The Undefended Heart: On the Path to Freedom
with Mary Stancavage, assisted by Harry Um and Sydney
Aug 14-18, 2019
This five day retreat will be an opportunity to turn towards ourselves with kindness and compassion as we utilize mindfulness to see how we armor ourselves and begin to let go. A beautiful definition of equanimity is the ability to be intimate with our deepest experience without preference which is also the definition of an undefended heart.
This is a chance to experience an extended period of meditation that is so vital to our practice. Retreats offer the opportunity to move deeply into our experience and know the poignancy of the human condition and the capacity of the heart. This form of practice supports our deepest intention to be free. This retreat will be held primarily in noble silence.
There will be periods of sitting and walking meditation with instructions, Q&A, relational practice and meetings with teachers. It is suitable for all levels of practitioner.
WHERE
Big Bear Retreat Center
1000 Sugarpine Rd., Big Bear City, CA, 92314
COST
The retreat fees are tiered and we ask that you pay at the highest level you can afford. The Base rate is our cost for room, board (three vegetarian meals per day) and expenses. Anything you pay above the base will allow us to create a fund to provide scholarship support for those who might not otherwise be able to attend and to create a fund for future retreats. The teacher and manager are not being paid and there will be an opportunity to offer dana (donation) at the end of the retreat. You can pay for the retreat in at once or make payment arrangements. Please contact us if you would like to spread out the payments. A limited number of single rooms with shared bath are available for an additional $400
Base: $525
Sponsor: $600
Supporter: $700
Benefactor: $825
CLICK HERE FOR PAYMENT DETAILS
SCHOLARSHIPS
We have some scholarship funds available for those who need support to attend this retreat. We understand the financial challenges associated with attending a residential retreat and hope to make it possible for as many people as possible to attend. We are especially aware of the issues faced by traditionally marginalized communities such as POC and LGBTQI. Please click HERE to apply.
Mary Stancavage has practiced meditation, yoga, and cultivated a spiritual practice for over 30 years and in 2009 was empowered to teach Buddhadharma. Mary teaches classes and retreats internationally and does individual mentoring. She has taught at mindfulness at recovery centers, has co-facilitated Year-to-Live groups since 2008, and has had a weekly dharma class in Los Angeles for ten years. She completed the Buddhist Chaplaincy Program at the Sati Center and served as volunteer chaplain at Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center. She served as Director of Against the Stream for ten years and served as Executive Director of the Mind Body Awareness Project for two years. Mary sits on the boards of the Buddhist Insight Network and CLUE: Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice. She is proud to be part of Meditation Coalition in LA. Along with teaching she continues to investigate what it means to live with an undefended heart. Fun fact: Mary has a Masters Degree from UCLA and worked as an archaeologist in Syria.
Sydney, M.Ed., is an educator, case manager, mindfulness-based stress reduction teacher and meditation teacher. She works with adults and homeless youth suffering from trauma, relapse and mental health issues. Currently, Sydney works with formerly incarcerated women as their employment/social enterprise associate. She is a highly practiced facilitator of group process, diversity and inclusion, recovery and complex trauma; trained through programs at UCLA, the University of Massachusetts’s School of Medicine’s Oasis Teacher Training Institute, InsightLA, Spirit Rock and Ruth King’s Mindfulness of Race teachings. Sydney is an educator with almost 20 years-experience teaching English Language Arts and social justice advocacy both nationally and internationally.
Harry Um has been practicing meditation since 2009, and completed the Against the Stream Facilitator training with JoAnna Hardy and Vinny Ferraro in 2017. He facilitated various groups at Against the Stream beginning in 2013, including Teen Meditation Group, the People of Color Group, and the POC/Allies Group. Currently he is involved as a facilitator with Meditation Coalition groups. He completed the Training in Mindfulness Facilitation through UCLA’s Mindful Awareness Research Center in 2016, and has staffed numerous teen meditation retreats with Inward Bound Mindfulness Education since 2012. He holds a Masters in Social Work degree from UCLA, and currently works in a community mental health clinic. He is trained in Dialectic Behavior Therapy, a mindfulness-based cognitive behavioral treatment.