A Silent Retreat of Mindfulness Meditation and Yoga

Friday, July 1st (7:00 p.m.) to Monday July 4th (after lunch)

Light on the Hill — Van Etten, New York

Led by Gisela Konrad and Jeff Collins

This classic three-day silent retreat is meant to serve as a way of deepening intimacy with one’s own life and with the life of the whole world and is open to people from all spiritual traditions who may be seeking the time and space to rest in awareness and to move into this intimacy.

The retreat will be held at Light on the Hill’s beautiful retreat center, located about 20 miles south of Ithaca, NY (see their website at www.lightonthehill.org). The center itself supports the work of the retreat, with its stunning views, its octagonal meditation/yoga room, and its beautifully appointed single and double bedrooms. There is room in the lodge for 26 participants.

The retreat will flow from periods of sitting meditation (on cushions or chairs) to walking meditation to several periods of yoga practice each day. The style of yoga offered is called viniyoga, a style grounded in awareness of the breath and of the physical movement that flows out of that breath awareness. It starts with your body, as it is; if you can breathe, you can participate in the yoga. We will also have chanting and several periods of yoga nidra practice.

The retreat will include yoga and meditation instruction, dharma talks, chanting, and group and private talks with the teachers. We will have a silent work period of about one hour each day. Chairs and some meditation cushions are available at the center, but bring your own cushion, if you have one, and please bring a yoga mat or blanket for the yoga periods.

The cost of the retreat is $285 if you stay in the lodge. This cost just covers the room and board expenses of the retreat. A basket will be put out at the end of the retreat for a donation (dana offering) to the teachers.  To sign up, please send a deposit of $100 to Gisela Konrad at 312 First St, Ithaca NY 14850, along with your name, address, phone number and email. Deposits cannot be refunded if you cancel less than 14 days prior to the retreat. If you have questions, please call Gisela or Jeff 607/273-5464. You can also email at jfgisela@lightlink.com.

Beginners to meditation and yoga are very welcome!

Gisela and Jeff have been leading this sort of retreat, a marriage of mindfulness meditation and yoga, for around 15 years now at various centers, including Southern Dharma in N. Carolina.

*Jeff is a hospice social worker in Ithaca, and he has practiced meditation for over 25 years, including three three-month silent retreats at IMS. He has been doing Diamond Heart work for over 17 years, and he has been leading meditation retreats for over 20 years.

*Gisela is a yoga teacher and yoga therapist in Ithaca, where she also practices as a licensed shiatsu/massage therapist. She has been teaching yoga for 25 years, and she is certified by the American Viniyoga Institute. She also completed two three-month retreats at IMS.