Retreat with Shaila in Germany

Mental restlessness is an insidious and pervasive hindrance that all practitioners struggle to overcome. We can refine our skills for working with the modes of thinking that distract us from being mindful: critical thoughts, planning, worrying, lustful thoughts, judging, memories, internal commentaries, to name a few. The teachings on this retreat will present a sequence of strategies for dealing with obstructive mental patterns; these progressive instructions are found in two discourses in the Middle Length Discourses, (suttas 19 and 20). Practitioners will be encouraged to develop a mindfulness-based meditation practice, while exploring these strategies for overcoming distractions.

 Teachings will be given in English with translation into German as needed.

Prerequisite: Participants should have some previous meditation experience. This requirement may be satisfied either by having attended at least one previous meditation retreat, or by having an established daily meditation practice for at least six months.

Preparation: Please read the following two discourses prior to the retreat. You may wish to bring a print out to the retreat for your personal reference.

• https://suttacentral.net/en/mn19
• https://suttacentral.net/en/mn20