9-12 September 2021
Online and on-site at Gomde Pyrenees, France
We warmly invite you to join this guided retreat on 'Embodying Kindfulness'. The practice sessions will alternate between guided meditations and embodied movement.
You are welcome to participate in all or only some of the sessions, whatever your schedule permits, and you can choose to attend online from wherever you are, or in-person at Gomde. The sessions will also be recorded and uploaded the same day, and will be accessible until September 26. All donations for this retreat will help to support Gomde Pyrenees, and you can choose a fee according to your possibility.
We have all heard about mindfulness and the many practices to help us be more mindful in our lives.
Why kindfulness we may wonder? The well-known meditation teacher Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche, who coined this term encourages us not to be only mindful but to be kindful.
In joining this retreat we will be invited to go beyond our ideas about kindness, and come to know the kindness that our cells are made of. The kindness that we already are. Moving away from the tendency to push ourselves too hard towards a goal or a striving pattern that is rooted in lack, or in a sense of neediness, we can rest into a culture of gentleness towards ourselves and others.
Our meditation flourishes when we befriend our mind, including turbulent and uncomfortable mental states. Befriending means welcoming everything that arises in the mind and body with kindness and appreciation.
Kindfulness lays bare the fluidity and insubstantiality of our own mental states. In extending kindness even toward our self-destructive tendencies, we discover an inherent openness within, soft at its core and radiant toward everything.
Why embodied?
Embodiment practices can help us connect to a felt sense of kindness, and let that be an opening towards bringing kindness into action.
Coming into our bodies through movement, we can touch into the natural gentleness of our body. Connecting with aliveness and releasing stories about who we think we are and letting ourselves be surprised by our own fresh and soft presence. Perhaps discovering for ourselves the inherent kindness of our being, that moves us though the world with wisdom and compassion.
This retreat will alternate between guided meditations and embodied movement. The guided meditations will be taught by Heidi Koppl and the embodied movement by Frances Hearnden.
Retreat fee
Please choose any fee between €25 - €200 according to your possibility if you are attending online. If you wish to attend the retreat on-site at Gomde, the fee is €110,-, which includes 3 nights of stay and all meals during the retreat. This offering is to cover basic costs at Gomde Pyrenees, but does not include any donations to Frances or Heidi. Details on how to donate directly for their teachings, if you wish to, will be forwarded by e-mail after your registration. Please ensure to include your email contact when registering below - you can register below by choosing a retreat fee, clicking 'Contribute', and completing the payment. If you have any queries please feel welcome to write to us at hello@gomde.fr
About Gomde Pyrenees
Rangjung Yeshe Gomde Pyrenees is a Buddhist retreat center founded by Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche, located in the Pyrenees mountains in the south of France. Gomde is remote yet easily accessible, and is graced with silence and natural beauty. We offer opportunities for individual retreat as well as organised group retreats and seminars. We have a daily morning and afternoon group practice that visitors are welcome to join, as well as various online practice opportunities. You can read more about Gomde at www.gomde.fr.
Heidi Koppl is a translator of Tibetan language and editor in chief of Tara’s Triple Excellence meditation Program. She has studied with Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche and Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche since a young age. Right now she resides at Gomde Pyrenees, Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche’s international retreat center, working on online meditation programs, doing retreats and teaching from time to time.
Frances Hearnden is a teacher of yoga, embodied movement and meditation. She has been practicing and studying for over 25 years and qualified to teach with the Sivananda school of yoga. She currently lives at Gomde Pyrenees, taking care of the gardens and teaching yoga and meditation online and on-site. For more information you are welcome to visit www.franceshearndenyoga.co.uk.
Retreat Schedule (timezone CEST, Paris)
Thursday
16.00 - 16.30 Introduction
16.30 - 17.30 Embodied movement
18.00 Dinner
19.00 - 20.00 Kindfulness meditation
Friday & Saturday
7.00 - 8.00 Tibetan Buddhist chanting and mantras (optional)
8.00 Breakfast
9.30 - 10.30 Kindfulness meditation
11.30 - 12.30 Embodied movement
12.30 Lunch
13.30 Individual reflections/kindfulness walking
16.00 - 17.00 Embodied movement
17.15 - 18.00 Tibetan Buddhist chanting and mantras (optional)
18.00 Dinner
19.00 - 20.00 Kindfulness meditation
Sunday
7.00 - 8.00 Tibetan Buddhist chanting and mantras (optional)
8.00 Breakfast
9.30- 10.30 Kindfulness meditation
11.30 - 12.30 Embodied movement
12.30 Lunch
