Allemansreträtten

Vi har bestämt oss för att hålla antalet deltagare till runt 12 personer, då meditationstältet vi har inte rymmer fler. Vi hoppas kunna veta på onsdagen vilka vi blir, då alla som anmält sitt intresse borde ha bekräftat sina platser tills dess. Om du är intresserad av att delta är det en god idé att fylla i anmälningsformuläret så hör vi av oss till dig om/när du har en plats, eller behöver bli reserv. Det finns också en möjlighet att delta i skogen utan en plats i tältet för gruppmeditationerna, men vi ser isåfall helst att du är en del i de dagliga sysslorna i lägret för de andra meditatörerna, är med och servar.

Här kommer lite mer information på svenska!

Fredagen den 28e augusti:

Förberedelsedag och uppsamling ute i skogen. Vi ordnar bilskjuts för de som behöver, annars är det cirka 45 minuter cykling från Gnesta station. Kom gärna så tidigt som möjligt. Då kan vi förmodligen börja med ett föredrag och meditationspass redan på kvällen när allt är klart, samt en gemensam måltid!

Lördagen den 29e augusti:

Första dagen med meditationsprogram. Den ädla tystnaden börjar. Guidad meditation kl 10.

Söndagen den 30e augusti:

Andra dagen med meditationsprogram.

Måndagen den 31e augusti:

Tredje och sista dagen med meditationsprogrammet.

Tisdagen den 1e september:

04.30 Väckning 05.00 – 06.30…….. Meditation 06.30 Tystnaden bryts. 06.30 – 08.00…….. Frukost! 08.00 – 09.00…….. GRUPPSITTNING 09.00 – 10.00......... Cirkel för de som vill dela med hela gruppen. Du kan också vara med utan att prata. 10.00 – 12.00......... Vi gör vårt bästa för att återställa skogen till hur den var innan vi kom. Paus för mat/fika. Vi ordnar bilskjutsar till järnvägsstationen.

Meditationsprogrammet (29-31e augusti):

04.30 Väcknings-gong 05.00 – 06.30…….. Meditation 06.30 – 08.00…….. Frukost 08.00 – 09.00…….. GRUPPSITTNING 09.00 – 09.45…….. Tid för rörelse/yoga 10.00 – 11.00…….. Meditation 11.00 – 12.00…….. Lunch 12.00 – 13.00…….. Vila 13.00 – 14.00…….. Meditation 14.00 – 15.00…….. GRUPPSITTNING 15.00 – 16.00…….. Gåmeditation 16.00 – 17.00…….. Meditation 17.00 – 18.00…….. Fika/tilltugg 18.00 – 19.00…….. Meditation 19.00 – 20.00…….. GRUPPSITTNING 20.00 – 21.00…….. Föredrag 21.00 Sovdags

Notera: De sittningar med stora bokstäver är de som vi delar tillsammans varje dag.

Solen kommer gå upp ungefär 05.30 och gå ner kl 20.00.

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Vi kommer att ha ett möte den 22 augusti, för de som vill delta mer i förberedelserna. En sluten Facebook-grupp kommer också använda lite under inför-arbetet, gå med i den om ni vill!

Included in the lecture series at the retreat

In the evening time a recorded talk will be played by an experienced meditation teacher. Three well renowned english speakers have been selected, namely Joseph Goldstein, Pema Chödrön and Alan Watts. 

Joseph Goldstein (born 1944) is one of the first American vipassana teachers, co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society (IMS) with Jack Kornfield and Sharon Salzberg, contemporary author of numerous popular books on Buddhism, resident guiding teacher at IMS, and leader of retreats worldwide on insight (vipassana) and lovingkindness (metta) meditation.

While the majority of Goldstein's publications introduce Westerners to primarily Theravada concepts, practices and values, his 2002 work, "One Dharma", explored the creation of an integrated framework for the Theravada, Tibetan and Zen traditions.

