Cultivating Dignity: People of Color Meditation Retreat
With Gaylon Ferguson, Arawana Hayashi and Shastri Charlene Leung
January 5 - 10, 2018
“Whether or not we can understand one another linguistically, culturally, and emotionally, if we all have an immovable conviction in our worthiness to occupy the human heart, then naturally we will feel connected. We can use our interconnectedness to cultivate human dignity — the bedrock of all diversity.” – Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, The Shambhala Principle
Join us in cultivating human dignity, the necessary ground for healing personal and social oppressions. As people of color, it’s difficult to avoid the socially constructed, racial hierarchy that disconnects us from ourselves and others. Through practices of feeling, being and touching basic goodness, we can re-discover our shared humanity. The intimate, winter setting at Sky Lake Lodge offers a transformational quality. Our mornings will focus on meditation practice and our afternoons will also include contemplation, movement, Social Presencing Theater and experiential exercises. https://arawanahayashi.com/social-presencing-theater/
Open to self-identified people of color with all levels of meditation experience, from any tradition.
To help make this program financially accessible, partial and some full financial assistance is available. Please click HERE to request assistance. Early submission deadline is October 15, notifications will be made by October 22. Subsequent application deadline is November 15, notifications will be made by November 22.
* Partly funded by a generous donation from The People of Color Scholarship Fund.
About the Leaders
Gaylon Ferguson
Gaylon Ferguson, PhD, is a senior teacher in the Shambhala and Buddhist traditions who has been leading meditation retreats since 1976. He was a member of Naropa University’s core faculty and is the author of Natural Wakefulness: Discovering the Wisdom We Were Born With. Additionally, his article, “Making Friends with Ourselves,” was selected for inclusion in […]
Learn more about Gaylon FergusonShastri Charlene Leung
Shastri Charlene Leung has been Chairperson of the Shambhala International Diversity Working Group since 2009. She was appointed by Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche as Shastri for Berkeley/SF Bay Area, CA in 2010. She first became a student of the Vidyadhara Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche in 1983. As well as directing Shambhala Training Levels over the years, she […]
Learn more about Shastri Charlene Leung