The Qualities of the Heart Retreat with Simi Levi and Stephen Fulder for experienced practitioners

 

 

"מתוך לב שקט נולדת אהבה, 

כשאהבה פוגשת סבל היא הופכת לחמלה,

כשאהבה פוגשת שמחה היא הופכת לאושר" (ג'ק קורנפילד)   

 

לעיתים אנו נוטים לפתח הרגלים מדיטטיביים המשאירים "מחוץ לכרית" את הרכות, האהבה, החמלה והשמחה.

בריטריט זה נלמד ונטפח התיידדות, אהבה (metta ) וחמלה (karuna) תוך דגש על סליחה כתנועה עמוקה של ויתור ,עוצמה ושיחרור.

במהלך הימים נתרגל מדיטציה עתיקה במסורת אותה לימד הבודהה שמטרתה לשחרר את הלב מדפוסים של כיווץ, פחד, אשמה, בושה וכעס טיפוח עדין וחכם של חסד , דרך ראית הטוב ,קירבה לעצמי וחיבור לעולם.

 

עוד על תרגול המטהה במאמרה של שרון זלצברג בקישור זה:

 

Dharma practice is largely seen as a mind practice. Meditation is assumed to be mindfulness, exploring with the mind how we are and what is the truth of our experiences moment by moment.  This is in the context of a very mind-oriented western culture in which life issues are approached mostly psychologically. 

Yet the ups and downs of our life experience, the joys and pains of daily life, are sourced in the heart at least as much as in the mind. It is the heart that expresses itself as anger, irritation, disappointment, sadness and fear, or as joy, enthusiasm, love, interest and compassion. The heart is a huge power, and often overlooked in mediation and spiritual life.

Dharma practice can help us awaken, purify and expand the power of the heart. It can help us work with difficult emotions and develop joyful and expanded emotions. It can help us develop empathy and close connection with ourselves, with others and with life itself.

But it goes much further than just the development of emotional intelligence. The teachings open the heart to unconditional love and compassion, and to the liberating power of love. These are the Brahma Viharas, the immeasurable expanded powers of the heart.

In this retreat we will explore ways of meeting our emotional life with intimacy, interest, and kindness. We will practice deep forgiveness and letting go of the past. Through meditation we will listen to the music of our feeling life, and transform this flow towards loving-kindness and compassion. We will practice different ways to discover  and let go of the walls and boundaries that so often close our heart and experience what it is like to live moment by moment with a boundless heart.