September 18-25, 7-Day Hybrid Retreat with Richard Witteman
While Richard will be leading this retreat via Zoom from his home in California there is still space for participants to attend the retreat, full time or part time, in person at Springwater Center.
One can experience the serene beauty of surrounding nature and quiet stillness in the company of other meditators and in so doing, as quoted from Toni Packer above, perhaps begin the unmasking of the self.
Richard has been leading retreats at Springwater since 2003. He began meditative work in 1971, and was a student of Roshi Philip Kapleau at the Rochester Zen Center for ten years. In 1982 he began working with Toni Packer, and has been part of Springwater Center since its inception.
In an article titled Resting in Presence, Richard wrote:
In not identifying with thoughts, there is freedom to rest in the open space of unfathomable presence. Seeing thought stories for what they are and letting them go, the joy of being becomes known. There really is nowhere to go and nothing to do. Simply abiding here, in the heart, within all these comings and goings, amidst this marvelous play of light and shadow that is so dear. Resting here and discovering that life still happens, even without my efforts. In presence, there is a feel for the wholeness of situations, a sense of where to go and what to do. Actions arise as needed, bills get paid, things get accomplished. There is the old Zen phrase, “All day, doing nothing, everything gets done.”
And resting in presence, there is the possibility of embracing our larger political and economic world as well, with all its sweeping changes. When our well-being feels threatened by what is happening and stories of fear arise, to be with the thoughts and emotions as they move in us, feeling all of it, without getting caught up in the stories themselves.
The retreat is open for full and part time attendance and in-person and online participation.
