The daylong retreat will weave together periods of silent meditation and walking meditation, as well as group discussion and musical Dharma to explore the profound relationship between joy and sorrow in our lives.

We have drawn inspiration for this retreat from Kahlil Gibran’s poem On Joy and Sorrow (https://poets.org/poem/joy-and-sorrow) in which he writes “The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.” We’ll create space to acknowledge both personal and collective emotions. We’ll also explore how mindful awareness can help us respond with wisdom rather than reactivity, especially in today’s challenging social and political landscape.

To register please go to: https://events.humanitix.com/riding-the-waves-of-joy-and-sorrow.

Please bring a lunch, a beverage, and appropriate clothing for outdoor walking meditation. Hot tea and water are provided. Chairs and cushions are available, but you are welcome to bring your own.

Bios:

Fresh “Lev” White is a love and compassion activist. He offers mindfulness, mediation, and diversity training as tools for shifting towards more authentic, conscious, and passionate living. As a certified coach, and professional trainer, Lev has offered over 400 diversity trainings in the San Francisco Bay Area and Beyond. He earned his coaching and leadership certifications through the Co-Active Training Institute. Lev is also mindfully grounded at the East Bay Meditation Center, and a graduate of Spirit Rock’s Community Dharma Leadership and DPP programs. Lev offers secular mindfulness, and non-secular meditation in addition to Spiritual Counseling, mentoring, and talks on Self-Compassion in corporate, spiritual, or other private settings. Lev credits their ability to reach diverse audiences to his years growing up in multi-ethnic communities in New York.

Forrest Hill has been practicing Insight Meditation since 2004, starting at the East Bay Meditation Center in Oakland CA. He is the founding member of Napa Valley Insight Meditation (NVIM) and has served as a facilitator at NVIM since its inception in 2011. Forrest is a graduate of the two-year Community Dharma Leaders Program, a Buddhist teacher training program sponsored by Spirit Rock Meditation Center. He is also a singer-songwriter and over the past ten years has released 6 albums inspired by the dharma and his meditation practice. He has a PhD from MIT in Biological Oceanography and currently works as a socially responsible financial advisor.