Join us Saturday, April 6, 9:30am - 4:30pm EDT
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Dear friends,
We invite you to join us for our 2024 Annual Retreat (online and in person). We at OHMC are so grateful that Valerie Brown will be back to lead our retreat.
Location:
Seekers Church
276 Carroll Street NW,
Washington DC, 20012
Scroll below for registration.
Valerie Brown
Valerie transformed her high-pressure, twenty-year career as a lawyer-lobbyist, to human-scale, social equity focused work to foster trustworthy, compassionate, and authentic connections. She is an ordained Dharma teacher in the Plum Village tradition founded by Thich Nhat Hanh and a member of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). Valerie is an accredited leadership coach, international retreat leader, writer, and Chief Mindfulness Officer of Lead Smart Coaching, LLC, specializing in application and integration of mindfulness and leadership, and is a Co-Director of Georgetown’s Institute for Transformational Leadership. As certified Kundalini yoga teacher, she helps people rediscover the wisdom of their body. She leads an annual transformational pilgrimage to El Camino de Santiago, Spain, to celebrate the power of sacred places.
Are you seeking to live with greater self-love, self-acceptance, and inner peace while caring deeply about the state of our planet?
This one-day retreat offers you practices for individual wellbeing leading to collective wellbeing and sustainable action. With a focus on mindfulness in the Plum Village tradition founded by Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh, the retreat offers you mindfulness practices like deep listening, eating with mindful awareness, guided rest and renewal, mindful movement, community discussion, and inspiring talks all designed to nourish, nurture, and empower you toward purposeful action to heal ourselves and our beautiful planet.
Our retreat includes mindfulness practices in the Plum Village tradition, including mindful breathing, mindful eating, mindful walking, mindful dialogue, as well as generous periods of rest and reflection.
We aim to create a space for sharing that holds awareness for the experience of others. Please review guidelines for sharing.
Below is the tentative schedule. Actual schedule will be shared with registered participants closer to the retreat.
9:30am Introductions and Welcome, Setting the Container for the Day (Valerie)
10:00am Meditation and Dharma Talk (Valerie)
11:30am Break for outdoor or indoor walking meditation on your own
12:00pm Lunch offline
12:50pm Prepare a nest for your deep relaxation
1:00pm Guided deep relaxation
1:30pm Stretch break
1:50pm Dharma Sharing in small groups
3:00pm Second Dharma Talk (Valerie)
3:45pm Sitting meditation
4:00pm Closing circle
4:30pm Final bell
Dharma talks and guided meditation will be streamed and we will offer a space for dharma sharing with an online facilitator.
We are intentionally making space for a diverse group of practitioners by prioritizing BIPOC individuals attendance, offering captioning for the dharma talks and affinity dharma sharing in-person groups for BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, Persons with Disabilities, and White practitioners. We aim to have these groups online as well, depending on the needs and capacities of the online group.
Retreat Registration and Fees
The Opening Heart Mindfulness Community seeks to foster understanding and compassion by providing vibrant and generous opportunities to practice mindfulness within a diverse community in the Plum Village tradition, founded by Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh. We recognize that in supporting racial and social justice equity within our sangha and throughout the mahasangha, we support the work of transformation individually and collectively.
Because we aim for a more diverse retreat we will be inviting folks to join on a rolling basis based on identity. The earlier you apply the easier the process will be and the more likely you will be to get a spot.
Our goal is to create an environment that supports everyone by proving a space with 1/3 or more self-identified BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color), BAME (Black Asian or Minority Ethnic), and/or Global Majority folks. This is why we ask you to share your race/ethnicity in your application.
We know that the energy of a space is affected by the balance of people who attend. Overwhelmingly white spaces risk duplicating the culture’s default of white privilege, whether we realize it or not. We hope you understand and support our intentional process to maintain diversity in order to help us co-create a mindful, safe space for all.
FEES:
We are offering the retreat on a sliding scale.
In person: $50 - $150
Online $20 - $50.
We don’t turn anyone away for lack of funds so if you need a further discount, please contact us at info@openingheartmindfulness.org. No questions asked.
PLEASE NOTE THAT NON-BIPOC INDIVIDUALS WILL BE PLACED ON A WAIT LIST. WE WILL SEND REGULAR UPDATES ON REGISTRATION STATUS.
REFUND POLICY:
In person: Full refunds will be given up until 2 weeks before the retreat (March 22, 2024). After that date, no refunds will be given.
Online: No refunds available.