Events at Sanctuary
Many inspiring and effective teachings are available right now in a way that has never before happened. They all point to the same thing: Most human suffering is caused not by events but by our own confused mind. It is within our capacity to end suffering and to transform ourselves into beings who experience joy, peace and loving presence in every moment.This is the great truth of our age, of all ages. We are honored to have received this message and to be making it available to people in our gentle green part of the world.
Peter's woodpile sculpture, 2006
(Please scroll down for all events, as they may not be in chronological order!)
Weekend Silent Retreat
with Norman Scrimshaw of White Mountain Sangha
August 15-17, 2008
A note from Caitlin:
Peter and I have recently 'discovered' yet another awakened human who lives in New England, and are thrilled to be bringing him to Sanctuary. Norman is grounded, gentle, kind and wise. He speaks to us from a place of deep knowing and kindness. He describes his experience as a 'gradual awakeneing' after being a student of Adyashanti for seven years, with many other teachers before Adya. We went up to Concord, NH, for a sangha with Norman in the summer of 2007 and came away greatly enriched. He has come down three times since then for very enriching satsangs. Please visit the website of the White Mountain Sangha for more information about Norman and his teachings, www.whitemountainsangha.org
Sliding Scale : $100-150, includes two lunches and one dinner. Starts Friday night with pot luck. Ends after celebratory lunch on Sunday. Sign up now!
Note: we had a very successful retreat with Norman here in August of 2007. This is the first weekend retreat here at Sanctuary. We are hoping to find local folks with extra room to sleep out of town retreaters.
“Enlightenment is knowing oneself
as the awakened presence of a heart
without boundaries
open to infinity.”
New and Ongoing at Sanctuary, beginning May 2008:
Tong Ren Healing Class
Tong Ren is a unique form of community supported healing, based on accessing the Chi energy within the collective unconscious. Once accessed, each individual body is able to activate its own remarkable self-healing capacities.
There is no fee. Donations are gratefully accepted.
Every Thursday EXCEPT the third Thursday of each month (see below for third Thursday excitement!)
6:30 to 7:30 PM
Practitioner: Peter Adair 802-387-5779
For information about Tong Ren Healing please visit:
SATSANG WITH JAN FRAZIER
Third Thursdays
7-8:30pm
Satsang is a sanscrit word meaning 'being in the presence of truth.' Jan generally prepares a talk for us, then there is time for discussion and Q&A, and a few minutes of silent meditation.
Suggested donation: $10, no reservation required
Please carpool if possible.
More information about Jan Frazier below and at www.whenfearfallsaway.com
“I have this impulse to climb up onto a rooftop and shout to the echoing hills, to all who will hear: It's simple. Just do it. You have such power, such freedom. You little know how constantly and how deliberately you turn away from the very thing you most fundamentally want. It is so obvious to me now, that my present experience of the world is the deeper reality that was there right along, readily available, if only I knew. That the million ways I suffered were daily chosen by me, and that I might just as well have chosen otherwise.”
An exerpt from Jan's website:
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Jan's next workshop at Sanctuary will be in October of 2008.
Self- Enquiry
based on The Work of Byron Katie
The Work is a method of self-inquiry which consists of four questions for investigating stressfulbeliefs and a turnaround as a way to experience opposites which might be true or truer.
It is a proven path to freedom from afflictive emotions of all kinds, including anxiety, depression, and anger.
Caitlin Adair has studied The Work for six years, teaches classes in it and has facilitated The Work in many individuals. She has used it in her own life to dissolve anxiety, low self-esteem, fear of death and debilitating disease, and to create healthier relationships with friends and family.
For more information, call Caitlin Adair at Sanctuary
802-387-5779
www.sanctuaryvermont.com
info@sanctuaryvermont.com
Tibetan Buddhist teachings
(generally) the First Saturday of the month
NO TEACHING IN JULY, 2008
we are going to see the Dalai Lama at Bethlehem, PA!
with Geshe Ngawang Singey
Summer Schedule: Saturdays, 10 to 12
followed by pot luck picnic in the garden
Geshe Ngawang Singey was born in Tibet in 1965 and escaped to India in 1982. He was ordained as a Buddhist monk at the age of 16 by His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama. After 20 years of study he attained the Geshe Degree (the highest degree obtainable in Buddhism). For many years he was a much loved teacher at Sera Je Monastery in India. He moved to Vermont in 2003. Geshe-la is a teacher of great clarity and his warm and loving presence is apparent to all who meet him. He is the spiritual director of Thosum Gephelling Institute in Williamsville, VT. www.TGIVT.com
Admission by donation. (Suggested donation: $10-20). No one will be turned away for lack of funds. Pot luck lunch. To register, email info@sanctuaryvermont.com, or call 802-387-5779.
Past Events at Sanctuary:
Waking Up to
Who You (Really) Are
A workshop with Jan Frazier
Saturday, June 14, 2008 10-4pm
Virtually overnight, at the age of 50, Jan Frazier experienced a radical transformation of consciousness that resulted in a life completely free of fear. Her book, When Fear Falls Away: The Story of a Sudden Awakening, is testimony to the spiritual truth that beneath all dissatisfaction and torment lies a pool of well-being that is not subject to harm.
Jan’s message is simple and profound: this state of constant peace and causeless joy is our birthright needing only to be stirred to life. This meeting is an exploration into a life free of suffering.
The workshop will be facilitated by Peter and Caitlin Adair of Sanctuary in Westminster West, VT. Space is limited.
Fee: $60-40. Some scholarships available. Please bring a bag lunch.
There will be time allowed for meditation, inquiry, personal integration, and immersion in the lovely gardens at Sanctuary. Pre-registration and payment are requested for this event.
