SHAMATHA RETREAT: MINDFULNESS OF BREATHING

SHAMATHA RETREAT: MINDFULNESS OF BREATHING 

During this two day retreat we will learn how to cultivate and enhance our attention skills, how to strengthen our faculty of mindfulness. Within Buddhism this training is often referred to as shamatha practice – the practice of cultivating a calm, clear and focussed mind. This retreat will focus on the mindfulness of breathing practice. This technique is particularly recommended for those who have highly discursive minds and find it difficult to remain in the present moment. 

Three variations of this practice will be presented during this retreat: 

1. the full-body breath practice 

2. focussing at the abdomen 

3. focussing at the entrance of the nostrils Also included will be instructions on using the shavasana posture in meditation practice. 

Retreat schedule (Copenhagen time)

09:00 – 10:15 Session 1

10:15 – 10:45 Break

10:45 – 12:00 Session 2

12:00 – 13:00 Lunch

13:00 – 14:15 Session 3

14:15 – 14:45 Break

14:45 – 16:00 Session 4

This course can be booked alone, however we encourage you to consider the entires series with 5 courses, in order to effectively cultivate mental balance and well-being an integrated approach covering all three areas of practice.   

Over a series of five weekend retreats we will be focusing on three core areas of practice. 

Beginning with cultivating mindfulness over two weekends using the two classic approaches of mindfulness of breathing and observing the mind. 

This will be followed by a weekend focusing on cultivating the positive qualities such as loving-kindness and compassion. 

And finally over two weekends cultivating the wisdom of impermanence, suffering, no self and emptiness. 

1. Mindfulness Retreat (mindfulness of breathing) Jul 11-12

2. Mindfulness Retreat (observing the mind) Aug 1-2  

3. Compassion Retreat Aug 22-23  

4. Vipashyana Retreat (3 marks of existence) Sep 12-13  

5. Vipashyana Retreat (emptiness) Oct 3-4  

 RETREAT FEE:

 One weekend course is offered at 500 dkk  (approx. 75 USD) and the total of 5 courses at 2000 dkk (290 USD).  The Registration gives you access to the live sessions online as well as their recordings.   

ABOUT GLEN SVENSSON 

Originally from Australia, Glen attained a BSc in IT at the University of Queensland. After four years working in Brisbane, he spent the next eight years working and traveling around the world. Having ‘bumped’ into Buddhism during his travels (“I read a book about Buddhism and it seemed so logical and many things resonated extremely well with my innate beliefs”), he attended his first Dharma teaching in Dharamsala, India in 1995. He completed the two following Kopan November courses in Kathmandu, Nepal and joined the seven-year Masters Program in Advanced Buddhist Studies of Sutra and Tantra at the Lama Tzong Khapa Institute (Pomaia, Italy). He graduated from the Masters Program in 2004 and completed his studies with an eight-month retreat at Oseling Center in Spain. Since 2005 he has taught and led meditation retreats in India, Europe, North America and Australia with a teaching style emphasizing clarity and stressing the integration of philosophical view, meditation and daily life conduct.