Pema Chödrön (born Deirdre Blomfield-Brown on July 14, 1936) is a notable American figure in Tibetan Buddhism. A disciple of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, she is an ordained nun, author, and acharya, senior teacher in the Shambhala Buddhist lineage Trungpa founded.

A prolific author, she has conducted workshops, seminars, and meditation retreats in Europe, Australia, and throughout North America. She is resident teacher and founding director of Gampo Abbey, a monastery on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada, established in 1984.

Alan Wilson Watts (6 January 1915 – 16 November 1973) was a British-born philosopher, writer, and speaker, best known as an interpreter and populariser of Eastern philosophy for a Western audience. Born in Chislehurst, England, he moved to the United States in 1938 and began Zen training in New York. Pursuing a career, he attended Seabury-Western Theological Seminary, where he received a master's degree in theology. Watts became an Episcopal priest in 1945, then left the ministry in 1950 and moved to California, where he joined the faculty of the American Academy of Asian Studies.

Watts gained a large following in the San Francisco Bay Area while working as a volunteer programmer at KPFA, a Pacifica Radio station in Berkeley. Watts wrote more than 25 books and articles on subjects important to Eastern and Western religion, introducing the then-burgeoning youth culture to The Way of Zen (1957), one of the first bestselling books on Buddhism. In Psychotherapy East and West (1961), Watts proposed that Buddhism could be thought of as a form of psychotherapy and not a religion. He considered " Nature , Man, and Woman" (1958) to be ," from a literary point of view- the best book I have ever written." He also explored human consciousness, in the essay "The New Alchemy" (1958), and in the book The Joyous Cosmology (1962).

Here are some more detailed information about the retreat. If you like to know something else, don’t hesitate to e-mail! [email protected] is the address.

The lake

The meditation camp will be put up close to one big lake outside of Gnesta in the southern part of Stocholm. The lake's water will be used for bathing, cooking and drinking during our stay. The site and the lake has been used for gatherings before, and none has been reported ill because of the water during these stays. There are also ways to to take extra precautions if you are worried, like not drinking when eating/digesting the food. You will get more information about this when you arrive in the forest!

There will be a certain bathing area at the lake, and to make sure everyone gets the privacy they want during the meditation a special system will be arranged. To have a particular bathing area has also the purpose of keeping the water fresh where we take the drinking and cooking water.

The silence Allemansreträtten aims to being a silent retreat. In total it's only three days of intense meditation, and to make sure we get the maximum benefit out of our stay in the forest talking is therefore avoided as much as possible, so called noble silence. The silence starts on saturday morning and continues until the silence is broken tuesday morning, which means there will be time for talking before and after! To make sure everyone feels comfortable in keeping the noble silence, a contact person will be assigned. This person you can address with different kinds of questions or complications during your stay.

The meditation There are no teachers during this retreat, only meditators. Therefore it’s good to have some kind of idea what you want to practice when you come. A recording with a guided meditation will be played for those of you who feel the need of some input. But to make it clear: this is no course in learning meditation. Instead, it's a good opportunity to continue on our own meditation paths. We will get a lot of space and silence, and the rest is up to ourselves, what we put into it!

The meditation spots The meditation will take place on many different places in the forest. The most important of these spots is the one we all share together, which right now is a tent with a maximum of 12 meditators. The tent can also be heated up! The only meditation we all need to participate in each day are the three group sittings at this place; one in the morning, one in the afternoon and one in the evening. The lecture series will take place here after the last group sitting. You will probably also want to use your tent for meditation, or another more secluded spot in the forest which you've found to your liking. It’s a good to bring your own mosquito net!

The camp The meditation camp will consist of a few different areas in the forest. First, a primitive kitchen with open fire down at the lakeside. The food, which will be bought in advance from personal donations, will mainly exist of rice and different vegetarian stews. If you have any particular food you would like to bring, you can do that if you want. A small washing and eating area will be closely linked to the kitchen. Second, there will be a special toilet area. If you're familiar with gatherings, yes a shit pit will be dug! The shit pit is a long line dug in the ground, in which you cover your poo every time you use it. Special markings will make sure you find this place easy any time of the day. Last, we have the camping area. If we hear any need for a communal sleeping area we will put up a tarp to sleep under. Otherwise, the tents will be scattered around in the forest. There is quite a few places to choose between.

