Around Our Neighborhood
Our need for practice, education and support is greater than ever. The St. Johnsbury Shambhala Center is pleased to share other offerings with a local connection that may be beneficial at this time.
Chaplain Alley Smith | Serving as Resident Chaplain | Karmê Chöling | starting February 2024.
A Resident Chaplain provides on-site emotional support to/for staff, residents, retreatants and guests (as-needed and on-call). They help individuals, groups, and families deal with issues of crisis, grief, death, bereavement, conflict, emotional crisis, life transitions, healthcare and other spiritual care issues.Contact Alley via email.
Shambhala Day | Saturday, Feb. 10, 2024 | 8:30 am-3 pm | Main Shrine Room at Karmê Chöling
The St. Johnsbury meditation community will welcome the Year of the Earth Dragon and participate in Losar celebrations at Karmê Chöling. Learn more and RSVP
Milarepa Day Celebration | Saturday, Feb. 24, 2024 | 9 am – 6:30 pm | Main Shrine Room at Karmê Chöling
Milarepa is considered one of Tibet’s most famous and inspiring meditation masters and spiritual poets.
We celebrate his life example and enlightenment with a full day of practice, by reading the dohoas and stories of the Kagyu lineage teachers and by chanting their songs and poetry.
LEARN MORE AND REGISTER FOR MILAREPA DAY
An Introduction to Spiritual Practices for Dying & Death | Saturday, March 9, 2024 | 9 am – 1 pm | Online
Join Chaplain Alley Smith in an online gathering to explore spiritual practices for dying and death. For some practitioners this may be unchartered territory. For others, this session will be an opportunity to voice your care plans, final wishes and personal reflections. This presentation is open to all practitioners with an emphasis on caregivers.
Qigong Levels 1-2 | April 26-28, 2024 | Main Shrine Room at Karmê Chöling
Step onto the path of health and well-being with Qigong level 1, where you’ll learn six basic forms that relax and align the body and two postures of standing qigong that gather internal energy. Continue in Qigong level 2 with training in how to guide energy through the body using the Nine Self-Massage forms, and instruction in the Twelve Devas Tendon Changing forms, which repair physical injuries and enhance musculoskeletal strength. Instructor: Heidi Meyer-Bothling
Sacred Path: Continuing the Path of the Warrior | Hybrid format
Karmê Chöling and Shambhala Online are delighted to offer The Sacred Path in a hybrid format over the coming months. Each retreat will be led by an experienced senior teacher who has lived and practiced with these teachings, and the local land center will give us a rich opportunity to practice in-person as a community.
About
The Sacred Path is a series of teachings for those who have completed Shambhala Training Levels I-V. It introduces further practices to develop warriorship and extend the student’s training in meditation. These practices are based on a societal vision and aspiration to help the world. This training cultivates one’s dignity and natural gifts in order to widen one’s sphere of compassion.
During a series of visionary experiences that took place between 1976 and 1980, Chögyam Trungpa, Rinpoche wrote down what became known as the Shambhala terma, a series of texts. The Sacred Path series of retreats is based on these texts and on the extensive commentaries Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche gave on these teachings and on how to practice them in modern times.
What to expect
- Daily talks by the Senior Teacher
- Guided meditation sessions
- Time to gather and discuss the teachings
- Opportunity to meet with a meditation instructor
- Additional free talks by senior teachers between each intensive
- Additional opportunities to gather virtually as a community between each course
If you have taken the Sacred Path courses in the past, whether last year or decades ago, why not take the time to refresh your understanding by immersing yourself in these precious teachings that are core to who we are as a community and hear some of our most senior teachers speak to these teachings and our paths as peaceful warriors and meditators.
Dates/Times/Schedule
Please save the date for these live retreats:
- Great Eastern Sun – February 17-18, 2024 with Gaylon Ferguson
- Windhorse – April 12-14, 2024 with Agness Au
- Drala – May 24 – 26, 2024 with Daniel Naistadt
