Vipassana & Yoga Retreat

Somatic-Based Meditation

This three-day retreat explores how yoga asana, pranayama, and Calm Abiding meditation work together to loosen mental attachments and open pathways toward deeper insight and clear seeing.

We are all familiar with the snake chasing its own tail—the restless, repetitive activity of the “monkey mind,” endlessly circling through thoughts, emotions, memories, and expectations.

Rather than struggling to silence the mind, we learn to observe these patterns through the stability of Calm Abiding (Shamanta, in Sanskrit, Shiné, in Tibetan). What once appeared to be obstacles to meditation can become opportunities for insight and liberation.

Through embodied awareness, we begin to recognize and release perhaps our most deeply rooted addiction: the habit of identifying with our thoughts, emotions, and sense of self.

Yoga and breathing are not simply preparations for meditation. They are somatic methods for recognizing and releasing the habitual patterns of identification that meditation reveals.

This practice extends beyond the yoga mat and cushion into everyday life. As habitual patterns of identification loosen, so too do the conditioned perceptions that shape our experience of ourselves and the world.

Carolyn will guide asana and pranayama practices, while John will introduce the methods of Calm Abiding (Shiné) and Insight (Vipassana) meditation. Together, we will share moments of silence, contemplation, and friendly conversation.

“From the great spiritual civilization of Mother India, the yogic sciences of awakening traveled into the Tibetan Himalayas, where they were preserved for centuries as living traditions of contemplative knowledge and practice.” ~ Professor Robert Thurman

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