December 15th to 22rd, 2023 (Friday 5:00 PM to Friday 12:00 PM)
Teacher: Bhante Sathi
Bhante Sathi is Guided meditation teacher who has over 3 decades of practice.
He is the founder of Triple Gem of the North in Minnesota, along with other Buddhist meditation communities.
Meditation helps us in a variety of ways and on different levels, from relaxation to gaining freedom from deep mental pain.
It allows us to:
- Defuse stress and experience greater happiness.
- Improve our relationship with own mind and body.
- Identify and understand own feelings.
- Find true happiness
- Find inner resources that can help us to be well and happy.
- Cultivate Joyfulness with loving frendliness and develop wisdom.
- Improve overall physical and mental health.
Vipassana meditation is a practice that involves “seeing things as they are”. During this 7-day retreat, participants will explore Vipassana in addition to other Buddhist techniques.
“As a beginner to Buddhism and meditation, I recently participated in a 7-day Vipassana retreat at the Metta Meditation Center in December 2022... Vipassana involves observing the body and mind moment by moment to experience the three truths of impermanent (anicca), unsatisfactory (dukkha), and selfless (anatta). The focus of this retreat was mainly on impermanence… Sometime on Day 3, I could observe myself as separate from my thoughts and intellectually understand impermanence.” -Retreat Participant
Retreat Format: In-person only
Suggested Fee: $750
Dāna (Pali, Generosity): Please note that the retreat fee covers the Center’s expenses of hosting participants. It is customary to make additional donations for the teacher and meals.
Retreat Itinerary
Friday 15th Afternoon Schedule
- 05:00 PM – 05:30 PM: Check-in
- 05:30 PM – 06:00 PM: Light Supper
- 06:00 PM – 07:00 PM: Opening night - Introduction to Retreat
- 07:00 PM – 08:00 PM: Sitting Meditation
- 08:00 PM – 09:00 PM: Guided discussion
Daily Schedule Starting from Saturday 16th
- 06:00 AM – 07:15 AM: Mindful movements
- 07:15 AM – 08:15 AM: Meal and independent practice
8:15 AM – 9:00 AM: Instructions - 09:00 AM – 10:00 AM: Insight Meditation
- 10:00 AM – 11:15 AM: Walking and sitting practice
- 11:15 AM – 12:00 PM: Mindful moments (Cittanupassana)
- 12:00 PM – 02:00 PM: Lunch and independent practice
- 02:00 PM – 03:00 PM: Q&A
- 03:15 PM – 04:30 PM: Group sitting
- 04:30 PM – 05:30 PM: Mindful motion with Yoga or Qigong
- 06:00 PM – 07:00 PM: Light Supper
- 07:00 PM – 08:30 PM: Guided discussion
- 08:30 PM – 09:00 PM: Practice
Friday 22rd Schedule
- 06:00 AM – 07:15 AM: Mindful movements
- 07:15 AM – 08:15 AM: Meal and independent practice
- 08:30 AM – 9:30 AM: Teaching
- 9:30 AM – 11:00 AM: Karma Yoga
- 11:00 AM – 11:30 AM: Closing practice
Note: Day one and two will be Samatha (Mindfulness) Meditation. From day three on: Vipassana meditations methods (Satipattana Sutta, elements, four foundations of mindfulness, Sapta Bojjanga).
Logistics
- Location: Google Maps has been known to take our guests to the main house rather than the center. When you arrive, you’ll pull into a gravel road on the highway, simply keep driving until you see a large yellow building on your left-hand side next to a large white cross. That is where the Center is.
- Accommodations: The registration fee is inclusive of a room and meals. Rooms are dorm-style with shared bathrooms.
- Clothing: Try to bring comfortable clothing as you will be spending a lot of time conducting various types of meditation and mindfulness practices.
- Toiletries: Try to avoid bringing heavily scented items and some individuals are sensitive to such products.
- Food: We provide food for you. If you need to bring your own food for whatever reason, we encourage you to put your name on the food and place it in the fridge located on the main floor. We can show you where that is when you check-in.
- Towels and sheets: Please keep in mind that we do not provide linens for your stay as we only have a few extra. We recommend bringing a set of twin sheets and some towels. If you forget these items, we can help you out by letting you borrow some of our extras.
