The fulfillment we are looking for is always close at hand
Give ease to your mind, your senses, your body, your being.
Let your practice become one of ‘easening,‘ allowing a feeling tone so complete, so full of balance and joy that it permeates body, mind and senses and merges them into a unified field of being.
Give ease so deep and vast that it dissolves all boundaries, passing beyond top, bottom, inside, and outside to completely fill all space vast as the sky, beyond imagination.
Joy of Being p. 134
In the Mind at Ease retreat we will deeply and intimately investigate the architecture of daily life: how unquestioned assumptions tend to establish our ‘reality’ and bring dis-ease. Through experiential practices, reflection and sharing, we will find that the fulfilment we are looking for is always close at hand. Inviting understanding and allowing ease and relaxation will open up the inner treasures that are our birthright as human beings.
Opening up the automatic patterning constricting our experience
This Mind at Ease retreat brings together key readings and practices from Tarthang Tulku’s quintessential books Revelations of Mind and The Joy of Being. It aims to open up the automatic patterning that tends to constrict our experience, making us prone to problems, anxiety and dissatisfaction. The books are available through Dharma Publishing (USA) or through Lotus Design Shop in Amsterdam .
Online through Zoom
Over four days, the retreat will be offered daily from 19.00 – 21.30 CET through Zoom. We recommend that Zoom participants create their own quiet space to follow the retreat sessions and also be prepared to do some extra practice by themselves in between webinar sessions.
Retreat staff
Elske van de Hulst is co-dean and senior instructor at Nyingma Centrum Nederland in Amsterdam.
Between 1969 and 1995, she worked in the theatre as an actress, director and author. She taught at the Amsterdamse Hogeschool voor de Kunsten and for many years was a member of the Dutch Arts Council. In 1998 she started studying the theatre of the mind, guided by Tarthang Tulku’s books, and has not stopped since.
Elske teaches Meditation, Knowledge of Freedom, Revelations of Mind, Dimensions of Mind, Caring and Lotus Trilogy teachings in Amsterdam and elsewhere.
Elske leads the nine-months Revelations of Mind program of which this retreat is a part.
Abbe Blum is a long time student of Tarthang Tulku and a seasoned teacher, presenting Kum Nye, Joy of Being, Lotus Trilogy and Nyingma Psychology at Nyingma Institute and Dharma College, both in Berkeley. She worked as one of the editors on several of Rinpoche’s latest books.
She holds a B.A. from UC Berkeley, an M.A. from Cambridge University, England, where she was a Marshall scholar, and a Ph.D. in English Literature from Yale University. As an Associate Professor at Swarthmore College, she taught Shakespeare and intensive writing seminars, and she currently teaches in the School of Psychology and Interdisciplinary Inquiry at Saybook University.
Abbe will co-teach the core zoom sessions of the retreat.
Bram Williams is a long term student of yoga, dharma and Nyingma. As an experienced Kum Nye student and teacher he’s attended many programmes and trainings in California, as well as annual Kum Nye retreats in Holland and Germany. Bram now practices and teaches in London and Oxford. Currently studying facial anatomy, Bram is also an occasional puppeteer and a qualified Lip-Reading Tutor.
Bram will especially facilitate Kum Nye and Joy of Being sessions during the retreat.
Program
Wednesday Feb 21 19.00 – 21.30 h CET – The Reality Realm of Mind
Based on chapter 1 and chapter 24 of Revelations of Mind [RoM]
While the natural brilliance of mind has no foreground or background, or any other sense of place, mind seems to need some point of reference in order to receive and interpret meaning from the flow of sensory impressions. Mind’s way of accommodating this need has led to our dualistic way of understanding, (RoM p.124)
Thursday Feb 22 19.00 – 21.30 h CET – Re-engineering the System
Based on Part III of The Joy of Being
Kum Nye relaxes the senses and gives ease to the mind, relieving emotionality and providing the openness mind needs to establish new connections and create a new way of being. It cuts through the inner dialogues and dramas of artificial existence and connects us with the living pulse of real time, the source of confidence that comes from the center of our being. It replaces the shoulds and woulds, the restrictions and obligations imposed from outside, with an inner discipline grounded in knowledge, good feelings and goodwill. (JoB p .71)
Friday Feb 23 19.00 – 21.30 h CET – Relief for the Restless Mind
Based on chapter 44 of Revelations of Mind
We can begin our journey of understanding where we are, with the mind we have and our ordinary ways of knowing. This is not a handicap, for mind is mind. Although our mind may be shadowed by the dualistic patterns of pros and cons and limited by self-oriented views, it shares the same qualities that operate on higher levels of understanding. Starting now, we can understand more and use our minds better. The benefits of doing so are great beyond imagining. (RoM p.243)
Saturday Feb 24 19.00 – 21.30 h CET – Surrendering to Calmness
Closing chapter of The Joy of Being
Since thoughts and perceptions pop up within the field of meditation and cycle around and back and forth without going anywhere outside it, you can open them up by loosening mind and body and relaxing as fully as possible. Allow a sense of ease to develop. Let go of all the inner stories and dialogues, let go of the interpretations. Let go even of the thought that you are observing; let go of any notion of the way to know or meditate. Even let go of instructions….” (JoB p.185)
The four chapters featured in this retreat will be sent to retreat participants ahead of time. Of course even better: you can also buy the books mentioned through Dharma Publishing (USA) or through Lotus Design Shop in Amsterdam .
Mind at Ease retreat
Who can attend
Those with some background in meditation, Kum Nye, TSK or comparable areas are warmly invited to attend.
Participation in the retreat is included in the Revelations of Mind nine-month program costs.
Costs
€ 165,- (free for Revelation of Mind participants)
All dark shadows of mind – all the ignorance, toxic emotionality, and confusion, all that is misunderstood – can be revealed and transformed by understanding. Whatever we most value – creativity, humanitarian benefits, a fulfilled and positive way of life, the spiritual path- understanding is there to support it.
Revelations of Mind p. 359