MEDITATIVE REPARENTING SILENT 5-DAY RETREAT - In-Person and Online Hybrid

[NOTE: An RSVP to this Meetup event is not sufficient for registration. To register and pay for the event, please follow this link.]

ABOUT: Reparenting is a powerful process for healing stored emotional and psychic tangles that keep us stuck and suffering in our lives.
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As we go through life, especially in childhood but also into adulthood, we encounter messages and challenging events that do not get resolved. These unresolved issues stick in our subconscious experience like thorns. Until they are resolved, these psychic thorns affect our mood and our capacity to navigate life challenges. New situations that remind us of the old ones that are unresolved are taken to be threatening, and we find ourselves getting unskillfully reactive.
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If we are to resolve some of these psychic thorns or tangles, we need to replay the old situations that brought them about – but in a new way, a way that resolves the situation. Our younger self needed someone to help us through the challenges. We needed a parent that could attune to our needs, understand the situation, and help us to navigate the difficulty. No external parent can do this all of the time. The one who is most capable of helping your younger self through challenges is the adult self you are now. You have lived through the experience of your younger self. You know intimately what your younger self was (and is) experiencing. And you have wisdom from life that can help you to discern what your younger self most needs to help them move through the challenges and come out the other side with a sense of well-being.
In the process of reparenting, we learn to use meditative imagery and body sensations to bring our wisest adult selves to our stored younger versions of ourselves. We learn to form a relationship with these younger versions. We learn to care for them, and they learn to trust us. Once a relationship is established, we learn how to guide our younger versions of ourselves through some of the challenging situations they encountered in a way that releases the psychic thorns or tangles. Each thorn that is removed brings a sense of relief or ease that has a direct through line to your current self.
This retreat will consist of talks about stages of reparenting and caveats for how to most safely work with the process, guided meditations, periods of unguided sitting and walking meditation, and group meetings with teachers.

SAMPLE TALK AND MEDITATION: Healing Conditions - The Practice of Reparenting

TEACHER: Stan Eisenstein has been guiding self-inquiry and other meditation practices since 2012. He is a teacher for the Insight Meditation Community of Washington, with founder Tara Brach. Stan is a an instructor for various courses: Mindfulness-Basted Stress Reduction; Inviting Chronic Pain and Illness to Tea; Self-Inquiry. He is also a mentor for the international Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program, taught by Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield, and run by Sounds True. You can explore Stan's bio and recordings of Stan's teachings at his website: staneisenstein.com

LOCATION: Wellspring Retreat Center in Germantown, MD or Online via Zoom Video Conferencing.

RETREAT FEES:
Single room (limited availability): $750.00
Shared room: $600.00
Camping: $500.00
Online: $300.00
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Please note that retreat fees only cover direct expenses for this event, such as room, meals, and administrative costs. In keeping with the Buddhist tradition, the teachers and retreat managers receive no payment. Donations offered by students at the end of the retreat are appreciated and support the teachers and retreat managers in continuing to make the teachings available to all.

REGISTRATION

QUESTIONS AND SCHOLARSHIP REQUESTS: Contact Stan at [email protected]

TESTIMONIALS

I have no words at this moment to describe what I learned or how I benefited from attending this retreat other than to say I will carry the truths Stan so skillfully taught, the people I met, and the deep knowing found during our meditation periods with me for the rest of my life. I am profoundly changed, and grateful. ~Melanie

This was a much needed respite from the craziness of the world around us. Stan is a wonderful guide, teaching with love and kindness how to be loving and kind to ourselves during difficult times. His practices gave me a sense of calm and clearing out, and being in community with others (even over Zoom) felt so supportive. Many thanks ~Julie