Saturday, September 25, 2010, 9am to 4:30pm
Lew Richmond will be offering another one-day meditation retreat on “Aging as a Spiritual Practice.” Lew feels that the experience of growing older is one important way we experience in our own bodies the fundamental Buddhist truths of suffering and impermanence, and for the last several months he has been exploring this issue on his blog www.AgingAsASpiritualPractice.com. He is also at work on a book, Aging as a Spiritual Practice: A Contemplative Guide to Growing Older and Wiser, to be published by Gotham Books in Spring, 2012.
The workshop will explore the connection between our own experiences of aging—loss, disappointment, loneliness, fear, as well as the positive aspects of gratitude, compassion, and a sense of wise perspective—with the basic Buddhist teachings of impermanence, the Five Great Fears, liberation from a fixed self, mindfulness (of aging) and loving kindness. Unlike the workshop given last year, the format of this day will be focused less on discussion and more on practice (although there will be both), and will include more guided meditation, including practices that Lew has created and adapted from the Buddhist tradition specifically to address our experiences of aging. Once again Lew will be assisted by two of his senior students, Peter Schireson and Karen Geiger. The website of Lew’s home sangha is www.vimalasangha.org.