The Art of Relating Mindfully
With Bill Morgan and Susan Morgan
September 28 - 30, 2018
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Freshening up our Relationship: A Couples Retreat
We often subscribe to the myth that the right relationship will fix everything; that meeting the right person will solve most of our problems. Soon we start to take our relationships for granted and assume that they will maintain themselves. We discover that intimate relationships are not self-renewing. Like gardens, they need to be watered, weeded, fertilized and tended. If this does not happen, appreciation for our partner and our loving connection begin to weaken. The heart grows less sensitive. We erect self-protective walls in defense from hurt and vulnerability. Trapped in painful and repetitive dances we each can feel alone, unappreciated, unsafe, unimportant, suffocated, unloved, inadequate and more. You are not alone. We all find ourselves in these tangles from time to time in our relationships, and they are painful. Even though we may make some efforts to nurture our relationship, an occasional deep cleaning is needed.
This workshop offers a chance to remember, renew and refresh your relationship. Here you will have the opportunity to relax, reflect and re-connect with your partner. We will aim to widen our compassion to include more of our own vulnerabilities and those of our partner, and to deepen our capacity to both offer and receive love. Together we will learn strategies for avoiding these tangles and getting out of them more quickly once they arise.
We will alternate between teaching segments, mindfulness practice and dyadic couples’ exercises. First, the exercises will help you recognize when you have shifted from an open, connected and loving space to a more self-protective stance. Second, the exercises will give you skills to shift internally to a more compassionate space so you can reconnect. The exercises will include kindness and compassion, appreciation, opening a closed heart, letting go of needing to be “right”, making contact and playing. At no time will you be “put on the spot” and asked to share personal information in front of others. Developing more effective communication and listening skills can enhance the quality of our primary relationships as with our therapeutic ones.
Retreat Schedule
Friday 6:30-9 pm: Welcome & overview
Saturday 9-8 pm: Alternating teaching, meditation, and experiential exercises Sunday 9-12pm: Experiential exercises, meditation, closing
Wonderwell Mountain Refuge strives to offer retreats in a manner that is non-cost prohibitive and inclusive to persons of all means. If the full retreat cost would create an undue financial burden, we encourage persons to apply for scholarship and work-study. Whether one needs to request aid to defer a large or small portion of the cost of a retreat so as not to incur a financial burden, we strive to accommodate you. This link will take you to information about our work-study and scholarship possibilities.
Wonderwell Mountain Refuge Full Calendar
About the Teachers
Bill Morgan
Bill Morgan, PsyD is a clinical psychologist in private practice in Cambridge, MA. He has participated in intensive retreats in the Theravada, Zen, and Tibetan schools of Buddhism during meditation practice over the past 35 years, and recently completed a four-year meditation retreat at the Forest Refuge in Barre, MA. He is a board and faculty […]
Learn more about Bill MorganSusan Morgan
Susan Morgan, CNS is a long-standing meditation practitioner and psychotherapist in Cambridge, MA. She consults with therapists who are interested in deepening therapeutic presence. Susan has practiced in Theravada, Zen, and most recently, the Tibetan schools of Buddhism. She is a board and faculty member of the Institute for Meditation and Psychotherapy and contributing author […]
Learn more about Susan MorganCategory : Meditation Retreat