Join us for a long weekend of meditation, movement, chanting, and shared exploration - a chance to step away from familiar routines, deepen your practice, and attend to the connections that sustain us.
Through kirtan and devotional mantras, asana rooted in sensory awareness, dharma discussions, and meditation, we will explore interconnectedness through lived experience. There will be time to move, sing, sit quietly, ask questions, and spend time in nature, alongside the simple pleasures of sharing meals and practicing together. At the heart of our exploration are the Buddhist teachings on bodhichitta, compassionate awareness and intention, their fundamental resonance within the path of bhakti yoga, and interdependence. Our lives arise through countless causes, conditions, and relationships.
Through the chanting of sacred names, we naturally and easefully awaken these qualities of selflessness and compassion that exist inherently within us. Looking closely at this can shift how we understand ourselves, soften the boundaries we habitually draw, and deepen our capacity for compassion. For these teachings to become wisdom, they must move beyond intellectual understanding. Through practice, we can begin to notice how sensations, thoughts, and emotions arise and change and how our experience is shaped by everything around us. These moments of awareness can loosen familiar patterns and open us to possibilities beyond the limited stories we hold about who we are. Whether in meditation, in kirtan, in conversation, or in connection to nature, we will explore how greater awareness of our interdependence can help us meet everyday life with more presence, openness, and compassion.
Menla is a 330-acre private nature reserve. Sitting at the head of a breathtaking glacial valley, it’s one of the most beautiful parts of the Catskills. Stay in a range of deluxe accommodations or shared cabins set in fragrant woods and gardens with murmuring streams and trails nearby.Experience Menla’s unique wellness facilities. From the Dewa Spa to fully equipped yoga and movement spaces, fitness room, and hiking trails, there’s so much to do. Explore the surrounding Catskill Forest Preserve with guided hikes, river rafting, swimming, horseback riding, and more!
SPA treatments at Menla Dewa Healing Spa
Rooms and retreat to be booked through Menla's website: https://menla.org/retreat/exploring-interconnectedness-through-practice/
Shared and private and camping rooming options available.
Daily practices and all meals
*please note - all registrations will go through Menla's website