Authentic Intelligence: Mindfulness for the Modern World

Program Arrival Date & Time: 2:00 – 5:00 pm on Feb 13

Program Start Date & Time: Feb 13th 5:30 pm orientation

Program End Date & Time: Feb 16th 12:30 pm

This weekend’s Mindfulness-based program will support a meaningful engagement with ourselves and this world. This retreat will provide practice and theory rooted in both the early Buddhist tradition and secular understanding found within various fields of scientific and therapeutic inquiry. The focus is for each of us to find a middle way by developing tools and techniques that are supportive to our emotional and psychological make-up.

The retreat will follow a partial silence that will allow for longer periods of silent practice and inquiry. Sessions will be provided for us to discuss the ideas and practices we will be exploring as a group. There will be guided practice sessions, teaching periods with talks and lectures, small group discussions, and time for independent practice.

This program is designed for beginning as well as experienced practitioners who are looking for a fresh perspective on practice that is both simple and comprehensive.

While we will be offering various concepts rooted in the early Buddhist tradition, this retreat is secular in context. Anyone who is interested is encouraged to attend.

Testimonials

My retreat experience with Dave has been one of the profound and constructive things I’ve done in my life. For someone who has been practicing mindfulness for less than a year before sitting his first retreat with Dave, I found it to be very easy to understand yet very challenging with plenty of room for growth. Since I have sat four different retreats at various lengths and can’t wait to sit more.

Vlad V, Santa Cruz, CA

I have attended several retreats with Dave as the guiding teacher. I find Dave’s teaching style to be highly accessible, he is clear and direct, and he makes it easy to see how the Buddha’s teachings are relevant to our modern lives. He is also approachable as a teacher and makes himself available to students in a way I find unique among the dharma teachers I have worked with. As a student, I have always felt seen and held by Dave’s presence in the room.

Jameson B, Albuquerque, NM

I have been practicing the dharma with Dave for over 10 years and he has been primary teacher for most of that time. Over the years, I have sat about a dozen retreats with Dave ranging from 3 to 10 days. Although I have become familiar with Dave’s teaching style, I keep coming back because he is constantly evolving as a teacher and my retreat experience with Dave is always special and profound. I particularly appreciate Dave’s approach to metta vipassana where we are given the opportunity to practice both insight and heart practices as well as the way he shares his personal experiences as a fellow practitioner of the dharma rather than as a teacher who is somehow on a different level than their students.

Most of all, I appreciate how much Dave truly loves the dharma and how much he cares about his students and those he works with and practices with.

I’ll keep coming back.

Stu M, Los Angeles, CA