November 5 - 9, 2008

with Rabbis Jeff Roth and Joanna Katz

a non-residential retreat in Xalapa, Veracruz, México

Hosted by Espacio Zen Montaña Despierta and
Casa Luna Centro de Comunidad Consciente

Rabbis Jeff Roth and Joanna Katz are co-founders of the Jewish Retreat Center Elat Chayyim in Connecticut, USA, where they served as directors during 13 years. Presently they are teachers of The Elat Chayyim Advanced Meditation Program (ECAMP). Both are experienced meditators and between them they have facilitated more than 70 Vipassana and Jewish meditation retreats. In addition, Jeff is founder and director of The Awakened Heart Project for Contemplative Judaism.

Join us for an exploration of what it means to become an awakened human being. Vipassana or mindfulness meditation is an invaluable tool in seeing directly the workings of one’s own mind. Left unexplored, most of us find that we get caught up in the very human qualities of greed, anger and confusion. Much of our way of being in the world becomes a defense to anticipated hurts or an attempt to get what we can. With the tools of meditation we can begin to change the course of our lives, cultivating wisdom and compassion and transforming more of our actions into expressions of loving-kindness.

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These tools are found in every spiritual tradition but have been more clearly delineated in the practice of Vipassana meditation. As a practice, mindfulness meditation opens up doors into making our own religious practices more meaningful. In this retreat we will use aspects of Jewish tradition, demonstrating the value of bringing mindfulness to all parts of our lives. The retreat will be equally valuable to Jews and non-Jews as an experience of how to bring the insights of meditation into the whole of life.

Retreat Structure
One of the primary vehicles supporting the practice of seeing clearly is silence. The retreat will be conducted in the space of social silence which means that we don’t interact with other participants verbally or non-verbally at all times including formal practice periods, meals and when walking or spending time in our rooms. There will be ample instructions given by the teachers in all aspects of the practice. We will teach sitting, walking and eating meditation as well as use some contemplative chanting or prayers. There will be question and answer sessions to allow to ask for clarifications about the teachings or how to use them in personal experience. In addition, the teachers will arrange for private sessions with each student to explore this experience in more depth.

Friday night and Saturday are the Jewish Sabbath and we will use aspects of Sabbath practice to enrich the retreat experience. The Sabbath is a day in the Jewish week where we practice “being” rather than “becoming”. It is a day when we are invited to let go of trying to control our world and shift our attention to appreciating the world. In many ways, this is a teaching on how to greet each moment of our lives and our meditation practice can help us learn to be with our own experience rather than fight it. The Sabbath can be a practice of letting go that increases our happiness and our observance of the day will be a joyous one.

In order to foster intimacy the size of the retreat will be limited to 20 people. It is indispensable to make a reservation with anticipation. The retreat will be open to any person who is interested without distinction of creed or religion.

Suggested donation: $150 US Dollars per person. Most of the meals will be included. (Economic resources are necessary in order to offer a donation (Dana) to our visiting teachers, who do not directly ask for payment in return for their teachings. Nobody will be rejected because of economic reasons).

Further information at Casa Luna or at the telephone number in Mexico 52-228-8183069 or at sstern@prodigy.net.mx

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