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Welcome to the Summer Retreat

Rick and I warmly invite you to the ninth annual Summer Retreat in August 2013. Why call it Perfect Makes Practice? It was once said by a great Zen master that we are perfect, and we could use a little improvement. The Summer Retreat is devoted to real change, and true, lasting happiness for all. Each year people from all over the world return to this inspirational event. Everyone comes with the same basic question: How do I live a meaningful, happy life? At The Summer Retreat they find the answers.

The foundation of the upcoming retreat is meditation, and the week will be devoted to the care and feeding of your mind. You can take teaching after teaching, but without a settled mind you won’t be able to hold on to what you’ve learned. You need stability and focus to stay clear about how you want to lead your life.

Please don’t mistake this as a technical workshop on meditation where you’ll be on the cushion for hours and hours. The purpose of the summer retreat is to teach you the causes for happiness, and we want you to be able to go home with the know-how to put these ideas into play. Without a meditation practice it’s easy to lose the momentum you have gained.

Lama Marut will be our guide, and to learn from him is a gift. Like all great teachers he awakens in you a desire to participate, a sense that you are coming alive. Brilliant and clear, witty and warm, his power is infused with tenderness, and when he speaks he seems to be speaking only to you.

Lama Marut will teach from his new translation of one of the greatest texts ever written on meditation: the Bhavanakrama, or “Stages of Meditation”, by the eighth century master, Kamalashila.

This is not a religious retreat. Lama Marut will talk about Buddhist ideas, some of which are unique in the world, not because they’re Buddhist, but because they work.

In the afternoons Cindy Lee will explore what is known as The Eightfold Path, the Buddha’s guide on how to integrate your body, speech and mind, so that you feel whole. Cindy is absolute magic. Out of her lyric style of teaching come lightning bolts of insight that students say have rewired them on the spot.

Rick and Lindsay will talk about personal awakening. Your particular life experiences, both good and bad, have given you a unique sensibility that belongs to you and only you. This means you’re a gift, just as you are. Stop running from the past, renovate it. Be creative. Gratitude for life is the highest art.

Time to reflect
Our magnificent team of yoga teachers, Michael and Stephanie Johnson, Julie Upton, Dr, Pattie O’Brien and Carol James will be teaching at all levels different forms of yoga, from Tibetan Heart Yoga, a practice of the Dalai Lamas designed to open the heart, to the rare and beautiful yoga of Lady Niguma, which gently and systematically redistributes the life forces in the body. Bob Arnold will offer Tai Chi, the Chinese practice that harmonizes body and mind.

We are silent for two days in the middle of the retreat. Being quiet will allow you to absorb what you’re being taught on a very deep level. People can be hesitant about this, but the sweetness of the group surrounds you, and you may find it comes as a relief.

Yoga instructor Julie Upton, right, embracing a friend
The atmosphere of the retreat is warm and welcoming, and the venue beautiful. If you’ve never done anything like this, it would be a wonderful way to start.

Please take the time to browse our website, and if we haven’t answered your questions, feel free to contact us.

We sincerely hope you’ll join us. Relax, refresh yourself, and return home knowing how to be happier than you ever imagined.

Rick and Lindsay