Pacific Center for Awareness and Bodywork

(808) 828-6797
info@awarenessandbodywork.com

Meditative Awareness Gatherings & Retreats
Classes Meetings Retreats

Process Oriented Meditation & Inquiry Retreats and gatherings are Scheduled thru-out the year please check back later or call us for current offerings Ahhh..... Over the Years we have offered different retreat style programs ranging from 1 day to 5 days long. We may offer longer ones in the future. Below you will find some description and writings about the different approaches we utilize and live with. When the next one is scheduled it will appear at the top of the page here. If you are interested in participating in a particular length or style of retreat, please let us know. Please join our Email List if you would like to be informed of upcoming workshops and retreats.

Integrative Silent Retreats with Inquiry Process

Integrative Retreats – Process, Silence, and Inquiry

We join together, to come to know ourselves more deeply. – the way we have been ‘playing out’ our lives and who and what we are ‘before and beyond’ all that.

We will use: silence, guided awareness, meditations, movement, inquiry discussions and process, and the silent support of each other… You may follow some of the suggestions offered or do your own personal practices.

What ever you chose to do, it will be mostly in “Noble Silence". This kind of silence includes a profound respect for yourself, others around you and the earth. We will observe silence of speech, silence of distracting movements and actions for the purpose of giving each other and our selves the opportunity of more deeply ‘being’ with our selves with less ‘distraction’ – things that attract our attention. Silence of eye contact (meaning ‘no’ eye contact except during intentional processes) will also help the deepening into yourself. This is a chance to come out of the habitual activities and reactions of usual daily life and begin to rest into and thru the layers of ones self, and perhaps ‘catch glimpses’ or rest into depths of awareness, Beingness.

Sometimes this process is challenging and difficult and sometimes it is insightful, peaceful, and joyous. You may discover, face, experience glimpse, learn, grow, emerge, let go, awaken……

Schedule: For the all day and several day retreats, you are invited to arrive at 8:30-8:45am. Please put your belongings in the kitchen cabin, say any hellos, and select a place to sit in the north cabin (known as the hall for today). The first sitting usually will begin at 9:00 am. If you choose to be here, please be seated at 9:00 out of respect for yourself and other that wish to use this time in this way. There will be a short introduction talk and brief instructions for an observational style of meditation. There will be room for a few short necessary questions at that time, - if needed, - to clarify the practices for the day. Noble Silence will begin at the end of that question and answer session and will continue until sometime on the last day.

The first meditations will be guided and most of the rest of the day the sittings will be mostly silent. There will be progressive instructions occasionally, as the day goes on. This is mostly a “be with yourself retreat” with a some guidance. There will be short informative talks occasionally with one scheduled in the evening. We will be in the company and support of others-community, -sangha.

After the first sitting in some retreats there will be a short explanation of a ‘walking meditation’. Some people like to follow a schedule of sit – walk – sit, through out the day. You may choose to sit or walk according to what seems best for you. Any walking will be done outside of the hall, (not on the back deck,) outside or in the kitchen cabin.

There will also be an opportunity for short private consultations or help with your practice (about 5-10 minutes long) scheduled on Saturday and Sunday.

In this retreat we will utilize an integration of Vipassana observation style meditation, Advaita Inquiry and psychological process. The purpose is to help bring about the experience of real movement towards a life of more peace, happiness and Freedom. In many ways meditation, in it’s simplicity and practicality, helps foster insight into life, thus developing wisdom, generosity, compassion and peace.

In our current times, many people have found some of the processes of the new psychologies to be complementary and completely compatible with meditation. Directly addressing some of the not yet healed wounds and the unskillful actions due to past conditioning often prepares the way for the beneficial depths of meditation to take place more easily.

Combining these practices in a respectful atmosphere, primarily Noble Silence, supports healing on all levels: our relationship to our past, exploring higher levels of wellness, joy and creativity, and deepening access to our essential being - presence.

