Loving Awareness: Opening the Heart Through Practice (Online)

This is the registration for the online attendance option. For the residential option, please click here.

Join us at Wonderwell Mountain Refuge for Natural Dharma Fellowship’s core summer retreat, Loving Awareness. In this week-long silent meditation retreat, we will focus on coming home to our deepest sense of being – that which lies beneath all of our self-conceptions and judgments.

When we connect to this deepest sense of being, a greater kind of love becomes possible, including compassion for the more challenging parts of ourselves and others.

This retreat takes us through four ways to know ourselves more deeply: “The Way of Allowing,” “The Way of Metaphor,” “The Way of Recognition,” and “The Way of Love.” We will discover these ways of being through daily sitting meditation, movement, meditation journaling, small group inquiry, and Dharma reflection.

Practicing the four ways helps us to see beyond the thinking mind, to the one who witnesses. We will come to understand that this witness is not a “self” in a conventional sense; it is an innate awareness. It is a vivid receptivity. It is a loving gaze on all of experience, capable of melting a sense of separation into a sense of oneness.

Typical Retreat Schedule

(All times are Eastern time zone)

First Day — Opening session begins around 7:00 pm.

Full-Day Schedule — Morning meditation 7:00 am; Breakfast break 8:30-10:00 am; Lunch break 12:00-2:00 pm; Dinner break 5:30-7:00 pm.

Last Day — The closing session typically ends by 12:00 pm.

These times are just for reference. An expanded schedule will be provided in pre-retreat information emailed during the week prior to the event.

Zoom Link

The Zoom link will be sent several days before the retreat to all those registered by then. If you register after that date, you’ll receive the link with your confirmation email shortly after submitting your registration. If you don’t see an email from Natural Dharma Registrar or Wonderwell Mountain Refuge, it may have mistakenly gone to your spam folder or to Promotions or Updates in Gmail.

Important: Please put this email address in your Contact or Safe-Send list to make sure you receive our emails:

• register@naturaldharma.org

Program Cost

It is Natural Dharma Fellowship’s aspiration that no one be turned away from our teachings and retreats because they are unable to pay the full price. In order make our offerings affordable for all who wish to attend, we offer a three-level fee structure:

• May All Beings Benefit! – supporting access for all and assisting with the care and maintenance of Wonderwell Mountain Refuge
• A Middle Way – covering the base cost
• Held in Sangha Loving-kindness – offering ease when financial resources are limiting

The pricing options for a particular retreat are based primarily on its length and are intended to give you an idea of what it costs to offer that retreat. The amounts listed are suggestions. You may write in any amount that fits your financial situation. Any amount offered above the Middle Way level will be considered a tax-deductible donation and will be acknowledged as such in writing.

Access to Recordings

NDF offers unlimited access to recordings, which are accessed in your user dashboard (more information about user accounts provided in a pre-retreat letter). If you have a user account, please register with the same email you use to log into your dashboard. If not, an account will be created for you using your registration address.

Availability will vary depending on the type of event and the backlog for our precious resource volunteers. Thank you for your patience.

Wonderwell Mountain Refuge Full Calendar