BCIMS Residential Retreat Dec 29 2024 - Jan 3 2025 [2024dec29beth]

We are gladdened to offer this 5-night, Residential Silent Meditation Retreat for the New Year with Adrianne Ross and Rachel Lewis, December 29, 2024 - January 3, 2025.

Retreat Description

New Year's Retreat - Letting Go and Opening to Possibility
Coming on retreat at the end of the year is a beautiful opportunity to release a little of some of the difficulties and burdens we’ve been carrying these past months. As we practice mindfully sitting, walking, and resting with what is, with kindness, there’s a natural unfolding and releasing so that we can see more clearly. As we let go a little, we can find there’s more space, ease, and a sense of possibility in our lives.

There will be practice instructions at the beginning of each day and alternating sitting and walking periods. There will be practice discussion groups and time for questions and answers each day. On New Year's Eve, which falls in the middle of this retreat, there will be the option of an extended practice period with periods of chanting through to midnight.

This silent retreat is suitable for both people new to practice and those with experience and is a wonderful way to end one year and begin the next. We welcome people from all backgrounds, communities, and life experiences.

Retreat Information

PLEASE READ CAREFULLY BEFORE REGISTERING.

Registration: This retreat will go on sale Aug 29, 2024 at 10am PST. We anticipate tickets will sell quickly. We recommend you register as soon as possible once the tickets go on sale. Pease note that the deadline for for financial assistance is Aug 15 - see Financial Assistance/DEI Financial Assistance section below for details.

COVID-19: It is anticipated that small gatherings will be allowed by the BC Provincial Health Authority at this time. All health guidelines in place at the time of the retreat for small gatherings will be followed and communicated to attendees.

Vaccinations: Attendees are strongly encouraged to be fully vaccinated, including the boosters, though we will not be requiring proof during check in.

Masking: Masks are optional and encouraged in shared indoor spaces. If a yogi has or develops a cough/runny nose/cold symptoms, they will be asked to take a COVID test and mask while in shared indoor spaces.

Room Rates/Fees:

Base Rate - Private Room - $1,250
Benefactor Rate - Private Room - $1,700
Shared Room - $1,050
Commuter (includes meals) - $800

Folks who select the Benefactor Rate will receive a tax receipt for the $450 tax-deductible donation above the base rate. Both the Base Rate and Benefactor Rate tickets are for single-occupancy rooms.

If you select the Shared Room option, please indicate your room-sharing preferences in the order form (ie: wish to share with a partner or friend also registered for this retreat, gender preference, etc.)

We have a number of Commuter Spots available to folks who live locally or who are able to arrange local accommodation.

Fees do NOT include a financial offering (dana) to the teachers. There will be an opportunity to offer dana to the teachers once you are at the retreat.

Financial Assistance: We are gladdened to offer Financial Assistance for this retreat with a pay-what-you-can model. You may apply by filling out this online form, or by emailing jess@bcims.org.

DEI Financial Assistance: We also offer financial assistance from our DEI fund (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) with a pay-what-you-can model. This is intended to offer support to folks from underrepresented and systemically marginalized communities to attend residential retreats. We encourage folks who identify as BIPOC (black, Indigenous, and/or people of colour), 2SLGBTQIA+, have a visible or invisible disability, or are from other underrepresented and systemically marginalized communities, to apply by filling out this online form, or by emailing jess@bcims.org. Please specify in your email that you are interested in applying for the DEI fund.

The deadline for all financial assistance applications is August 15, 2024.

BCIMS Cancellation Policy:

Up to Nov 28 - refund offered, less a $100 cancellation fee.

Nov 29 to Dec 18, 2025 - 50% refund offered.

On and after Apr 19, 2025 - no refund guaranteed.

Please note, our BCIMS Cancellation Policy applies to all ticket holders, including those with discounted tickets.

Accessibility Needs: There will be an opportunity on the Registration Order Form to specify any special needs or accommodations, including any needs or requests on washrooms, dietary, and access needs.

We may not be able to meet everyone’s preferences but we will do our best to accommodate needs and make the retreat as safe and accessible as possible. We encourage you to please reflect on the difference between needs and preferences for your stay as you fill out the Form, as this allows us to more easefully accommodate all retreatants.

Ridesharing: The information collected during registration regarding ridesharing will be distributed by email to all interested retreatants about four weeks prior to the retreat. Each individual is then responsible for directly making any ridesharing arrangement.

Dana: Registration fees cover retreat organizing costs, accommodations, and meals only. Voluntary donations (dana) for the teachings may be offered to the teachers at the retreat. More information will be shared with registrants.

About the Teachers

Adrianne Ross, a retired family physician, has been involved in meditation and healing since 1976. She has been practising Buddhist meditation since 1984 and began teaching in 1995. She is influenced by both Thai and Burmese streams of the Theravadan tradition, as well as Tibetan (Mahamudra and Dzogchen) practice. She teaches classes, weekend and residential retreats in Canada and the US. She has been involved in teaching and mentoring students in the Dedicated Practitioner and Advanced Practitioner Programs through Spirit Rock Meditation Center in California. She co-founded BCIMS with the late Joanne Broatch over 20 years ago.

Rachel Lewis began practicing insight meditation in 2003, while completing her physics PhD at Yale. Since 2011, she has taught dharma and meditation classes and retreats in British Columbia and beyond. She completed the IMS/IRC 4-year teacher training in 2021, and is a guiding teacher of the British Columbia Insight Meditation Society. Her dharma teaching interests include the power of music, humour, and creativity to increase our capacity for learning, as well as the way that practice supports and is supported by social justice work. See her other events at http://rachelmeditates.ca/

With heartfelt gratitude, BCIMS acknowledges we are based in what is now known as Vancouver, BC, the beautiful, traditional, and unceded lands of the Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) peoples, who live on and have stewarded this land for thousands of years.