Brightmind Spring Retreat

During Group Meditation periods, you can choose between seated or walking meditation. There’s no guidance during these periods, so it’s up to you which technique you practice. Bells on the half-hour offer an opportunity to sip some tea, go to the bathroom, or stretch.

Technique Instruction periods are geared toward beginner and intermediate practitioners. The goal of these periods is to learn or review meditation concepts and practices. The periods include short lectures, guided meditations, and group Q&A. Technique Instruction periods are offered every morning and last two hours. You’re welcome to join all of them, some of them, or none of them.

After registering for the retreat, you’ll receive a simple survey asking you which techniques you’d like to learn or review. Your answers on the survey will inform which practices we cover during the Technique Instruction periods.

Each day, we’ll have a one-hour break to eat. In PT, it’ll be breakfast time. In ET, it’ll be lunch time. In GMT, it’ll be dinner time. As you prepare and eat your meal, implement Jedi Practice. Jedi Practice is when you split your attention between a task and a meditation technique. You can practice any meditation technique during Jedi Practice. For example, as you prepare and eat your meal, you focus on physical body sensations. The purpose of Jedi Practice is to integrate the Concentration, Clarity, and Balance that you develop during formal practice into your daily life.

During Mind the Music sessions, we’ll listen to beautiful music while meditating. You can practice any meditation technique during these sessions, though most people choose to include Hear Out (sound) as at least part of their focus space (so they end up focusing on the music). Including Feel In (emotional body sensation) is fun too because you catch reactions to the music.

Mind the Music sessions serve two main purposes. First, they offer an opportunity to relax and feel the warm embrace of beautiful art. During meditation retreats, we all spend a lot of time efforting and striving. That’s important, but it’s also important to have periods where you chill out a bit and stop taking yourself and your practice so seriously. Somewhat paradoxically, relaxing and enjoying yourself can actually help move your practice forward and deepen your concentration.

Second, there are aspects of practice that are hard to explain rationally. In a way, beautiful art does a better job conveying these subtle facets of practice than any meditation teacher could. We’re listening to the music as art, and art can teach us a lot about letting go, love, joy, clarity, etc. You’re not listening for explanations, you’re listening for demonstrations.

As an aside, I (Toby) basically got my start teaching meditation by running weekly Mind the Music sessions at Vassar College. I chose to teach meditation using the Mind the Music paradigm because it made meditation less weird and more accessible to my peers. It was such a blast! Nurturing the Mind the Music community throughout my college years was one of the most meaningful experiences of my life. Mind the Music holds a special place in my heart.

Social meditation comes in a variety of forms, but the basic idea is that you practice out loud with other people. For example, I’ll say a label, then you say a label, then I’ll say a label, then you say a label… Or, I’ll say a metta phrase, then you say a metta phrase, then I say a metta phrase, then you say a metta phrase…

It might sound silly, but it can actually have significant benefits. First, the accountability of doing the practice out loud with other people means you spend more time focusing and less time spaced out—it's a concentration booster.

Second, meditation can sometimes feel isolating and lonely. Practicing with others can feel warmer and more connected.

These are based on what in traditional Zen Buddhist monasteries is called “Dokusan”. It’s an opportunity for each student to meet with the teacher for guidance and support. The general structure is that the student first states which technique they’re doing, and then describes or demonstrates their experience of that technique. The teacher then offers relevant suggestions or inspiration.

These aren’t drawn out coaching sessions. They’re meant to be quick and to the point. Most last about five minutes. The idea is for the teacher to get through all the students at least once a day. This gives each student individualized attention once a day, making them feel cared for and optimizing their time on retreat.

Practically, the way these will work is that, if you want an interview, you’ll join a specific Zoom room. I’ll then breakup that room into breakout rooms of three or four people. Then I’ll enter each breakout room, one-by-one, and have conversations with each person in the breakout room about their practice. So you’ll get to hear what two or three other people are working on. Similar to the larger Group Q&As, folks often reflect that they find it interesting and helpful to hear other people’s interviews. Once I’ve talked with each person in the breakout room, I’ll exit it and join the next breakout room until I’ve talked with everyone who wanted an interview.

