12.08.-02.09.2017

SUMMER CAMP WITH DRUBPÖN RACHEL DODDS, DRUBPÖN CHÖDRÖN AND GIORGIO SAVIGLIANO

The summer camp is a three week intensive experience of formal Vajrayana Buddhist retreat combined with yogic work on the body and breath specific for meditators, open communication and discussion of experience, and western style counseling. It is a unique program that supplies the student with a complete holistic approach specifically designed for the western mind and the challenges we face as western practitioners.
You will learn essential tools to enhance your retreat experience and how to deal with common challenges faced in solitary retreat. It is our belief that most people can thrive in retreat if they understand themselves and have the right tools and support. This retreat is a necessary preparation for people interested in long term retreat such as the Three Year Retreat. It is also open to anyone interested in beginning solitary retreat or for more seasoned practitioner that wish to deepen their practice.
Drubpön Rachel Dodds and Giorgio Savigliano will guide the retreat. The first week will begin with learning essential preparations to make any retreat successful. The main obstacles of solitary retreat are having a mind too tight and distracted with gross thoughts and expectations or having a mind of dullness and sleepiness and lacking real clarity. Both of these problems can be overcome by working with the body on posture, breathing and Hatha Yoga that you will learn and practice daily. Learning these tools will prevent you wasting time and effort with foggy and distracted meditation and make your practice more effective. Working with many non-himalayan practitioners over the years Rachel and Giorgio have discovered that many have not developed a real connection between mind, body and breath. Many practitioners have too much energy stuck in the head and have little body awareness. This prevents them from having any deep experiences in the practice and from becoming aware of subtler energies necessary for working with yogic practices such as deity yoga and the Six Yogas of Naropa. There are even practitioners that have been practicing for many years without any real results. This is mainly due to keeping the practice in the head and not bringing it to the body, not feeling the practice. It becomes mechanical and is not felt as a living and breathing experience that embraces every part of the body and mind. Part of the training in this camp will be to systematically progress in body awareness, mindful relaxation, proper breathing and Hatha yoga that will purify the gross and subtle body. These practices will be taught in a way that you can continue at home to fully develop them.
There will be teachings and practice on meditation and Drubpön Chödrön will give teachings on how to use instruments and other ritual aspects necessary for traditional Vajrayana practices, such as how to set up your altar and how to make basic tormas for daily offerings.

The second week will be dedicated to private retreat in complete silence where you will be able to apply all the advice of the first week in your own practice. You will have personal consultation from Drubpön Rachel and Giorgio where they will be able to customize your practice based on your specific needs and challenges.

In the final week one will explore an aspect of retreat that is often under developed. This is the attention to behavioral patterns, past history, and life issues that inevitably come up in retreat. Before one can reach the stages of joy and bliss found in long term retreat, one comes face to face with one owns mind and one owns fears and traumas, and baggage of this life which of course includes the impulse of karmic imprints from past lives. Even in just three short weeks one will begin to uncover the hidden beliefs and unconscious fears and habits that drive our actions and thoughts in this life. These things that one avoids in the distraction and ignorance of daily life will come to the forefront in retreat. Retreat is not an escape from the mind, but a diving into the deepest parts of the mind and shinning the light of awareness to integrate every part of ourselves. In this week Ingrid Lama will join Drubpön Rachel to guide students in this process.

Registration will be on August 12, 2017 from 9:00 am -4:30 pm
Program will start after dinner at 7:00 pm

Week 1
August 12 – 18 (silence from 18.30 – 9:30 daily)

6:00 am Bodybreath tuning
8:00 am Breakfast
9:30 am Teachings with Rachel and Giorgio
1:00 pm Lunch
3:00 pm Teachings with Ani Chodron
4:30 pm Personal Practice
6:30 pm Dinner
7:30 pm Milarepa Guru Yoga

Week 2
August 19 - 25 (full silence)

5:30 am Bodybreath tuning (group)
6:30 am Personal practice
8:00 am Breakfast
9:30 am Personal practice
1:00 pm Lunch
3:00 pm Discussion and relaxation (group)
4:30 pm Personal practice
6:30 pm Dinner
7:30 pm Personal practice (guru yoga)

Week 3
August 26 – September 1 (silence from 19:30 to 9.30 daily)

6:00 – 8:00 am Personal practice
8:00 am Breakfast
9:30 am Teachings with Ingrid Lama
1:00 pm Lunch
3:00 pm Teachings with Ingrid Lama
6:30 pm Dinner
7:30 pm Personal practice

September 2
7:00 am Milarepa Tsog
End

Fee € 320,- I reduced € 272,-