The Retreat

Next stop, Barre, MA for the 7 day retreat. The dharma center there is beautiful with gardens everywhere, well kept grounds, Buddha statues sprinkled with dana trinklets, trails through the woods, birds, spiderwebs, a beautiful meditation hall, wise loving teachers overflowing with the dharma, a warm cheerful staff, single and double rooms each with a sink and comfy bed, great walking rooms, an old bowling ally where the Dali Lama once bowled now also used for walking, a yoga and work-out room, loose leaf tea of every kind in the dining hall, and delicious and nutritious mindfully prepared vegetarian cuisine.

Excerpts from their website dharma.org:

Who are we?
Founded in 1975, the Insight Meditation Society (IMS) is a 501 (c) (3) religious nonprofit organization.
On Valentines Day, 1976, a small group of young meditation teachers and dedicated staff opened a retreat center in an old but stately mansion in Barre, Massachusetts. Armed with minimal resources and less than ideal operational knowledge, yet passionate about the Buddha’s teachings, they set about creating an environment where the dharma could flourish and take root in the West. And so IMS began.
Over its 33-year history, IMS has become a spiritual home to thousands of practitioners, and is now regarded as one of the Western world’s most respected centers for learning and deepening meditation practice.
The organization operates two meditation retreat programs – the Retreat
Center and the Forest Refuge. Both facilities are set on some 200 secluded wooded acres in the quiet country of central Massachusetts.

What is insight meditation?
Insight meditation (vipassana in Pali, the language of the original Buddhist teachings) is the simple and direct practice of moment-to-moment mindfulness. Through careful and sustained observation, we experience for ourselves the ever-changing flow of the mind/body process. This awareness leads us to accept more fully the pleasure and pain, fear and joy, sadness and happiness that life inevitably brings. As insight deepens, we develop greater equanimity and peace in the face of change, and wisdom and compassion increasingly become the guiding principles of our lives.
The Buddha first taught insight meditation over 2,500 years ago. The various methods of this practice have been well preserved in the Theravada tradition of Buddhism, and the retreats at IMS are all rooted in this ancient and well-mapped path to awakening.

What is lovingkindness meditation?
Metta is the Pali word for friendship or lovingkindness. It is taught as a meditation that cultivates our natural capacity for an open and loving heart. With its roots in practices said to be taught by the Buddha himself, metta is traditionally offered along with meditations that enrich compassion, joy in the happiness of others and equanimity. These practices lead to the development of concentration, fearlessness, happiness and a greater ability to love.

Two of the Guiding (senior) Teachers are Sharon Salzberg and Joseph Goldstein, who — together with Jack Kornfield — established IMS over 33 years ago. Today, they are preeminent teachers and authors. Sharon Salzberg’s latest publications are 'The Force of Kindness', 'Unplug' and 'Faith'; she is also a contributing editor to 'O: The Oprah Magazine'. Joseph Goldstein is the author of 'One Dharma: The Emerging Western Buddhism', 'A Heart Full of Peace' and 'Insight Meditation'.

During our retreat our teachers where Rebecca Bradshaw, Chas DiCapua, Anushka Fernandopulle, Amita Schmidt, and Tempel Smith.

The typical day was structured something like this: Wake up early by gong, sit for usually 45 minutes, oatmeal for breakfast with all the trimmings, yogi job (Alan’s job was to gather the trash and recycling from all the rooms and offices of the main building. Alyssa’s was to help prepare and serve breakfast), then meditation with instruction is given by Rebecca, then walking meditation, sit, walk, optional group meetings some days, lunch, yoga, sit, walk, metta (loving kindness) meditation led by different teachers each day, walk, light dinner with tea, sit, walk, dharma talk given by different teachers each night, walk, metta chant and sit, bed.

Alan’s experience:
Alan did a lot of laughing at idiotic thoughts, a lot of watching and accepting a mind that had grown jumpy and subject to a questionable soundtrack as of late. Accepting his monkey mind with amusement seemed to be the best remedy for it. Reconnecting with a relaxed center of being was extremely rewarding physically and mentally. Listening to his body and through his body he found that happiness is always there waiting underneath whatever mumbo jumbo be clouding up the headpeice. Acceptance is always step one.

Alyssa had a very rewarding retreat as well, despite becoming stricken with food poisoning and then breaking out in a rash from a poisonous plant that swelled up her whole face forcing her to go to the Barre clinic and get put onto prednisone. In a few words, here are some of Alyssa’s appreciated present moments:
Trees, suffering, metta, mosquitoes, suffering, feet, smile