January 25 to February 9, 2020

Depart US Sat. Jan 25; arrive in Brazil Sunday Jan 26 

Depart Brazil Sunday Feb. 9; arrive back in US Monday Feb 10

Insight Meditation:

What is Insight or Vipassana Meditation? The sanskrit word "passana" literally means "seeing." Vipassana is a deeper, clearer seeing.  This practice derives from Buddhist teachings, but we do not teach it as a religion, but as spiritual practice. The practice includes no religious ritual and requires no special religious beliefs. The meditation practices are harmonious with and enriching to any belief system.

Some people come to meditation simply looking for a practice to relieve
stress. It can be that, but as we look deeper into ourselves, we do seem to
find that spirit is included; thus, we call it a "spiritual practice." The
reason we call it "spiritual" practice is twofold.

Much of our stress and our scatteredness comes from not knowing who we are. We mistakenly view ourselves as separate, not knowing from deep experience that core which connects us to the earth and each other.

As Thoreau succinctly phrased it, "most men lead lives of quiet
desperation."  What is that desperation about and how does it lead us into
stress and suffering?   Meditation is not just another attempt to fix the
pain in our lives, to finally find a workable solution outside of ourselves
that we may grasp at and lean on, but a way of finding the truth within
ourselves.  Rather than striving to get rid of stress and scatteredness of
focus, we start to look at what separates us from our natural state of
focus, calmness and joy.  Then we're not creating additional stress and
fragmentation by continuing the lifelong patterns of grasping and aversion,
but letting go of those patterns and coming back to our true selves,
resolving our fragmentation.

We start to learn the difference between pleasure and happiness. We grasp at
pleasures but find they are fleeting. Then we look to the next pleasure. True
happiness lies within ourselves and is not fleeting, doesn't need to be
chased. Our culture has conditioned us to pleasures. I find that happiness,
comes from knowing who we are, knowing our relationship to all
that is, and befriending ourselves with an unconditional acceptance which
transcends the oft-learned judgments of our lives - a "spiritual
practice."

Another way we create much pain for ourselves is by our inability to live in
this moment. There's nothing wrong with planning, but when we're planning, we seldom KNOW we're planning. We use it as a way of escaping our lives.
Often, attention is scattered. We find little real joy and peace in this
moment. We stop for a cup of tea; while we drink it, we plan the afternoon,
trying to free the schedule to fit in the game of tennis. We rush through
the work, and reach the courts. Through the tennis match, thoughts of the
evening meeting intrude.

How we may learn to live more fully in this moment is a primary focus of
insight meditation. We find much peace and happiness, and deeper ability to
concentrate on the work at hand, when we learn such focus. We begin to
understand what continually pulls us out of the moment and to not need to do
that so much . And we find more kindness and patience toward ourselves when we DO repeat those old patterns!  In learning kindness toward ourselves, we learn it toward others!

Outgrowths of the practice for students are often stress reduction and
lessening of long-standing physical ailments like back pain and migraine.
However, the teachings are not to reduce stress and pain, but to help people
see their patterns more clearly, see for themselves what really has
created that dissatisfaction  or pain and begin to let go.

If we meditate to get rid of stress, that so easily becomes just another
goal to grasp, another place to succeed or fail.  We just repeat the pattern
using meditation as we've used success with work, money, power, relationship and other such goals, and create still more suffering when we can¹t get rid of stress.  This only reinforces the patterns of grasping and denial which
fragment us. Also, if the focus were just to reduce pain or stress,  people
would become dependent on a technique. The meditation technique is only a
tool to deeper awareness. That awareness is what offers freedom from stress.
We¹re not learning this to become meditators but to become more whole, free,
loving humans. These teachings offer freedom, not dependence - freedom
through deeper inner awareness.

The deepest focus in vipassana is moment to moment mindfulness. It¹s really
a very simple practice, just resting calmly in whatever is, noticing the
movements of mind without fixation on what arises. It opens us deeply to all
we have closed off in ourselves, ends our fragmentation and dissolves our
sense of separation from ourselves and the world. It¹s a gentle practice yet
it takes commitment and courage to look that deeply. Those who choose to
take this route inevitably find a deeper sense of peace and at-one-ment with
themselves and the world. We don¹t meditate to fix or change anything, just
to be with what is, but as we see deeper into the truths of what is, we do
let go of our fears and rigidity and allow a softness and kindness that have
been hidden inside us to emerge.

 Barbara Brodsky and John Orr are recognized Guides of the Casa
and adhere to the Standards of Guides. See this website for details. They are also both nationally recognized vipassana (insight meditation) teachers. 

Stories of our Healing:

Terri M  Pittsboro, NC​  2017