40 Days and 40 Nights
"The Retreat"
40 Days and 40 Nights
"The Retreat"
Feb 8th to March 19th 2009
Dear Friends,
After much reflection and much looking around, we have found a facility perfectly suitable for hosting our Fifth Annual Silent Retreat.
This year, we wanted to organize something truly special; an event that would encourage the deepest possible Stillness and unbroken Abidance.
After four years of holding non-residential, month-long retreats at the Chicken Coop, we thought it was time to deepen the Practice by creating the opportunity for a full-time, residential retreat. The vision would allow for a constant, uninterrupted experience of Silence and Peace.
We decided on a format of 40 Days and 40 Nights, and what will make this retreat truly unique is the possibility and encouragement to Sit and Abide “Around The Clock”.
That is to say, at all times, day and night, there will be a Meditation Circle in progress, and everyone will be encouraged to Practice Self-Abidance as continuously as possible.
Each person will find her/his own, spontaneous rhythm of course. There won’t be any fixed rules or set hours (other than the daily noon-time meal).
Times for naps/snacks/stretching/etc. will all be left to the discretion of each individual Practitioner. But the encouragement will be to Sit… strongly and silently… as a group… in an unbroken, continuous way, for the duration of the Retreat.
We have made a really nice connection with The Bethlehem Centre…
http://www.retreatsonline.net/bethlehem/
located in Nanaimo, on Vancouver Island (about a one and a half hour drive north of Victoria).
The Centre is run by Sisters of the Benedictine Order and functions in conjunction with their monastery. We were made to feel very welcome by the Sisters, who were excited at the possibility of hosting such an extended period of Practice (a first for them!).
Because of the Spiritual nature of our retreat, they were kind enough to offer us a very generous discount ($50 per night, instead of the usual $80). This very reasonable rate would include…
A private room for each individual. Several shared bathrooms. A home-made Veggie meal at noon-time. A “light snacks” table (muffins/fruits/tea/coffee/ etc.), available at all times.
As of now, the Retreat will be limited to 15 participants, and all will complete the full 40 days of Practice.
The fee for the Retreat, at $50 per day, is $2,000.
Because of the substantial costs involved, we decided to leave the Offering/Donation towards the Teaching (Claudio) up to each individual.
Sally has very kindly offered to oversee all the bookings, keep a track of all the funds and be the liason between the Centre and all the participants (alot of work! Thank-you Sal !).
If you feel you would like to participate in this Retreat, please let Sally ( sallyross@shaw.ca ) know of your intentions as soon as possible.
To guarantee and secure a spot, we ask you for a non-refundable deposit of $200. This will be forwarded immediately to the Bethlehem Centre.
The remaining $1,800 will be due no later than 6 weeks prior to the start of the Retreat.
As you all know, in the past, refunds were always very freely given at the Chicken Coop. For this retreat though, because there is a third party involved, refunds will be totally at the discretion of the Bethlehem Centre.
Please reflect deeply and be sure of your commitment before booking.
We will try to keep this site up-dated as often as possible. As of today, Friday, July 4th it looks like the Retreat is already half full.