Contact: Peter and Caitlin Adair, (802) 387-5779, info@sanctuaryvermont.com
More information about Sanctuary at www.sanctuaryvermont.com.
More information about Jan Frazier at www.whenfearfallsaway.com.
Alice Gardner 
Talk and Book Signing at Sanctuary, April 6th, 2008 2pm. Reception to follow.
Former Guilford resident Alice Gardner is returning to the area to introduce her new book, Life Beyond Belief, Everyday Living as Spiritual Practice. Alice will be giving a talk on Sunday, April 6th at 2pm at Sanctuary, 40 Gregg Road, Westminster West, the home of Caitlin and Peter Adair. A Vermonter for close to twenty years, Alice raised two children, had a dried flower business and then earned her master’s degree at S.I.T. where she then worked with graduate students. In 2003 Alice left for California to pursue a deep interest in the spiritual life. Her book is about what she has found.
Life Beyond Belief, Everyday Living as Spiritual Practice, by Alice Gardner brings an earthbound common-sense to the challenges of fully living the teachings of whatever our religion or spiritual path might be while in the midst of daily life. This is a core issue in today’s world, where we see religious belief causing of so much of the violence in our world, and yet our spiritual and religious yearnings are for peace, love and forgiveness. This book shows how addressing this issue in ourselves is actually addressing the most critical issues of the twenty-first century.
Whether you are a member of one of the great religious traditions or go your own way spiritually, the challenges to living the teachings that inspire us are the same. Through the inspired writing of this first-time author, this book crosses the boundaries between all the various faith communities and unites us in the poignant experience of applying our spiritual realizations in the midst of everyday life, no matter what may be occurring, no matter whose side of any conflict we might be on.
Following in the footsteps of Eckhart Tolle’s book The Power of Now, this book is one woman’s account of life beyond the veil of “spiritual awakening”. It gives an honest, personal, sincere, and accessible account of her experience of awakening, and of the process of learning to live again from the new vantage point that awakening provides. The book offers important guidance and inspiration for people who are on the way to realizing their spiritual nature while living active productive lives and confronting twenty-first century issues. It is a journey of penetrating significance for all those who seek to heal the divide between the inspiring teachings that support us and the everyday experiences in our families and workplaces that so often can seem to undermine our good intentions.
Gardner shows us through using her own life challenges as examples, just how we can use our everyday life experiences, no matter what they are, as the high road to spiritual awakening.
ALICE GARDNER lives very much in the mainstream of modern life. She holds a Master of Management degree from Cambridge College, Massachusetts, and has worked as an academic administrator at educational institutions in Brattleboro, Vermont and Palo Alto, California. She also mentors an international group of people online and by telephone.
After the Christianity she grew up with, Alice’s journey continued as a young adult when she lived seven years at the Findhorn Foundation in Scotland. Since then she has been particularly influenced by the teachings of Eckhart Tolle, Adyashanti and Richard Moss.
Since 2003, Alice has maintained a website at www.wideawakeliving.com where she posts poetry, photography and writings, and provides a free monthly newsletter of support and inspiration for the process of spiritual awakening.
For directions to Sanctuary or more information, call 802-387-5779, or visit www.sanctuaryvermont.com.
DEEP CALLS TO DEEP:
THE SOUL OF THE WHALE
A Contemplative Retreat
9:00 – 4:00pm, Saturday, October 20, 2007
Ocean Alliance
with John Crockett
For many people, their first encounter with a whale is life-changing. What is it about whales that speaks to us so deeply, and what is it in us that responds? During this day-longretreat, explore the world of the great whales through audio and video recordings and through the experience of Naturalist, John Crockett.
We will take time for silent meditation (no experience necessary!), and time to listen to whale song, to view video footage of whales at home in their own environment, and to learn about these magnificent creatures who have lived in balance with their ocean world for tens of millions of years.
John L. Crockett is an educator and musician who has worked with theWhale Conservation Institute/Ocean Alliance, The Blue Ocean Society for Marine Conservation, Massachusetts Audubon, and Newburyport Whale Watch. He has been practicing and writing about meditation for more than 25 years.
"Working with Destructive Emotions to End Suffering"
Destructive emotions may be thought of as autoimmune diseases of the mind. Tibetan Buddhists call them ‘obscuring emotions’ because they cloud the healthy, luminous quality of the natural mind. The intensity of these emotions arises as if in response to a survival threat, but is actually an addiction to a thought pattern. Through the use of ‘antidotes’ it is possible to train the mind out of suffering.
Peter and Caitlin Adair have been studying the true nature of the mind and body for nearly three decades. Recently they have been set alight by the Tibetan Buddhist teachings of the Dalai Lama and Geshe Ngawang Singey. This workshop will present a synthesis of Tibetan Buddhist teachings, neuroscience, the Work of Byron Katie, and Marshall Rosenberg's Nonviolent Communication.
General Information:
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Please enquire for availability of Personal Retreat or Bed & Breakfast. We would love to have you as our guest(s)!
A note about Carpooling:
We have parking for only about 12 cars on our property and are taking care not to ruffle the neighbors by parking lots of cars along Gregg Road. Please make every effort to carpool to our events. The Putney Coop is a great place to meet for carpooling; it takes about 12 minutes to get here from there. When school is not in session, it is okay to park in the Westminster West Elementary School driveway, which is on Westminster Road a little ways north of Gregg Road. Thanks!
Sanctuary is at 40 Gregg Road, Westminster West, Vermont, 05346. To enquire or to register for any of the above events, or to join our email list, contact info@sanctuaryvermont.com or call 802-387-5779. Please enquire about overnight accommodation or special diets.
Private sessions available with Caitlin Adair, Spiritual Midwife.