The daily routine The actual retreat will be during three days, with one arriving day to gather and put up the camp and one closing day to put down the camp and share some words together again. These three silent days will have an intense timetable, starting from sunrise and ending in time for sunset. There will be a gong signalling new events during the day, so you don't need to know the time. You will have a lot of freedom over your day, but please remember why we've come this far and make sure you come to the three group sittings. These three sittings are usually the most powerful meditations, since everyone has gathered and try to sit the whole hour. If you want to come and have the nature experience but don't want to do so much meditation, we suggest you to be a part of the organizers/servers instead, helping out with setting up the camp, cooking, chopping wood etc. You will get more information about how to go there etc later on when you sign up.

You are most welcome!

Nature is incredible.

Have you ever wondered how it would feel to have a meditation experience together in a forest? We also! That’s how Allemansreträtten (Everyone’s retreat) came about.

Now we invite other more or less experienced meditators to join us in creating this forest retreat in Sweden, between 28th august and 1st september 2015. Come with your tent and sleeping bag and share some days of daylight in meditation under the trees, with a daily routine inspired by Goenka’s vipassana-retreats.

Allemansreträtten will be held in a secluded forest outside of Mölnbo/Gnesta in the south of Stockholm. Some walking meditation will complement the sitting meditation. The retreat will practice noble silence, which will make sure we get the maximum benefit of our stay. A series of interesting talks by meditation teachers will try to satisfy the need of some wise and soothing words each day.

Simple vegetarian food will be served two times a day, made in a primitive kitchen on the site. Allemansreträtten is based entirely on personal donations, which means the whole retreat will be free of charge. The main cost will be the food, and If you want to donate you are more than welcome to do so afterwards.

A few nice and wise words about the noble silence, something we would like to practice during the retreat. There will also be time for talking, before and after the silence!

Listening takes place not just through the ears, but with all the senses. Sometimes the best way to prepare ourselves to hear in a new and better way is to be still and silent. When we quiet our motor minds — and our motor mouths — we find that we are better able to open our hearts. The ancient practice of Noble Silence helps us begin the process of hearing in a new way; this is a timeless and wise practice that helps us be more sensitive and perceptive.

from Spiritualityandpractice.com

Healing. Silence is essential for deep transformation. It allows the practice of conscious breathing to become deep and effective. Like still water that reflects things as they are, the calming silence helps us to see things more clearly, and therefore, to be in deeper contact with ourselves and those around us. In common areas, if we do find it necessary to speak, we do it discreetly to help preserve the silent atmosphere.

Any practice needs to be done with intelligence. Our practice of silence need not be oppressive. Although we do not speak, we can still acknowledge the presence of others with a smile or a bow.

from Mindfulnesspracticecommunity.org

In Hindu philosophy, Mauna (Silence), which has a voice of its own, refers to peace of mind, inner quietude, Samadhi and the Absolute Reality. The Hindu texts insist upon proper understanding of silence by experiencing it through control of speech and practice.

Here is the first version of the daily routine (timetable) at the retreat.

04.30 Wake up-bell 05.00 – 06.30........ Meditation 06.30 – 08.00........ Breakfast 08.00 – 09.00........ GROUP MEDITATION 09.00 – 09.45........ Free time 10.00 – 11.00........ Meditation 11.00 – 12.00........ Lunch 12.00 – 13.00........ Rest 13.00 – 14.00........ Meditation 14.00 – 15.00........ GROUP MEDITATION 15.00 – 16.00........ Walking meditation 16.00 – 17.00........ Meditation 17.00 – 18.00........ Small snack 18.00 – 19.00........ Meditation 19.00 – 20.00........ GROUP MEDITATION 20.00 – 21.00........ Lecture series (Talk by experienced meditation teacher) 21.00 Sleeping time

The sun will go up 05.30 and go down around 20.00.