Remember Me
During your retreat, some participants will engage in intensive meditation practice, while some will do short term In order to assess preparedness for such an undertaking, please provide us with some information about your meditation practice and experience.
If you are going on retreat more than a month, participants are encouraged to have fulfilled the prerequisites* or already attended at least two 5-10 day meditation retreats, one of which should have been a shamatha retreat taught by Alan Wallace. It is important that you listen to and have studied the listed 8-week retreat podcasts or acquire CD/DVDs of his weeklong retreats, learn the material taught as well as you can, and if possible, listen to these recordings while engaging in your own weeklong retreat. In addition, it is important that you study well the text that is essentially the manual for these retreats, namely Alan Wallace’s The Attention Revolution: Unlocking the Power of the Focused Mind, Stilling the Mind, Buddhism with an Attitude, Dreaming Yourself Awake, Minding Closely and The Four Immeasurables.
Please indicate which of the 8-week retreat, you have either attended or studied (following the podcasts) and indicate which of the week-long retreats you have attended or studied (cd/dvd recordings of retreats). If you have not done so and wish to catch up and study, do let us know in the comment space.
During these retreats, access to counseling and psychological support services, as well as medical facilities, is limited. Furthermore, a meditation retreat of several weeks carries with it a unique set of demands that differ from those of day-to-day life. Your answers to the following questions will help us to determine if such an environment is suitable for your practice.
This retreat will be at the CCR, Villa in Tuscany, Italy and our capacity to support ongoing medical needs is extremely limited. The climate in Pomaia is mild and sunny,and you might get a few showers of rain, especially if you are there during the spring months. We ask the following questions in order to ensure your safety and to limit the occurrence of unnecessary medical complications during the course of these long-term retreats.
Circumstances may arise, as in all extended retreats, where the teachers/ researchers may feel it is in the best interest of a participant to leave the retreat setting. In case you need emergency support or assistance, whom may we contact on your behalf?