Most of this retreat will be held in Noble Silence. There will be meditation instructions, talks, small group inquiry practices, some paired processes, and opportunities for private consultation with the teacher.

Please be on time and plan on staying the whole day, all days, overnite if possible.

This is a commitment to yourself and a consideration to all others participating.

(Any comings and goings can be distracting and stir the mind of others and yourself.)

Please bring the following for your own use:

a pillow or bench or seat for yourself to sit on (you may use what is here)
a lunch for your self (for one day retreats) - please do not leave for lunch you can store it in the refrigerator [please maintain the silence all day including during Meals]

a shawl or blanket in case it gets cool during the day or evening

comfortable clothing

There is no cost for one day retreats. Any fees charged are to cover the facility and food. These retreats are lead by teachers who freely give the teachings without any payment. It is central to these traditions, that the students support the teacher with a donation. This helps the teacher be able to continue to give their time and continue the teaching in these ways. There is no expected amount. The size of donation is up to you. It may be according to the value you experience and your ability to give, or any criteria that is true for you.

Your donation is an act of giving freely… -and, it helps make it possible to provide more retreats for others in the future. With this consideration you are encouraged to give to the extent you are able. This style of exchange is from an old tradition and is called dana. Dana’ is an act of generosity. It not only supports the teacher, the facility, and supports the continued offering of these teachings to others or yourself again, it also helps to open the giver’s heart. It offers an opportunity to discover what is being held and what can be given. Dana’ let’s us look at our identity, what we may be protecting and who we include and who is other. It is an opportunity to give freely in support of what you may believe has value and discover what your life evolves into as you give of ‘yourself’ in this way.

Thank-you for your interest and consideration of this practice.

