A Shelter in the Storm:
Post-Election Refuge
Online Mindfulness Retreat for All Ages
Friday, November 13 @ 7:30pm EST – Sunday, November 15 @ 8:00pm EST
Online via Zoom
Cultivating Calm and Resilience through Community
We will come together after the election in a time of community resilience to responsively adapt to the needs of our community and whatever is coming up in the wake of what is sure to be a historic 2020 election. What better time to immerse in a mindfulness retreat! Participants of all ages are welcome. We’ve adapted our signature style to the online environment to bring you a meaningful and transformative retreat experience. You’ll learn skills for sustaining a home practice and bringing more ease and compassion into your life and relationships. Join on your own or with others.
This unique retreat weaves iBme’s relational approach with periods of silent guided meditation, yoga, small-group discussion, workshops, and wisdom talks.
We know from experience that iBme’s relational mindfulness approach works for people of all ages. We invite everyone — teens, college students, adults, elders — including members of the same family, to come together in this retreat to practice, learn, share, and transform. In addition to whole-group sessions, we will also be dividing into small groups based on age and life stage. In this way each population will have the opportunity to reflect with their peers on the particular realities they are facing at this time.
Retreat Staff
JoAnna Hardy
JoAnna Hardy has been exploring and practicing multiple traditions since 1999. In 2005, her focus landed on Buddhism and Vipassana meditation, which is the premise for most of her current teaching. She teaches; adult and teen weeklong silent retreats, day longs and weekly classes, and works with at risk youth and non at risk youth in institutional and school settings. Helping communities and individuals that don’t typically have access to the traditional dharma settings and building multicultural community is top on her list of priorities. She has been trained in council facilitation with the Ojai Foundation and is an empowered teacher in the Ajahn Chah, Mahasi Sayadaw, Spirit Rock, IMS lineage. She is the grateful mother of CJ and Harris – her main inspirations.
Anthony Maes
Anthony “T” Maes found mindfulness during college when struggling with addiction, and it saved his life. He has practiced mindfulness meditation since 2003 including many weeklong and monthlong silent retreats. He’s been teaching teens in mindfulness retreats and weekly class formats since 2009 for various organizations including Spirit Rock and IBME. On retreat he enjoys teaching emotional intelligence, diversity and inclusion, relational mindfulness, multi-racial liberation, and acrobalance. He is a teacher and coordinator of the weekly Teen Sangha meditation group at East Bay Meditation Center. He has worked as a wilderness mentor for middle-school boys with Stepping Stones Project and Back To Earth. He is passionate about supporting college-aged young adults, and has founded a leadership program for “aged out” iBme alumni. “T” graduated from UC Berkeley in 2004, completed the yearlong Commit2Dharma program at East Bay Meditation Center in 2011, and is currently part of the Community Dharma Leaders training at Spirit Rock Meditation Center.
Khalila Archer
Khalila Archer is a mindfulness and yoga instructor with 20+ of personal practice. Introduced to yoga and meditation in her teen years, she has attended many multi-day silent meditation retreats, including two month-long retreats. Her background includes over a decade as a wilderness educator leading multi-day expeditions for a variety of educational organizations, as well as teaching interdisciplinary curriculum in formal classroom settings and beyond. She holds a B.A. in Adventure-based Environmental Education from Prescott College and over 500 hr Yoga Teacher Training hours. Khalila teaches meditation retreats for all ages through Inward Bound Mindfulness Education (iBme) in both residential settings and remote wilderness environments. Her teaching is grounded in nature awareness and connection, mindfulness meditation as a means for insight, care, and well-being, and social justice praxis that recognizes our interdependence and collective need for freedom. Khalila currently serves on the iBme Board of Directors and is part of the core faculty for the iBme Mindfulness Teacher Training.
Mark Wax
Mark Wax is deeply grateful to be working with iBme. Mark has been a sincere student of many meditative arts for the last 15 years. He has worked for Yoga International, The Himalayan Institute, and Spirit Rock Meditation Center. He recently completed his 500-hour yoga teacher certification through Spirit Rock’s Mindful Yoga and Meditation Training.
Sara Shapouri
Sara Shapouri is an Iranian-American meditation and mindfulness instructor, artist, musician and lawyer. Sara’s experience with sharing mindfulness and meditation include curriculum development and instruction at Awake Youth Project, a program offering meditation and mentoring to teenagers in Brooklyn, and teaching meditation retreats with Inward Bound Mindfulness Education. She has completed teacher training programs with the Interdependence Project in 2016 and with Inward Bound in 2018. She has also trained in conflict mediation with the New York Center for Interpersonal Development, completed the year-long caregiver training program at the New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care in 2015, and in 2019 finished the Indigenous Focusing Oriented Therapy in Complex Trauma training. Sara is currently participating in the Community Dharma Leaders Program through Spirit Rock and is also in the Dharmapala Training through Sacred Mountain Sangha. While she is currently retired from the practice of law but remains committed to social justice, particularly issues related to human rights and children’s rights.
