With everything happening in the world, it's easy to feel contracted, frightened, cut off from others. How do we reestablish the connection? According to the Buddha, dana parami (generosity) is the first step. It's a beautiful step: nourishing, uplifting, onward leading. And it culminates, amazingly, in the end of suffering.
In this one-day online retreat, Oren & devon will explore the parami of dana ("generosity") and the ways in which it can reconnect us to ourselves and others, as well as lead us to a stable well-being, even in the midst of turbulence.
The day will begin with an hour of conversation and an opening talk around the theme. We’ll then sit and walk for four hours in lightly guided practice, before reconvening for a closing talk and further dialogue.
This daylong is the first in a series of ten online daylong retreats on the paramis hosted by Refuge of Belonging, a collective founded by nico hase & Devin Berry that is dedicated to sustaining the relationships and the deepening the dharma that people experience in insight meditation retreats.
The ten paramis (“furtherances” or “completions”) are foundational to the Buddhist path of awakening. Spanning states of the heart from kindness and equanimity to resolve and renunciation, they offer us a time tested way forward, a manner of cultivating what most truly benefits ourselves and others, both right now, in this moment, and as a stepping stone to final liberation.
The two main, 30-minute Dharma talks will be recorded and available after the event for those who register.
Questions?
For questions about this event, please email Nico at nico@devonandnicohase.com
About the Teachers
Oren Jay Sofer
Oren Jay Sofer, a CNVC Certified Nonviolent Communication Trainer, teaches workshops and retreats on meditation and communication internationally. His teaching emphasizes how awareness practice and communication training deepen one another in a synergistic manner. He holds a degree in Comparative Religion from Columbia University and is certified as a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner for healing trauma. Oren is a husband, a father, and the author of several books including the best-selling title, Say What You Mean: A Mindful Approach to Nonviolent Communication, and the forthcoming title, Your Heart Was Made For This.
Devon Hase
devon hase began intensive meditation training in 2000. After spending a decade teaching English and social studies in high school and college classrooms, she entered a two-year period of retreat. She has studied at monasteries in Nepal and India, and practices in the Insight and Vajrayana traditions. Currently, Devon teaches at the Insight Meditation Society, Spirit Rock, and throughout North America and Europe. Along with her life partner nico, she co-authored their first book, How Not to Be a Hot Mess: A Survival Guide for Modern Life, which offers six really good pieces of semi-Buddhist advice to keep you anchored and steady amidst the chaos of modern life. Devon loves long retreat and is passionate about creative ways to bring depth practice into the daily spin of things. She now lives together with nico in urban retreat in her hometown of Ashland, Oregon, splitting each week between teaching and practice.