Why struggle to open the door between us when the entire wall is an illusion.

RUMI
 

DIALOGUE AND INQUIRY is the communal, heart-throbbingly beautiful conversation that is the hallmark of MBSR and, by extension, all authentic meditation and mindfulness-based programs. Oriented toward the love of truth and emerging as a fluid, multifaceted conversation, it is by its very nature: self-revealing, deeply human, and ennobling.  This 5-day retreat is an extensive, in-depth immersion in this intimate conversation that comes out of silence, expresses itself in speech, and wordlessly enters the heart. 

As a community, we’ll devote one-half of each day to silent practice, with particular emphasis on deep listening and the cultivation of the heart. The other half-day we’ll give ourselves over to the spoken practice of dialogue and inquiry. We’ll practice in small and large circles exchanging roles as teachers and participants. We’ll listen... We’ll pause... We’ll wonder aloud about the nature of a question and its intention, about roads taken and not taken in our interchanges. We’ll reflect on the questions we ask... We’ll experiment with rephrasing as of way of getting closer to what we really want to ask and how we want to respond... We’ll explore questions and their relationship to the elements: questions aimed at developing solidity, fluidity, brightness, creativity, and vastness. We’ll attune to the music of dialogue: the tempo, rhythm, and pitch of the exchanges as a means of creating safety, simpatico, and intimacy beyond the false wall of self and other. 

Together, we’ll explore new ways of engaging in a conversation that carries us beyond the pursuit of any predetermined aim into a living, breathing reality transpiring within and between us. The invitation is to practice diligently and to speak honestly about what we find difficult, delightful (and everything in between) in our dialogue and teaching.  The intention is to support one another as friends, students, and evolving teachers. The essential aspiration is to serve others by becoming more embodied, heartfelt, and relationally-wise human beings. 

Who Should Participate

• MBSR, MBCT, or other MBP, Teachers or Trainees
• Psychotherapists utilizing mindfulness with their patients/clients
• Professionals with experience integrating mindfulness into large social institutions such as medicine, psychology, social work, business, law, and government.

Course Criteria

• Highly motivated to be a learner
• Consistent, daily mindfulness practice
• Willingness to respect the dignity of the “other” when receiving and offering feedback.
   

Saki Santorelli is an educator, meditation teacher, writer and pioneer in the integration of meditation and Mindfulness into medicine, public health and broader society. In 2017 he retired as Professor of Medicine, executive director of the Stress Reduction Clinic (1996-2017) and Director of the Center for Mindfulness (CFM) at Massachusetts Medical School (2000-2017). In 2001, he founded Oasis Institute, CFM's professional training center, where he established a comprehensive MBSR instructor training pathway and which has trained over 19,000 professionals in 80 countries.

His 40-year career in medicine has been oriented around the integration of Mindfulness into public health, fueled by an abiding trust in the innate brilliance and nobility of human beings. He has explored the nature of the healing relationship by working with thousands of patients and participating in the training of several generations of medical students, health professionals, educators, mindfulness practitioners and researchers, specifically on the MBSR program.

For nearly five decades, Saki has been a student of the universal Sufi lineage of Hazrat Inayat Khan. Widening his contemplative education, his teacher, Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan, suggested in 1980 that he also become a student of the Buddhist insight meditationtradition.

He teaches, writes, presents workshops, seminars, and leads retreats internationally and is the author of "Heal Thy Self: Lessons on Mindfulness in Medicine" now translated into fourteen languages.

Details for registration coming soon