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Letting Go

Spiritual practice is about letting go, not adding anything. This is difficult for us because all of our conditioning is about getting things and learning how to hold on to them.

We have invested ourselves in the notion that we need to get more in order to be happy and complete, and so this is what we have learned how to do.

The act of release is actually quite easy, and requires much less effort than grasping or clinging. Yet it is so unfamiliar that many of us have no idea how to do it.

- Beyond Perception

An old proverb goes
something like this:

It is not the mountain ahead that wears you down, but the grain of sand in your shoe.

If we are honest with ourselves right now, the mountains ahead of us do seem impossible to cross, and our chances of making it through this next period of human history make even the optimists among us hesitate.

Yet the very problem may be that we are focusing on the mountains, instead of looking in our shoe.

- Beyond Perception

Becoming More Awake

The alternative to this is for us to become more awake. Waking up is not an abstract ideal or final destination. It is what we are here to do, yet it is not a goal to achieve some time off in the future. Waking up can only happen in this moment, and it happens by simply being present with what we are doing now.

In each moment we are either more awake or more asleep. There appears to be a gradual process of becoming more awake that allows for us to do it in our own time. Yet in reality time is not involved and there is no learning required. Unlike any other achievement that we know of, waking up is not a step-by-step process that the perceptual mind can direct and measure, and this is what makes it so difficult for us.

None of our learning patterns apply to waking up. Waking up is a decision that we make to be present, when we reach the end of our tolerance for living life from a distance. We don’t learn how to do it. There isn’t a way, there is only the will. When we want to wake up and be real more than anything else, it begins to happen by itself.

-Beyond Perception

Insight Meditation Retreats

Also known as Mindfulness, or Vipassana Meditation, this simple method aims at clearing the mind, giving us a chance to experience truth directly for ourselves. We use awareness of breathing and other body sensations to calm and focus the mind. The retreat will be held mostly in silence and will focus on sitting and walking practice. There will be instructions, guided meditations, and inspirational talks based on personal insights inspired by the teachings of the Buddha.

Scheduled Weekend Retreats for 2012
June 8-10, September 28 - 30, October 26 - 28
Retreats begin at 6:00 on Friday and end by 3:00 on Sunday

Fees: $300/weekend (includes tuition)
Registration deadline: 7 days before retreat
Limited to 14 people
To register send a non-refundable deposit of $150

You can send a check to:
Sky Meadow Retreat
63 Winchester Rd.
Greensboro Bend, VT 05842

Or deposit by credit card via PayPal:

You may also pay in full at this time
We cannot accept credit cards at the retreat
Please bring cash or check to your retreat to pay for the balance

If you are planning to travel to Sky Meadow by airplane, we recommend that you contact us one month or less before your retreat to be sure that the weekend has enough participants to run.
If a retreat does not reach minimum enrollment and we have to cancel, we will either return your deposit in full or you may come as planned for a self-directed solo retreat which will include a private room, full meals, and one hour of private instruction with Miles, for the same cost as your scheduled retreat. You may also transfer your deposit to any future retreat at Sky Meadow.

June 8-10
Weekend Retreat

October 26-28
Weekend Retreat

September 28-30
Weekend Retreat

Retreats led by Miles Sherts

Miles learned this practice at a monastery in Sri Lanka in 1976. The instructions and supporting teachings come from the Therevadin Buddhist tradition found in Sri Lanka, Burma, Thailand, and other parts of Southeast Asia. This tradition emphasizes the simple practices taught by the Buddha and does not involve ritual or complex systems of thought. Miles has sat intensively and been on staff at the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Mass, and has done retreats at other Asian and European Monasteries.

The teachings during these retreats will focus on experience learned through years of practice rather than Buddhist language or theology. Some basic teachings of the Buddha will be offered to create a context for the practice of meditation. The teachings will relate directly to each persons current experience and the application of direct awareness to that experience. The main focus will be on loosening the mind from habitual patterns of holding in order to experience the present moment as it is.

A Typical Retreat Schedule:

6:30 - wake up bell
7:00 - sitting
7:30 - guided yoga

8:00 - Breakfast

9:00 - talk and instructions
9:35 – guided walking
10:00 - sitting
10:35 - walking
11:00 - sitting
11:35 – walking

12:00- Lunch

2:00 – talk and instructions
2:35 - walking
3:00 - sitting
3:35 - walking
4:00 – sitting
4:35 – walking
5:00 – sitting
5:30 - guided yoga

6:00 - Dinner

7:30 - sitting
8:05 - stretch
8:15 - Evening Talk

9:00 – sitting
9:15 – self-directed practice or bed

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63 Winchester Rd. Greensboro Bend, Stannard, Vermont (802) 533-2505 • email: office@skymeadowretreat.com