May all Beings, be Joyous, Peaceful and Free

PROCESS ORIENTED, ADVAITA INQUIRY & VIPASSANA STYLE MEDITATION by Lee Joseph SO it is said, the Buddha explained that life is suffering, and, that there is an end to suffering. He charted a map, a path to follow, to come out of suffering and live a life of peace, happiness, compassionate wisdom, and Freedom. The path includes a meditation practice called Vipassana Meditation. This practice helps ‘aim’ awareness. With a more focused awareness, insight emerges and the direct experience of life changes. Vipassana meditation practice begins with the simple observation of the breath. As you watch the natural movement of the incoming and outgoing breath, you may experience many things from relaxation, discovering how much your mind thinks all the time, emotions, and insights into the nature of our lives. There are so many changes and benefits that you go through. As you continue to allow the awareness to ride the breath, you may notice a greater awareness in general and a subtle glimpse of something more expansive than you ever imagined. While the breath is vitally important, it isn’t so much that you are trying to learn about the breath. While you are ‘doing’ this observing, you begin to experience some things starting to change inside of you. Many habits and unskillful behaviors begin to fall away. More peace and clarity begin to emerge. You start to make different, more skillful choices in your daily life. Some of the changes are short journeys and some can last a lifetime. In this procession of experience, you can begin to experience the depth of your own being. For those that continue on this path, the process itself becomes more and more valuable and enjoyable. As you progress there are further instructions to help the opening that meditation can bring. To progress on this path, more than information and concepts in the mind are required. This practice involves the most intimate direct experiences. For most people, to get results and really live it, daily practice seems to work best. On an other hand…… The sages of the teachings of the Advaita Philosophy state that you are already who you are and that your true nature is freedom itself. There is no path to what you already are and therefore ‘have’. You cannot attain freedom because how can you attain what you already have and are. It is talked about in a similar way as someone searching for their glasses, - looking through them all the while, not aware that they are wearing them. How can you attain what you already have? One of the main practices is to be quiet and do nothing. To really be quiet… and do nothing… would end all distractions. When this occurs, you rest into the truth of who you already are. Advaita philosophy states you/we already are the ultimate truth, awareness itself, and therefore no practice is needed. For most, the experience of Freedom, Unity, unconditional Presence is rare, or fleeting at best. Recently, more and more people are claiming to be having these kinds of experiences. A great teacher H.W.L. Poonjaji once said: ‘at first you have a brief glimpse,… then another… then they begin to happen more frequently… and they begin to last longer’. After a while it is happening enough, (as if to reach a threshold) that the identification of being someone with so many issues, problems, stories begins to loosen and diminish. The recognition that you are (at least, also,) this kind of transpersonal presence is as real, and even more real than the previous experience of being your personality. A sense of the big picture within a continuous spacious awareness is who begins to consciously walk around, enjoying life more than ever, -often filled with love and compassion. Ramana Maharshi suggested a practice of Self-Inquiry to help lead the mind out of itself to the experience of the SELF. One of these processes involves asking oneself certain questions that point to an experiential shift in consciousness and Self Knowledge. The ‘answer’ is not as important as the experience that arises in opening to the question. A willingness to experience what ever arises is all that is required. So many of us, for so long, have assumed that we are what we think. Have you ever had a moment when there was no thought… a quiet moment? As Christopher Titmuss put it, ‘ if you are your thoughts, then when you are thinking, there you are, ---and when your thought goes, -- you’d go with it ! ’ Obviously you are here before, during and after any thought... What is it that is always here?.... Can you feel it now?… Can you let yourself start to rest into it.?… If so, in a moment stop reading this and notice your next thought… Then ask yourself: "to whom is this thought occurring?" … Don’t look for the words of the answer, as much as feel or experience... what the question points to. …. Sense what arises as your experience… So many of us, for so long, have assumed that we are what we think. Have you ever had a moment when there was no thought, a quiet moment? As Christopher Titmuss put it, ‘ if you are your thoughts, then when you are thinking, there you are, ---and when your thought goes, -- you’d go with it ! ’ Obviously you are here before, during and after any thought... What is it that is always here?.... Can you feel it now?… Can you let yourself start to rest into it.?… For most people today, resting into this peaceful presence is still an idea or a hope. So much of time is spent in the storms of consciousness, carried away by mind chatter and emotional feelings and moods. There are many processes in psychology now also, that are based on the observation and awareness practices of meditation and work with unhealed issues of the past, emotional pain, and the related conditioning that results. Often this ‘unfinished business’ can be what keeps the mind so active. When someone is interested in growing, evolving into a more healthy, happy life, they may start with these kinds of practices. When the ‘storms’ of consciousness begin to calm down, and awareness begins to show itself, more subtle techniques and processes from the meditative and inquiry traditions may be more skillfully utilized, and therefore successful. Sometimes the opposite order works quite well also. …Path and/or Pathless…. This integration of process-oriented meditation is not a religion. It is simply an approach to help be with things as they are and ‘see’ more clearly and accurately. It can help people of many cultures and backgrounds to work with their own personal conditioning in a way that fosters the experience of real movement towards a life of more peace, happiness and Freedom. It can also be a vehicle to explore and deepen into what appears to be the infinite depth of who we are. Lee Joseph has been practicing and teaching a blend of meditation, psychotherapy and awareness oriented bodyworks for over 30 years. His primary influences have been the teachings of the Buddha, primarily the Theravada Tradition with many different teachers, Advaita primarily with H. W. L. Poonjaji, J. Krishnamuirti, the writings/teachings of Ramana Maharshi, many different schools of psychology, daily life and the wonders of nature. Lee lives on Kauai and is available for classes, retreats, meditation groups and private sessions.
Exploration...Discovery...Insight

For More Information or Application to the Massage Therapy School
on Kauai, Hawaii or other programs

Please contact:

Lee Joseph & Carole Madsen at:

The Pacific Center for Awareness & Bodywork
PO Box 672, Kilauea, HI. 96754
808-828-6797 Kauai

info@awarenessandbodywork.com

thank-you...

Home	Connective Bodywork Training	Workshops	Meditation	Application	Brochure	About Us	Store
		Join our Email List	Testimonials	Links	Sitemap