Annual Winter Meditation Intensive - January 2018
With Lama Willa Blythe Baker, Lama Liz Monson, Lama John Makransky, Lama Joe Szep, Kathe McKenna, Elizabeth Callahan, Bill Morgan, Susan Morgan, Bob Morrison, Jane Moss, Jane Burdick, Laura Howell and Janine Grillo Marra
Flexible Dates
The Heart of Practice
We are delighted to announce Wonderwell’s first ever Winter Meditation Intensive (Dathun)! There is nothing quite like beginning the new year with deep meditation practice in community, encircled by the quiet beauty of snow-covered mountains. Join us this January as we explore “The Heart of Practice,” how to engage, sustain and deepen into the vibrant heart of meditation. Mixing our experience, no matter what it is, with our practice, we will discover how meditation can provide a powerfully transformative container for everything that arises.
This month-long intensive includes meditation sessions (both guided and unguided), daily yoga, a Dharma teaching per day with the teacher-in-residence, and three textual study sessions per week. The textual study sessions will focus on an in-depth study of John Makransky’s Awakening Through Love (Jan 2-7), the classic meditation manual The Ocean of Definitive Meaning by the Ninth Karmapa (Jan 8-23) and Creation and Completion by Jamgon Kongtrul (Jan 23-31). Teachings during the retreat will focus on accessing the heart of awakening through relationality and through resting in natural awareness. Teachings also will explore view, meditation, and action, with special attention on finding stability, ease, and freshness within your personal experience.
Attendees of the Jan 8-23 section of the retreat will have access to purchase the restricted translation of The Ocean of Definitive Meaning. We are especially honored to host Elizabeth Callahan, the translator of this text, from January 19-23. During her stay, she will give daily teachings from her translation.
Weekly Themes:
Week 1 – January 2-7: Compassion
(Intro to Benefactor Practice. Margha students encouraged to attend)
Week 2 – January 8-15: Natural Meditation
Week 3 – January 16-23: Open Awareness
Week 4 – January 23-31: Awareness and the Divine
(Green Tara transmission & practice instructions Jan 26-28)
Special Events (open to the public!):
January 2, 1-3pm New Year’s Fire Puja (room check-in after Fire Puja at 3pm)
January 7, 5pm Refuge Vow Ceremony
January 14, 5pm Bodhisattva Vow Ceremony
January 21, 5pm Buddhist Lay Precepts
January 26, 4:30pm Tara Empowerment (Jan 27-28 focuses on Green Tara)
January 31, 10am Fire Puja (one hour ceremony of purification and merit)
Everyone is welcome to attend these special events as commuters. Meals and other Meditation Hall events are not included however.
Dathun Daily Practice Schedule:
6:30-7:00 Sunrise Meditation
7:00-7:30 Breakfast
8:30-10:00 Yoga or Movement Practice
10:20-11:10 Dharma Teaching
11:30-12:15 Meditation Practice (guided)
12:15-3:00 Lunch and Mid-day Break
3:00-3:45 Meditation Practice (silent)
4:00-5:30 Dharma Study Session (M,W,F: Teacher-guided, all other days: Self-guided)
5:45-6:30 Meditation Practice (guided)
6:30-8:00 Dinner and Break
8:00-8:45 Evening Meditation (silent)
For stays of 5 nights or more, a practice interview with Lama Willa or Lopen Liz is guaranteed. Stays less than 5 nights will receive an interview if the teacher’s schedule permits. All interviews are scheduled at time of check-in.
