Awakening the Mind of Love: Attending to our Deepest Desire
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Heartwood Refuge and Retreat Center
- 159 Osceola Rd. Hendersonville, NC 28739
- May 25 - 28, 2018 (4 days)
- $274.00 - plus dana (offered at the end of the retreat) to the teacher and to Heartwood. You can read more about the practice of dana here.
About us
“What do you want to do with your life? That is the question. Of course, you have the right to look for material and affective comforts, but that is not your deepest desire. Do you have an ultimate concern? Do you know the meaning of your life? That can be a tremendous source of energy.”
—Thich Nhat Hanh
The Mind of Love, also called bodhicitta in Sanskrit, is the desire to awaken, serve and relieve suffering. It is a tremendous source of energy for personal and collective awakening. Without it, we would not be drawn to spiritual practice or towards social transformation. How can we awaken to our true calling and deepest desire in this life? In this retreat we will study the Buddha’s teachings on the 4 nutriments, especially to understand the role of volition, or intention, in awakening the mind of love.
We will take time to fully experience our bodies, hearts and minds, through daily sitting and walking meditation, mindful movement, teachings, group sharing, and personal time for reflection. We will also explore nature-based practices and the improvisational forms of InterPlay, an active and creative approach to unlocking the wisdom of the body (appropriate for all bodies and abilities).
This is a general retreat suitable for all audiences.
Venue Highlights
Heartwood’s facilities include a historic thirty-room Victorian-era mansion, and additional thirty adjoining courtyard rooms. Three meditation halls and a commercial kitchen are designed to support short-term and long-term retreats, conferences, and workshops. Quiet spaces indoors and out invite contemplation and conversation. Our goal is to nurture all aspects of one’s being.
Amenities
- Air Conditioning in Rooms
- Towels
- Free Parking
- Coffee/Tea
- Cafe
Menu Types
- Vegan
- Vegetarian
- Gluten Free
Menu/Cuisine
Three delicious vegetarian meals per day are offered; there are always vegan and gluten free options served for those with dietary restrictions. You are also welcome to bring a snack to share if you wish.Breakfast typically includes cereal, hard-boiled eggs, fruit, bread, and rice cakes. Coffee is served at breakfast only. Lunch, which is the main meal of the day, consists of a protein, a grain, vegetables, and salad. A light supper of soup, with either salad or fruit, as well as some surprises, is offered each evening.
Accommodations
Rooms are double-occupancy. Depending on the number of retreatants, if single rooms are available, we assign them in order of registration to those who registered earliest. For your convenience, Heartwood provides bed linens, blankets, and towels. All rooms, whether double or single, have an en-suite bathroom.
Directions
Heartwood is located at 159 Osceola Rd, Hendersonville NC 28739. We are approximately 20 minutes from the Asheville NC airport, and 2 hours from the Charlotte NC airport.About the Venue and Teacher
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Heartwood Refuge and Retreat Center
Our vision is to provide residential interfaith meditation & wellness retreats for the contemplative and mindfulness practice communityThe intention has been here all along — across the country, practitioners of all traditions and ages are experiencing a pull to come together for non-sectarian practice, conscious living and empowerment in service. It is time to return to a far-reaching United Sangha with an emphasis on embodiment of the Dharma.Mission:Heartwood’s mission is to be a living container for inquiry and cultivation of ancient and contemporary Buddhist thought, while promoting interfaith and multi-lineage dialogue that create the opportunity to awaken. Heartwood is neither defined by a single lineage, nor confined by any single sect or practice. Our retreats, refuge, courses of study, practical life and social engagement in the world are geared not towards an outward show of Buddhism as a religion, but cultivation of the inner integrity and development of being which the Dharma inspires. In addition to Buddhist teachers, we welcome facilitators from around the world to share teachings and activities which promote compassion and clarity, be it through traditional wisdom or new thought. -
Kaira Jewel Lingo
Kaira Jewel Lingo teaches meditation and mindfulness internationally, with a focus on activists, people of color, artists, educators, families, and youth. She began practicing mindfulness in 1997. An ordained nun of 15 years in Thich Nhat Hanh’s Order of Interbeing, she is now based in Washington, D.C., leading retreats in the U.S. and internationally, offering mindfulness programs for educators and youth in schools, as well as individual spiritual mentoring. She teaches mindfulness in schools with Minds, Inc, and edited Thich Nhat Hanh’s, Planting Seeds: Practicing Mindfulness with Children. She has articles and chapters published in numerous magazines and books, including Real World Mindfulness for Beginners; Together we are One; and Dharma, Color and Culture. She explores the interweaving of art, play, ecology and embodied mindfulness practice and is a certified yoga teacher and InterPlay leader. In addition to her roots in the Zen tradition, she practices and teaches in the Insight tradition and is an affiliate teacher with the Insight Meditation Community of Washington. She is currently a trainee in the Spirit Rock Teacher Training which is focused on training 18 teachers of color in the Vipassana tradition. She regularly teaches on courses on Mindfulness and Leadership at Schumacher College, an ecological college in the UK. Visit kairajewel.com to learn more.
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- May 25 - 28, 2018 (4 days)
- $274.00 - plus dana (offered at the end of the retreat) to the teacher and to Heartwood. You can read more about the practice of dana here.
