Dear Dharma friends,

The next residential retreat of our Florida Community of Mindfulness will be in April. The retreat is entitled, “Opening to Spaciousness: Calming the Body/Mind.” Fran Reilly, a long-term member of our community, will be assisting me in the presentations and meditations at this retreat. Fran has been involved with yoga, breath work and qi gong for over twenty years. The Dharma talks and guided meditations will focus on the teachings and practices that facilitate entering into a deeper stillness and awareness of mind through the body. By creating a sense of spacious awareness through active relaxation, we will be bringing our bodies into a state of balance. In this state, we are better able to help the mind free itself of rigid beliefs about oneself or others. As Fran said to me when we discussed this retreat, “I'm finding when I can get let go of tension in my body, my mind is able to relax, and I can get out of my own way and more easily return to my natural state of well being.”

During this retreat, we will be balancing periods of sitting and walking meditation with periods of mindful movements and deep relaxation throughout the day. Fran and I will do our best to present these teachings and practices with clarity and concreteness so that they can easily become a daily practice for us to embrace. As usual, it will be a silent retreat. The silence affords us the opportunity to deepen our meditative experience while absorbing the experiential meaning of the teachings and practices presented during the retreat.

The retreat is being held in Tampa, Florida at The Franciscan Center. The registration fee covers both room and board (three vegetarian meals daily), as well as any administrative and incidental expenses connected to the retreat. My teachings are offered in the Buddhist tradition of Dana, wherein the teacher freely gives of himself to his students out of gratitude for what he’s received from his teachers and a desire to be of service. The student’s response is also based on Dana, i.e. generosity that naturally flows from a sense of appreciation of the value of Dharma and gratitude to the living lineage.

The dates of the retreat are April 11th-13th, 2008. It begins with dinner on Friday and ends at dinner (5 pm) on Sunday. The Franciscan Center has single and double occupancy accommodations. The Franciscan Center has enough rooms to accommodate everyone who chooses single occupancy. The registration fee for single occupancy is $210 for FCM members and $260 for non-members. The cost per person for double-occupancy is $190 for FCM members and $240 for non-members, If you have someone you wish to room with, please indicate their name, otherwise (if you choose double occupancy) you will be placed in a room with another participant.

While membership in the Florida Community of Mindfulness is not a formal prerequisite for the retreat, please be aware that registration priority will be given to FCM members. The number of registrants is being limited due to spatial constraints of the meditation hall. If you are not already a member of our community for the year 2008 and are interested in deepening your participation with us, please visit our website at www.floridamindfulness.org for information about membership (or to learn more about us).

To register for this retreat, please email our registrar, John Daugirda, john@daugirda.com, and then send your check made out to the Florida Community of Mindfulness (FCM) to P.O. Box 3774, St. Petersburg, FL 33701. Directions to the Center and other retreat information will be sent to all registrants prior to the retreat.

In the Dharma, Fred