Tanzanite Msola
Tanzanite has a long-term interest and passion in supporting young people academically, emotionally, and helping them achieve a creative outlet. Tanzanite has spent the past 6 years in Massachusetts working with young people from all different cultural and economic background, with all levels of ability and disability. Now, as a recent transplant to NYC, Tanzanite currently assists with the Awake Youth Project at the Brooklyn Zen Center. Tanzanite was introduced to meditation at a young age by attending the Insight Meditation Society’s (IMS) Family and Teen Retreats. As Tanzanite leaned into ‘adulthood’ she returned as a staff volunteer for IMS Teen Retreats and for Inward Bound Mindfulness Education (iBme) Teen Retreats. Tanzanite has found it truly rewarding and a privilege to witness the positive effects of hands-on projects, building a personal connection, and understanding that each moment is a learning experience through mindfulness. Tanzanite is excited to continue chillin and growing with the iBme family.
Feedback from our most recent online retreats:
“This experience made a challenging time much more manageable. The opportunities to connect with others in meditation, movement, conversation, emotion, social connection, mindful practice, dance, and thought were so precious. What an amazing gift.”
“Thank you, Thank you from the bottom of my heart. What you are doing could not be more important and the skill of the teaching that you offer is fantastic.”
“I feel so grateful to have a meditation practice and community right now as we “shelter in place” in California. In-person social interactions (outside of those with my partner) have been very limited so these chances to connect mean a lot. Yay for Zoom!!”
What does the retreat consist of?
During this retreat, we will be fully immersing ourselves in a contemplative space for three days. We ask that you commit to this as fully as possible, particularly to the small-group discussion periods. This online retreat will include periods of:
- guided mindfulness meditation
- instruction on integrating mindfulness into daily life
- small-group periods for discussion and social connection, and
- workshops on various topics such as mindful eating; restorative yoga; mindful communication; and how to use digital technology wisely (with a focus on the pressures of the current moment).
All participants will receive ongoing, personalized support and practice advice in small groups from highly experienced meditation teachers and mentors, just like we provide on our in-person retreats.
How can I prepare?
We encourage you to create a designated practice space for yourself (and any family members you are participating with) that will be uninterrupted during your retreat time and have as much silence as possible. You should let your family and friends know that you won’t be available — but this retreat will not require complete isolation such as on a traditional silent retreat. We also encourage you to separate as much as possible from the use of technology (other than for the purposes of the retreat!), although we will devote a small amount of time each day, as a group, to practice checking the news and our personal messages in a mindful way (for those who wish to do so).
We are excited to provide these new offerings at a time when mindfulness practice can be particularly supportive and when many of us can benefit from opportunities to connect deeply with others in a compassionate and authentic space.
Learn the fundamentals
Meditation
Using a variety of formats and teaching frameworks, we impart lessons in self-awareness, compassion, and offer techniques to calm the mind, build emotional resilience and savor joy.
Relational Mindfulness + Practice Support
Spend time each day with a small group, connecting, learning compassionate communication and deepening authentic relationships and getting personal support for your meditation practice. Small groups will be based on aged (eg. teens, young adults, adults) and facilitated by experienced staff.
Inner Stillness
Being on retreat offers a rare opportunity to experience a life without constant distractions. Together we will create a technology-limited environment that flows back and forth between silent and interactive times.
Cost and Accessibility
Cost
$250 for full tuition
$50 – $250 sliding scale for economic hardship
We are asking for a registration payment for this retreat for two reasons, the first is to create a solid container of commitment and community from participants. In this way, we can have regular small groups, structured workshops, and a sense of practice community in our virtual meditation hall. The second is so that we can financially support our teachers and mentors who are committing a large amount of time and energy to hold the container of the retreat.
We remain deeply committed to equity and accessibility and with this in mind have established a sliding scale for tuition. If your family earns $100,000 or more per year, then we request that you pay the full price of $250 for the weekend. If your family earns less than $100,000/year, you may self-select an amount to pay based on your particular circumstances. We ask that you be as generous as you are able. If you cannot afford the discounted fee, please email registrar@ibme.com and we will find a way to make it work for you.
15+
Application Deadline
November 12th, midnight EST
Cost
$250 for full tuition • $50 – $250 sliding scale for economic hardship
Duration
3 days, 2 nights