Mindfulness is paying attention to what’s happening in the present moment with kindness and curiosity. Come join us this summer for an iBme retreat in Mono, Ontario, and learn mindfulness through guided meditation, mindful movement, small group discussions and fun group activities. Practice valuable skills like self-awareness, mindful communication, staying focused, and being calm. Scientifically proven to build emotional resilience, inner strength and well-being, mindfulness practices support our capacity to connect authentically with ourselves and others. Each day will include sitting and walking meditation, periods of silence, yoga, creative workshops, and free time. Please come prepared to participate in all aspects of the retreat with curiosity and a willingness to engage with challenge.

12:30 to 5:30 (registration 12:15 if not pre-registered) Cost: $25 (students and unemployed) /$35 /$50 - sliding scale, plus donation to teacher. The retreat includes meditation instruction, sitting and moving meditation, silence, Buddhist Teachings, Q&A. Beginners and experienced welcome! At Yoga on the Park, 5582 Sherbrooke St., W., Montreal For more information and to register click on link below: Attend Event

The first mindfulness practices that the Buddha taught were being attentive to our experience in the body—coming to our senses. In this meditation retreat, yoga practice (guided by David Schouela) will be an integral part of the retreat, and will be a form of meditation in motion. There will be two or three sessions of yoga each day.

For all levels. Meditation and yoga are mutually supportive awareness practices that serve to deepen insight. You can practice yoga as meditation-in-motion, and practice insight meditation to bring the quality of compassionate self-observation to your sensory and mental experiences. Together, these techniques help you recognize the changing nature of your sensations, thoughts, mental states, and reactive patterns. When you release identification with your habits, those habits no longer drive you. In a silent retreat suitable for both beginners and those with meditation and yoga experience, cultivate embodied presence through sitting and walking meditation and three yoga sessions each day. There will be opportunities to ask questions and discuss your practice with the meditation teacher in small-group meetings and individually, by request.   Co-Teacher: David Schouela David Schouela, RYT 500, is a Kripalu Yoga teacher whose current primary focus is teaching yoga to teens and adults with complex trauma and chronic treatment-resistant PTSD. David is on the teaching faculty for the Trauma Sensitive Yoga certificate program offered through the Trauma Center at JRI in Brookline, Massachusetts. He is also a cofounder and board member of True North Insight Meditation Center in Quebec, Canada. David provides training on yoga and meditation as scientifically supported healing modalities for stress-related conditions, and as means of liberating body, mind, and heart.   Total housing costs for all program nights; meals included: Dormitory: US$261.00 Standard: US$345.00 Standard Plus: US$525.00 and up

Possibly the most challenging and important part of life into which we bring our practice of mindfulness is the arena of relationships. Our intimate relations, colleagues at work, friends and even neighbors call us to be present in the moment and respond with authenticity and heart. Yet relationships are often the very context in which reactive patterns are triggered, and we bring to these encounters the pain of old baggage.

The Buddha began his lifetime of teaching by giving attention to the reality of human suffering and the potential for liberation. The elaborate self-identities we construct are in actuality the root of suffering.