Join the Awakened Heart Project as it offers a one week online intensive in contemplative Jewish mindfulness/heartfulness practice. During this time of pandemic, the Awakened Heart Project has moved almost all of its retreat programs on line, calling them intensives rather than retreats. Over the last 18 months we have seen the great value of intensive practice periods online which have replaced the usual retreat format.

The practices and teachings parallel those on retreat and help us all to live more awake and present, moment by moment in our lives. These practices help us to pay attention to what arises in the present moment without living only in reactivity driven by desire for pleasant experiences and in aversion to difficulties. The practice of awakened loving attention to the present moment opens our hearts to compassion for self and others. It also helps us to develop a deeper wisdom about the workings of heart/mind. With these insights we become more able to live lives of connection and kindness.

The three facilitators bring a depth and breadth of personal practice to the program. This year’s configuration of three facilitators will bring a diverse set of voices to help enrich the practices and the teaching.

The Intensive will begin the evening of Sunday February 20th at 7:00 PM. This follows the general in-person retreat schedule where participants engage full time in contemplative practice. Participants will have individual practice discussions with one of the instructors every two days.  We will end on Saturday night, February 26th 2022.

If you have questions about the schedule, please email Brian Arnell.

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.

Sheila H. Katz, PhD. “Yocheved,” is a co-founding teacher of Nishmat Hayyim Jewish Meditation Center Boston, and co-leads the annual Awakened Heart 3-week Jewish meditation retreat each winter.  Her practice is rooted in Jewish and Buddhist teachings that address the roots of suffering and support compassionate action. Her retreat practice draws on diverse traditions including: Elat Chayyim Advanced Meditation Program, IJS Teacher Training, Japanese Soto Zen with Norman Fischer, Vietnamese Zen with Thich Nhat Hanh at Plum Village, and Vipassana at Spirit Rock and Forest Refuge. She is Professor of Contemplative Studies and Middle East History at Berklee College of Music and author of Connecting with the Enemy: a Century of Palestinian-Israeli Joint Nonviolence.  Sheilahannahkatz.com

Brian Arnell re-connected with Judaism in the late 70’s when he joined a Jewish renewal community in Portland Oregon. In the ‘80’s he was one of the founders of P’nai Or of Portland, a renewal congregation. In 1998, he moved full-time to the Elat Chayyim retreat center in New York’s Hudson Valley and began intensive study of Jewish contemplative practice. He left the retreat center in 2006 and moved to Philadelphia. He is the Senior Teacher of  Springboard Meditation Sangha.