Entering the Magic and Mystery of Now
On this retreat we will focus our attention on remaining present to the immediate reality of now.
Our culture has trained us to experience life through the lens of time. We imagine that life unfolds on a trajectory that leads from the past to the future, but deep meditation reveals that only the present exists. Now is all there is.
We’ve all heard about the ‘power of now,’ and we were told decades ago to ‘be here now,’ but how often are we actually profoundly present to the reality of what is?
Yes, we’ve all experienced moments of the magic and mystery of now. We’ve fallen into deep experiences of presence where we felt fully alive and anything seemed possible.
What will happen when you don’t just briefly touch a moment like this, but you learn to rest in it effortlessly for a sustained amount of time?
I can tell you what happens. Miracles happen.
In the experience of sustained rest in the reality of now, we experience a profound cascade of insight and revelation about who we are and how reality works. Our inner eyes open to new worlds of possibility and our existence here on Earth finally makes profound sense.
There is no past and no future, there is only now. On this retreat you will receive the focus and guidance you need to rest effortlessly in the present moment and invite all of its magic and mystery to guide you.
As each day passes you will find yourself more deeply immersed in the immediacy of the present. You will relax and discover that meditation is effortless.
As you continue to rest in direct contact with what is, your senses and perceptions will open up. Subtle spiritual realities will become increasingly obvious and distinct.
You will leave this retreat changed in an essential way. You will still be yourself, but you will be different.
Outwardly you might look the same, but you will know that you have lived, and can continue to live, from a completely different source.
Our initial emphasis on this retreat will be building a habit of effortlessness in meditation. In order to harness the full spiritual power of your practice, ease of being must become your habitable way of relating to it. To practice meditation we should simply rest in contentment, but most of us turn meditation into an activity. We try to be peaceful or we work at being relaxed by pushing thoughts and feelings away. If we are working at meditation we will inevitably develop a habit of working at meditation and it will never become easy that way. On this retreat you will be encouraged to be easy in meditation so that a habit of effortlessness begins to grow in your practice. In the context of a silent retreat it is possible to develop this habit very quickly and soon your experience of meditation will be easy and free.
Growing from Attainment to Realization
Once we have developed a strong habit of peace and ease of being, our meditation practice will be easy and free. We will be able to sit for longer and longer periods of time remaining effortlessly attentive to the reality of now. On this retreat, you will discover that this is as far as your own effort can take you, but it is not as far as you can go. If you spend time sitting in peaceful meditation eventually your awareness will slip into a profound recognition of your True Self. At that point you will see that the easy, open awareness you are experiencing is all that you are. You are not a thing that has awareness, you are the awareness itself and you always have been. At this point you will no longer be able to make a distinction between practicing and not practicing, and it will feel like you are in a constant state of meditation.
Once we have established a constant state of peaceful calm abidance a new journey can begin. Until we find a way to stop struggling against the way things are, we will be preoccupied with our problems and unavailable for spiritual illumination. When we rest effortlessly in easy, open awareness we are ready for a breakthrough. On this retreat you will learn how to gently navigate into the spiritual potentials that exist in the space of open awareness without moving from that peaceful inner state at all. When you learn how to rest perfectly while following the path of breakthrough that arise in your experience, miracles begin to happen. The journey of awakening progresses naturally as long as we remain at rest and are always ready to go wherever the path leads. During these seven days you will have the chance to follow the path of spiritual breakthrough into exciting new spiritual potentials.
This is a silent in-person retreat led by Jeff Carreira.
The structure of the retreat allows for focus and concentration, as well as inner reflection and contemplation.
The retreat begins with registration at 4:00pm on Monday, December 12th, followed by dinner at 6:00pm and the opening session at 7:15pm. The retreat will end at 1:00pm on Sunday, December 18th, after lunch.
Each day will begin with meditation, followed by breakfast, and then an hour of spiritual instruction and guidance that will create context for that day's practice.
Each evening will include a question and answer session in which you can engage with Jeff about your experience of practice and ask any questions that come up for you.
The rest of the day will be spent in silent practice, contemplation, journaling and short walks on the beautiful grounds of Pendle Hill.
Each morning teaching and each evening Q and A session will be recorded and made available to retreat participants in a protected online portal.
- 6:30am to 7:15am Meditation Session
- 7:30am to 8:30am Breakfast
- 9:00am to 10:00am Teaching Session
- 10:00am to 10:45am Meditation Session
- 11:00am to 11:45am Meditation Session
- 12:00pm to 1:00pm Lunch
- 1:30pm to 2:15pm Meditation Session
- 2:30pm to 3:15pm Meditation Session
- 3:15pm to 4:00pm Break
- 4:00pm to 4:45pm Meditation Session
- 5:00pm to 5:45pm Meditation Session
- 6:00pm to 7:00pm Dinner
- 8:00pm to 9:00pm Q & A Session
The retreat is being held at Pendle Hill Retreat Centre, Wallingford, PA 19086. Pendle Hill features a beautiful campus with facilities that allow us to use only single room accomodation which will provide peace of mind as we move out of the critical phase of a pandemic.
During the retreat you will enjoy highly nutritious vegetarian meals lovingly prepared three times a day, and there will be tea, coffee and snacks available as well.
Pendle Hill is committed to maintaining a safe environment due to ongoing concerns of the COVID-19 pandemic. As part of that effort they currently require all guests of Pendle Hill to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and to wear masks in the common spaces of the campus. The staff of Pendle Hill are continually monitoring the situation with the pandemic and may alter their requirements before the date of our retreat, but until we are notified otherwise, we will assume that their current requirements will hold in December. For more information about all guest requirements and the COVID-19 mitigating amenities Pendle Hill offers see their COVID-19 Information page here.
"We were able to only do three days of this event. But the impact for me was most profound. On our day 4, integration day an awareness of the Truth arose in me and left me totally flummoxed. Just what I have been working for, for so many years. I am truly a different person than the one who started the retreat last Friday. Profound gratitude to Jeff and the team."
~ W. Francis.
"The daily teaching, Q&A's and and meditation sessions were so powerful , they brought such calm and flow to me and in turn to my family. Jeff's teaching enabled me reach greater depth in my meditations as each day passed."
~ T. Bird.
"The retreat was eye opening and life-changing, giving me a new understanding of me as a soul, and deepening my relationship with it. Giving all day to meditation for a few days, rather than an hour a day for a prolonged period, has brought changes in me that are indescribable. I did not want it end!"
~ J. Aebi.
"This retreat was a wonderful and profound experience of sinking into the depth of Being. Experiencing blissful happiness and liberation, just abiding there, without needing anything. Even in the face of challenges from outside, like a noisy neighourhood."
~ J. van den Bogaard.
"The retreat came at the perfect time in my life. It was the calm at the end of an internal and external storm that led to deep insights and deepening Awareness of my True Self. Jeff has an ability to transmit deep truths that find a home in soul."
~ M. Earlenbaugh.
"Jeff’s instructions and felt his passion to lead us into a available view of the world and ourselves. My life is so completely different. I’m looking out with Cosmic Eyes now... Wow So simple and so wonderful. Thank you Jeff"
~ N. Torrence.