Being With the Fragility of Life
A Five-Night Jewish Meditation Intensive Sponsored by The Awakened Heart Project
with Sylvia Boorstein, Norman Fischer, Joanna Katz and Jeff Roth
On Zoom - Pacific Daylight Time
April 12th - 17th, 2021
We are continuing to live in a unique period of history when all our routines are different - a situation which can be used for growth or, which could result in fear and confusion. We see the fragility of life and we all need practices and friends for our well-being.
A Jewish meditation practice can give you the tools you need to open up your heart/mind - bringing wisdom, and cultivating the qualities of compassion and kindness to this period we are living in, and to each moment as it is now, and with what will come. Learning to pay sustained loving attention to your own experience, and the feelings arising in the present moment is the key.
This Zoom intensive will be on Pacific Daylight Time, with some creative adjustments to make it work for people on the East Coast and in other time zones. The intensive will start at 4:00 PM (PDT) on Monday, April 12th, and end around 6:00 PM (PDT) on Saturday, April 17th. There will be two teaching periods of 45 minutes each day from Sylvia, Norman, Joanna and Jeff. There will be group practice discussions with the teachers. This is a unique opportunity to receive teaching and instruction directly to you at home, from teachers in their home settings.
If you have questions about the schedule, please email Brian Arnell at brian@awakenedheartproject.org
This retreat is designed to show experientially how a regular Jewish meditation practice can help cultivate awareness in all aspects of daily life. Being at home will provide an opportunity to integrate the practice experience with life at home, creating a model for using contemplative practice to remind us of the possibility of bringing our awareness to every moment of our lives.
We will have a full day schedule, which we found to be valuable in sustaining and deepening the practice. Participants will have the opportunity to enhance their skills in a range of meditative techniques. These include concentration techniques, contemplative prayer chants, mindfulness meditation, the path of blessing, and practices that cultivate joy.
The week will culminate in a deep celebration of Shabbat.
Registration Information
The fee for the April 12th - 17th, Five-night online Jewish Meditation Intensive is $180.00.
To register for the "Being with the Fragility of Life" retreat please click on the "Register Now" button below.
The retreat will be held online with Zoom
Faculty Biographies
Sylvia Boorstein has been teaching meditation retreat since 1985. She is a founding teacher of Spirit Rock Meditation Center and a psychotherapist, wife, mother and grandmother who is particularly interested in seeing daily life as practice. She has led numerous retreats and training programs for rabbis and Jewish educators.
Norman Fischer is a Zen priest, teacher, poet and former co-abbot of the San Francisco Zen Center. He is also the co-founder of Makor Or, a Jewish meditation center in San Francisco. He leads Jewish meditation sessions around the country. He is an author and the founder and spiritual director of the Everyday Zen Foundation, an organization dedicated to adapting Zen Buddhists teachings to Western culture.
Rabbi Jeff Roth is the founder and Director of The Awakened Heart Project for Contemplative Judaism. He was the co-founder of Elat Chayyim where he served as Executive Director and Spiritual Director for 13 years. He is the co-leader of the Jewish Mindfulness Teacher Training program and has facilitated of over 190 Jewish meditation retreats. He is the author of, Jewish Meditation Practices for Everyday Life and Me, Myself and God from Jewish lights Publishing.
Rabbi Joanna Katz attended the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and was ordained in 1988. She has worked as a Chaplain in College, Hospital, Psychiatric and Prison settings. She is a Board-Certified Chaplain and an ACPE Certified Educator. In 1992 Joanna co-founded Elat Chayyim, the Jewish Spiritual Retreat Center. She is a student of Eastern and Western contemplative practices and teaches meditation regularly. She lives with her family in the Hudson River Valley of New York.