Sunnataram Forest Monastery : June 2015 meditation retreat

June 2015 meditation retreat

 

5 – 8 June 2015 (click here for more photos)

 

 

Dear Everyone,

Phra Mana, LuongPo Sawat, and all volunteers rejoice with your wonderful and diligent participation in the June retreat.

Thank you for your efforts and your help to make the monastery such a beautiful place.

We would love to hear your feedbackJ

We hope you will remember the mechanism to find inner peace here and now.

Please nurture your good practice of mindfulness in:

Step 1 mindfulness in body scan technique

Step 2 mindful breathing. Consider to use loving kindness meditation to bring the mind back to the present moment.

Then proceed to Step 3.Observe and see.

Please don’t forget to acknowledge the end, impermanent, no ownership, drop of attachment, freedom.

Another friendly reminder, relaxed feeling is just a bus stop, and the Buddha is in that nice cake J

With metta,

 

 

 

Hi Kim,

 

I had a very enjoyable time over the weekend and I'd like to thank you and the other volunteers for all your work to make the retreat possible. I found the experience to be very valuable because it made me realise that since becoming open to spirituality roughly 8 or so months ago, I have been spending all my time playing with various ideas and concepts and making stories about how they apply to my life, and almost no time at all on the single most important thing-  working to clear my mind and come into the present moment. I found Phra Mana's teachings to be direct and to the point and they were delivered with such a humble and joyful energy. I am resolved to continue the work at home :)

 

All and all I feel very grounded and I hope to come and stay again soon.

 

With utmost respect and appreciation,

 

Emma.

Kim - what an experience. Thank you and the monastery for the opportunity of a lifetime. It has definitely exercised my mind in a way I have never had before.

At the end of silence when i got to chat to the other students, but didn’t get to share info. Would you be able to send me Eric's email address? We chatted about our experience and it would be great to get in touch (thanks in advance).

I have already told so many about the experience and am sure I will be back again soon.

Kindest regards (sathu!)
Jenni

Dear Kim, Phra Mana and LuongPo Sawat,

 

Thank you so much for having me on your retreat this weekend. I have been wishing to do a retreat for a very long time, as it’s been 10 years since I last went on the Vipassanna Retreat in the Blue Mountains. Since then I’ve been reading a lot about different traditions, including Shambala via Ethan Nichtern and Pema Chodron, and Zen via Thich Nhat Hanh. I’ve been trying to embed practice in my daily life with mixed success. The problem is that when you have no teacher, it is easier to get discouraged or doubtful.

 

Being taught by Phra Mana, I felt privileged to be in the presence of a great teacher and a great practitioner, just like the ones I have been reading. The retreat was more than I’d hoped for. I come out of it feeling very peaceful, but more importantly I feel greatly encouraged to continue working on meditation with strong determination and studying the tradition as much as I can. I was very happy when my wife suggested going on another retreat. Phra Mana’s advice worked very well. 

 

I was terribly depressed when I read all the emails about work when I got home, asking for report comments and programs etc. I’m very happy to say, however, that the grey clouds only lasted about 9 minutes. Then they went away. I look forward to continuing meditation exercises with my class tomorrow.

 

I very much look forward to returning soon, and thank you also to the volunteers who made our stay so comfortable and enjoyable.

 

Best wishes,

 

 

 

Thank you all, Phra Mana, Kim and all the volunteers, for having us in the monastery on this beautiful long weekend. Really appreciate your love and hard work to make us HOME there. Phra Mana's teaching is certainly a treasure to the journey of my life. For this, i can never thank you enough!

 

Btw, the monastery is even more beautiful than ever with the new garden near the pond. What a wonderful idea of the River of Effort! 

With love,

 

 

 

Hi Kim,

 

Thanks again for organising the retreat and I enjoyed the program very much.

 

Could you please send me the internet banking details for me to make the donations?

 

Thanks again,

 

 

I really appreciated all efforts which all volunteers have done.  Without all of your hard work, the retreat would not succeed.  Deep gratitude and respect to Phra Mana. Great meditation about loving kindness. I had a wonderful time in Bundanoon.  The view, the teachings, the walking meditations and the food. All were great.

 

Thank you and much appreciated.

 

 

Dear Kim,

 

Heartfelt thanks to Phra Mana, Luong Po Sawat, to you Kim and the Thai volunteers who work very hard to provide teaching, kindness, care and food to each retreat participant. It is an overwhelming example of unconditional love. Every retreat and each and every participant provides the opportunity to observe a little deeper and for that I am very grateful. As discovered during this retreat sometimes words are not enough to convey what we would like to express so with that in mind thanks to everyone for a nice retreat!

 

Love Maeve