While most of what’s on this site are Dharma, yoga and meditation events in and around the Greater Toronto Area, this is a very special event that begs to be shared.
Join Three Jewels Vancouver from March 15 to March 24 (a 4 day option of March 15-18th is also available) on a Shamatha retreat in Squamish, British Columbia led by popular teacher and author Douglas Veenhof.
For over 2,500 years, Buddhist meditators have considered developing single-pointed concentration as the prerequisite for progress on the path to liberating wisdom. Shamatha is that step-by-step progression of meditative techniques for training our unruly and drowsy minds to be perfectly attentive to the present moment of experience.
The enthusiastic response to his weekend intensive at Three Jewels Vancouver last fall inspired them to create a retreat with all the support, instruction, and inspiration needed to make a leap in the stability and clarity of your attentional skills.
Douglas Veenhof is a former mountain guide, an award-winning journalist, and the author of White Lama, the acclaimed biography of Yoga pioneer and Tibet explorer, Theos Bernard (Harmony Books, 2011). He has studied and practiced Buddhism for more than twenty years and graduated with honors from the seven-year program of advanced Buddhist studies at Diamond Mountain, the academy founded by Geshe Michael Roach and Lama Christie McNally. He has been interviewed on both radio and television and is currently at work on a new book examining his own spiritual experiences in light of contemporary theories of consciousness.
The retreat is intimate (maximum 25 students), and whether you are just beginning to meditate or are a long-time practitioner looking for the keys to go deeper, this is a great opportunity to learn, ask questions, and enrich your practice.
Early bird tickets are now available via Eventbrite. http://www.eventbrite.ca/event/5226757372#
And keep your eyes peeled for a visit by Lama Doug to Toronto later this spring….
Rhondda Smiley - yoga, meditation & Dharma 
This looks like exactly what I am looking to experience this summer. The timing here is inconsistent with my schedule but I am looking for something similar, perhaps in the July/August time frame. Thanks for posting these wonderful opportunities.
Janet
Hi Janet – yes, this is a wonderful opportunity. A retreat is a great way to spend our time away, to focus on something really and truly useful to take back into our daily lives – refreshed, recharged and inspired. If the timing of this one doesn’t work for you, I recommend Lama Marut’s Annual Summer Retreat in Massachusetts (this year Aug 12-18) or his annual retreat at Lake Tahoe (usually in late Aug, early Sept – dates for 2013 tba). Click here for Lama Marut’s full teaching schedule: Check back here for other exciting retreats.