For Program Curriculum questions, please email Liz Monson at: elizabeth@naturaldharma.org
About the Teachers
Lama Willa Blythe Baker
Lama Willa Blythe Baker, Ph.D. is the Founder of Natural Dharma Fellowship in Boston, MA and its retreat center Wonderwell Mountain Refuge in Springfield, NH. She was authorized as a dharma teacher and lineage holder in the Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism after twelve years of monastic training and two consecutive three-year retreats. She also […]
Learn more about Lama Willa Blythe BakerLama Liz Monson
Lama, Managing Teacher, Spiritual Co-Director Elizabeth Monson, PhD, is the Spiritual Co-Director of Natural Dharma Fellowship and the Managing Teacher at Wonderwell Mountain Refuge in Springfield, NH. Liz was authorized as a dharma teacher and lineage holder in the Kagyu Lineage of Tibetan Buddhism after over 30 years of studying, practicing, and teaching Tibetan Buddhism […]
Learn more about Lama Liz MonsonLama John Makransky
John Makransky, PhD, is Associate Professor of Buddhism and Comparative Theology at Boston College, senior advisor for Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche’s Centre of Buddhist Studies in Nepal, and co-creator of the sustainable compassion training model for drawing on innate capacities of love and awareness. John's academic writings have focused on connections between practices of wisdom, compassion and […]
Learn more about Lama John MakranskyLama Joe Szep
Lama Joe became interested in the Buddha Dharma in the late ’80s and took refuge in August of 1993 with Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche in Santa Clara. In 1995, he entered Three Year Retreat at Kagyu Thubten Choling. The retreat completed in the spring of 1999 and Lama Joe remained on at KTC for some time, […]
Learn more about Lama Joe SzepKathe McKenna
Kathe McKenna currently serves as President of Natural Dharma Fellowship’s Board of Directors. She is deeply engaged in shepherding this unique, collaborative Buddhist dharma vessel. She helped launch the feisty, multi-faceted human service provider, Haley House, and led it through 50 years of organic growth. Kathe’s roles as mother, wife, and grandmother have enriched her vision and sparked […]
Learn more about Kathe McKennaElizabeth Callahan
Contemplative training and Tibetan studies from 1980 to 1990, which included three-year retreat at Kagyu Thubten Chöling, New York; has studied with, and interpreted for, Khenpo Tsültrim Gyamtso Rinpoche from 1985 to present; studied and interpreted at Nitartha Institute, 1996 to 1999. Tsadra Foundation Fellow since 2002.
Learn more about Elizabeth CallahanBill 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 MorganBob Morrison
Bob Morrison has been a Core Teacher of Natural Dharma Fellowship since its founding in 2009. He has studied and practiced in the Dzogchen/Mahamudra tradition since 1994 with numerous teachers both Tibetan and Western. With Camille Hykes, he co-directs NDF’s Margha Program, which alternates year-long trainings in Natural Meditation and Bodhicitta practices. He is also […]
Learn more about Bob MorrisonJane Moss
Jane Moss has been exploring Tibetan Buddhism since meeting Chadgud Tulku and Surya Das in the 90's. Certified by Peter Wayne in the Tree of Life Tai Chi System, Jane leads Tai Chi classes at the Council on Aging in Lincoln, MA, at the Tree of Life Tai Chi Center in Somerville, and at the Harvard Medical […]
Learn more about Jane MossJane Burdick
Jane lives in Portland, Maine. She has been a Feldenkrais Movement Teacher for twenty years, is a Proprioceptive Writing teacher, and leads a weekly meditation group in the practices of Natural Love and Awareness and Natural Compassion and Awareness. She has been a student of Lama Tsultrim Allione, and for the last eleven years has […]
Learn more about Jane BurdickLaura Howell
Meditation Teacher Laura has been practicing meditation since 1988 when she began attending retreats led by Baba Ram Dass. In the early 1990’s she became a Dzogchen practitioner and a student of Lama Surya Das. Laura was a practice leader for Cambridge Dzogchen Sangha for many years. She has been a student of Lama Willa Miller since […]
Learn more about Laura HowellJanine Grillo Marra
Meditation Teacher, Chair of NDF Movement Committee. Janine is the owner of Tranquil Flame Yoga and Wellness in Revere, MA. As a licensed physical therapist (McGill University, 1983), Reiki practitioner, certified Shake Your Soul dance teacher and certified fitness trainer, she augments her yoga classes with aspects of therapy, healing, and fitness for an integrated […]
Learn more about Janine Grillo MarraCategory : Meditation Retreat