Explore the joy & insight of meditation-in-action...
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SELF-NOT SELF
& THE CREATIVE PROCESS
A unique 2-week retreat grounded in the Vipassana tradition
Guiding Teacher: Marcia Rose
assisted by Movement Teacher Wynn Fricke
& Writing Teacher Sean Murphy
July 11-25, 2014
Columbine Inn in Taos Ski Valley, New Mexico
One need not have experience with any of these creative modalities to participate in this retreat.
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MOVEMENT: Through guided movement improvisations, we heighten sensitivity to the felt experience of the body. We learn to follow visceral responses & attend to the multitude of impulses & intentions that underlie our physical actions. Through quiet attention, we begin to explore perceived boundaries of internal & external, as well as the ways in which Self & No-Self show up. These movement meditations provide a joyous & healing opportunity to release into the body's profound sensitivity & creative response to present moment experience.
SEEING/DRAWING: Seeing/Drawing is a way to achieve intimate touch with the visible world around us, & through it, with ourselves. Our practice will be to receive what is s  een without interposing the 'self', to allow the mind, the eye and the heart to simply reflect like a clear mirror. From this springs the ability to contact things directly & positively, letting the hand (& pencil) follow what the eye sees without the thought of 'making' a picture or 'being' creative. Our Seeing/Drawing will be the practice of contemplative awareness in relationship to a world that is fully alive. As we begin to draw, suddenly we begin to see. And as we begin to truly see, suddenly we are drawing in a way we may never have experienced before.
WRITING: No-self is actually where all creation comes from. Words & thoughts arise as
though from nowhere - & we can learn to trust the process, & let it inform our creative work. What happens when we let go of ourselves & let the writing arise from this empty space? That's no-self. That's our starting place... In practice this means we'll work with guided meditations, sensory/ mindfulness exercises & free-writing to touch that deep place in our creative process from which true inspiration springs. TEACHERS:
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Marcia Rose, founding & guiding teacher of The Mountain Hermitage, has been studying & practicing Buddhist teachings & meditation with Asian & Western teachers since 1970, primarily in the Theravada-Vipassana tradition. Marcia was resident teacher for staff at the Insight Meditation Society (IMS) in Barre, MA from 1991-1995. She has been one of the teachers for the annual three- month retreat at IMS & currently is an occasional visiting teacher at IMS & a regular visiting teacher at The Forest Refuge in Barre, MA. Marcia teaches Vipassana, Concentration, Brahma Vihara & Creative Process retreats in various venues & is dedicated to offering these ancient & timeless teachings in ways that make them accessible & authentic for contemporary culture.
 Movement Teacher Wynn Fricke is a choreographer, dancer & somatic movement educator. She has worked with Zenon Dance Company as a dancer & choreographer. Since 2008, she has served on the faculty of Macalester College in the Department of Theatre & Dance where she teaches Experiential Anatomy & the Mind-Body Connection & other somatic-based courses. Wynn is a long-time practitioner of mindfulness meditation with extensive training in the Mahasi Sayadaw & Thai Forest Traditions. She is co-founder of Common Ground Meditation Center in Minneapolis. Writing Teacher Sean Murphy holds an MFA in Writing from the Naropa Institute &  teaches seminars in writing, meditation & creativity for many organizations, including his own Big Sky Writing Workshops & the University of New Mexico in Taos. He is the author of One Bird, One Stone, a chronicle of Zen practice in America, as well as three novels. His debut, The Hope Valley Hubcap King, won the Hemingway Award for a First Novel. Sean has been a practitioner of Zen Buddhism for more than 20 years.
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 SLIDING SCALE FEES: $1310 (low) $1460 (actual cost)
$1610 (benefactor)
Partial Scholarships Available
Application Necessary
At the Columbine Inn in beautiful Taos Ski Valley...
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Marcia Rose on Joy & Insight Through Seeing/Drawing...
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Seeing/drawing is a way to achieve intimate touch with the visible world around us as we reconnect with nature, thereby reconnecting with ourselves. The practice is to receive what is seen with  out interposing the 'self', to allow the mind, eye and heart to simply reflect like a clear mirror. We find our capacity for wonder restored, along with new or renewed awe for the gift of seeing that we may have forgotten or set aside.
The experience of seeing/drawing has nothing to do with fabricating a product. Seeing/Drawing is not devoted to self-expression and even less to making 'art objects' or 'being creative'. We're experimenting in retrieving the 'lost art' of seeing, and fusing seeing, drawing and meditation. We could call this practice 'meditation-in-action' on that which matters...an awakening from the habit of non-seeing, awakening from what could be called the coma of 'looking-at' into the immediacy, the intimacy of seeing.
When the eye wakes up to seeing again, the eye, mind and heart suddenly stop taking things for granted. When we're truly seeing and drawing a leaf, a flower, a moth, a branch or a foot, we're saying "yes" to its existence. We dignify it, declare it worthy of our total attention...as worthy of attention as you and I are ourselves, simply because we and it are here in the midst of this awesome mystery and miracle that we share.
The thing that we draw, be it a mushroom, onion, tree bark or a face is no longer a thing, no  longer an object...no longer my object, and I am no longer the overbearing subject who objectifies things . Something else has the potential to happen. The quality of our perception changes with seeing/drawing, when nothing interferes between the eye and what it sees. It's as though every line, curve and dot goes through our whole organism. We are no longer the onlooker. Drawing another person's face I 'become' that person. I don't feel separated from them. The split is healed. This is what seeing/drawing really does. You become what you draw. Unless you become it, you cannot draw it.
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"... in the footprint of the Buddha..."
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SAMATHA/CONCENTRATION RETREAT
with Marcia Rose & Nikki Mirghafori
November 1-18, 2014 San Geronimo Lodge in Taos
Guidance offered to experienced students for development & nurturing of deep concentration leading towards Jhana in the lineage of Burmese meditation master Venerable Pa Auk Sayadaw.
Sliding Scale Fee for 18 days:
(low) $1,625 (actual cost) $1,775 (benefactor) $1,925
Additional Scholarship support available - application required
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As The Mountain Hermitage celebrates our 10th year ...
...we offer you thanks for all we have accomplished together in fellowship and our powerful shared purpose, and we invite you to join your commitment with ours with a generous donation of whatever amount you feel you can contribute.
...and click here to visit us on Facebook 
We are also deeply grateful to those who offer their dana to The Mountain Hermitage year after year through vital volunteer work that enables us to continue our retreats. In celebration of their spirit of generosity, we will share some profiles in upcoming issues.
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For more information on all these retreats, you can contact us....
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(575) 758-0633 or

Limited scholarship support available for all of our retreats.
Application Necessary.
Extensive information on the website:
May our practice serve towards the welfare, the happiness & the awakening of all beings.
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