- This event has passed.
Imagine a Doorway: Meditation, Creativity, and the Body with John Tarrant, Roshi
January 31, 2015 @ 8:00 am - February 1, 2015 @ 4:00 pm
$180.00“The storehouse of treasures opens by itself; you can take them and use them any way you wish.” —Zen koan
Inside every life is a hidden doorway. When you think you’re in a corner, you’ve just forgotten to be curious; you’ve told yourself you know what comes next. Creativity comes from making space, from not knowing, from playing. What if…
…you don’t know what comes next?
…you can do things that seem impossible?
…you are making the path as you walk it?
…you can have what you love?
Join John for a weekend Zen meditation retreat that is incredibly relevant to our culture. Expect exploration, fluidity, and discovery. Sessions will include teaching, sitting meditation, exercises in embodiment, walking meditation, poetry, conversation, and writing. No particular background in spiritual practice is required.
Introduction to Koans
Saturday, 9:00am-12:00pm
Zen koans [koh-ahn] open a wisdom anyone can use. John presents these phrases not as puzzles but as gates that open what you already know.
Fearless Embodiment
Saturday, 2:00-5:00pm
When we remove barriers to understand, things just naturally shine. Take steps in the dark where you didn’t know there was a path.
Poetry & the Creative Impulse
Sunday, 9:00am-12:00pm
Poetry and meditation have an old connection and open the heart.
Enlightenment is Intimacy: Practices to Live By
Sunday, 2:00-5:00pm
Meditation is loving life and your body, as well as the feelings and discoveries of each moment. Attention brings intimacy and joy.
$180 for the full weekend.
About John
John Tarrant, Roshi is the author of Bring me the Rhinoceros & Other Zen Koans that will Save Your Life and The Light Inside the Dark: Zen, Soul & The Spiritual Life and the online Zenosaurus course in koans. He developed new ways to teach people with no experience of meditation, koans, or Zen. He has a PhD in psychology and helped design and develop the curriculum in Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona at Tucson, and at Duke University. He directs Pacific Zen Institute, pacificzen.org.
