“If you’re invested in security and certainty,
you are on the wrong planet.” 
– Pema Chödrön

 

GBF Retreat: Cultivating the Heart of Peace in Difficult Times – René Rivera

Sep 10, 2022

Follow the podcast

Listen on Apple Podcasts
Listen on Spotify button
Listen on Google Podcasts button
Listen on Amazon Music button
Subscribe on Android button

A day retreat organized around the Brahma Viharas; practice in diads;  guided practice; and a closing talk on Equanimity

TALK #1:  Tending to inner and outer conflict – “bring the calming rains that quiet the fires inside of us.”
Exploring the Brahma Viharas
Tom Spanbauer – In the City of Shy Hunters – “How do I keep my heart open in hell?”

-BREAK-

THE 4 BRAHMA VIHARAS

  • Metta – Loving Kindness
  • Karuna – Compassion
  • Mudita – Sympathetic Joy  
  • Upekka – Equanimity

Retreat agreements (from East Bay Meditation Center):

  • Try it on
  • Practice self-focus –  speak from your own experience and not make assumptions about others
  • Understanding the difference between intent and impact
  • Practicing both/and –  noticing the difference between but/and
  • Refraining from blaming or shaming others
  • Move up, move back – noticing the space we take up in groups
  • Practice mindful listening – bring our full attention to the person who is speaking
  • Confidentiality – “take home your learning but leave the details here”
  • Right to pass

____________ 
René Rivera is a meditation teacher, restorative justice facilitator, and leader, working and learning in all the spaces in-between race, gender, and other perceived binaries, as a queer, mixed-race, trans man. René teaches heart-centered, trauma-informed meditation, at the East Bay Meditation Center and other meditation centers. He has co-led the first residential meditation retreats for transgender, nonbinary, and gender-expansive people. René is a restorative justice facilitator for the Ahimsa Collective, working to heal sexual and gender-based violence.

______________
To participate live and be notified of upcoming speakers in advance, please Like us on Facebook or add our schedule to your calendar.

To support our efforts to share these talks with LGBTQIA audiences worldwide, please visit Gaybuddhist.org.
There you can:

  • Donate
  • Learn how to participate live
  • Find our schedule of upcoming speakers
  • Join our mailing list or discussion forum
  • Enjoy many hundreds of these recorded talks dating back to 1996