned Buddhist meditation masters in the Theravada, Zen, and Vajrayana traditions. She has practiced extensively with the Burmese meditation masters Chanmyay Sayadaw, Sayadaw U Pandita, and Sayadaw U Tejaniya. In the early 1990s Myoshin received meditation instruction from the Soto Zen master Hogen Yamahata. Her desire for long-term meditation practice has taken her to Burma on several occasions.

In 1994 she accompanied her husband, Edwin, to the Insight Meditation Society (IMS) in Barre, MA, where she was trained as a meditation instructor by Joseph Goldstein and Sharon Salzberg. Since then she has been teaching meditation in a number of places throughout North America. In 2003, she was appointed the teacher in residence at the Forest Refuge, the long-term practice center at IMS.

Myoshin was introduced to Vajrayana teachings in 1993 and met Mingyur Rinpoche in 1998 when he first visited the US with his brother, Tsoknyi Rinpoche. Since then she has practiced with Mingyur Rinpoche in North America and Asia benefiting from his skillful, lucid instructions on the profound teachings of Mahamudra. She moved to Minneapolis in 2010 to help support Mingyur Rinpoche in his worldwide vision and leads programs internationally and locally.

Tergar Senior Facilitator Kell Julliard

Kell Julliard has practiced meditation in a variety of traditions since his early twenties. In 2009 he met Mingyur Rinpoche and has since studied intensively with Rinpoche and the Tergar Meditation Community. During this time he has served as a mentor for the Tergar New York City Meditation Center and Tergar Elmira. In addition to Kell’s role with Tergar, he previously served as director of clinical research at a large federally qualified health center in Brooklyn, where he also taught mindfulness meditation to faculty, students, and staff. Kell currently teaches mindfulness meditation at the Sirius Community in Shutesbury, Massachusetts.