During Group Q&As, you can ask any questions that are on your mind or report on how your practice is going. I’ll answer your practical questions, offer emotional support, and inspire you. You can write out your questions and send them via the Zoom Chat, or you can unmute yourself and we can talk in real-time. Folks often remark that it’s fun and helpful to hear other people’s questions and reports.

Each day will end with a brief (15 minute) Poetry Reading. I’ll read a variety of poets including Rilke, Mary Oliver, Shodo Harada Roshi, and Rumi. The purpose of the readings is to (1) help us all relax, feel warm, and settle down for sleep and (2) convey the aspects of practice that are hard to describe logically. Similarly to the Mind the Music sessions, we’re listening for demonstrations (not explanations).

For at least one hour everyday, either before or after the main schedule, everyone is expected to do Movement Practice. During Movement Practice, you move in some relatively simple way while simultaneously putting 100% of your attention into a meditation technique. You can practice any meditation technique during Movement Practice. For example, as you walk, you focus on what you’re seeing with your eyes.

Movement Practice has two purposes. First—like Jedi Practice—Movement Practice helps to integrate the Concentration, Clarity, and Balance that you develop during formal practice into your daily life. Second, Movement Practice helps take care of your physical body. Sitting for long periods is objectively hard on the body. Spending a significant amount of time moving everyday helps prevent physical pain and injury.

There are a wide variety of activities that you could do during the Movement Practice period. You could go on a walk, run, or swim, do yoga, work out, or even play a sport. Ideally, you’ll break a sweat and breathe heavily for most of the hour, but it’s ok if you can’t do that for whatever reason.

“Yaza” is a Japanese word that is used in the context of intensive training periods in Zen Monasteries. The term refers to extra, optional sitting in addition to the main schedule. You can use yaza to accelerate your practice or maintain a recent insight. For example, if you feel like your concentration was pretty low all day, you could start sitting an hour early the next day to kickstart your practice. Or, if you experience a major breakthrough and your body is filled with energy and joy, you may decide to sit for two extra hours at the end of the day to cement the insight.

During many meditation retreats, sleep is limited to six and sometimes even four or less hours per night. The theory is that sleep deprivation helps with meditation practice. That has not been my experience! So for this retreat, not only will there be plenty of time to sleep (the full daily schedule is only nine hours), but I encourage you to prioritize sleep and see it as an integral part of the practice and the retreat.

Because of the fast pace of modern life, many of us start retreats like this already sleep deprived. The vision for this retreat is that we get four really good nights of sleep and that we wake up feeling refreshed, happy, and ready to dive into practice.

Try your best to clear your schedule. But if you have responsibilities that you really can’t ignore, you’re welcome to attend to them / miss some of the retreat.

Generally speaking, yes. Aside from formal group exercises, there won’t be any other talking. In terms of how silent you are before/after the main schedule, I strongly recommend that you keep talking at a minimum. If you can’t find a space to do the retreat alone / you will be sharing living space with others, you can tell them beforehand that you’ll be silent for the duration of the retreat. Of course, if you have responsibilities or circumstances that require you to talk, that’s fine.

The reason behind the silence is very simple. Talking is distracting and the whole point of a retreat is to simplify our existence, in order to focus on the practice for an extended period of time. This allows a powerful momentum to build that would be practically impossible if we were jabbering away.

No. If you have limited experience with meditation, you’ll probably want to attend the Technique Instruction periods in the morning.

Objectively speaking, retreats are hard. Full stop. This may be very challenging for you.

However, things that are challenging are also often worthwhile. Retreats are the epitome of this. Retreats push you beyond what you thought was possible, and then, voila—you can now do the impossible. Retreats are by far the best way to deepen your meditation practice. Never felt that concentrated? Now's your chance.

Don’t worry, even people with zero meditation experience can get through a retreat like this. It’s a lot easier to do all this in a group. That’s the point! We support each other. If the idea of this retreat inspires you, come!

Absolutely! Toby is an expert in meditation postures and will work with you to make sure you’re as comfortable as possible the whole time. For example, if you can’t sit for too long, you’re welcome to spend meditation periods doing walking meditation or other forms of movement practice. If you need to lie down, fine. There’s no reason that body pain should prevent you from participating in any way. Join us!