This retreat is open to all, including those new to retreat or to Cloud Mountain.

The Divine Abodes, or Brahma Viharas, are ancient Buddhist Heart meditations and related practices that reveal and awaken our deepest nature’s heart qualities. During this retreat we will be learning and practicing the meditations, practices, and common resistances to Compassion (Karuna) and Loving-Kindness (Metta).

Compassion allows us to reveal within us an ability to extend an inclusive holding for our suffering and the suffering of others. Loving-Kindness is an expression of a boundless unified connection and love for ourselves and all beings. Loving-Kindness can then be expressed from the deep acceptance of Compassion.

Compassion provides a deep, loving support to “be with” suffering and disease. Compassion allows us to meet the ever-present unsatisfactoriness and suffering of the world. Being deeply with our human condition allows us to see causes and conditions giving rise to our suffering while releasing outdated beliefs that keep us hooked in a cycle of suffering. Turning next to Loving-Kindness allows us to receive, and share, unconditioned universal pure love for ourselves and all beings.

Compassion is a heart feeling tone of deep support for what is. It is an ability to offer support for the struggles and sorrows of life with a kind holding, knowing that all suffering is an opportunity to grow as a person while deepening our spiritual practices. Loving-Kindness is the unrestrained, unconditioned flow of love filling us as we become a fountain of unconditioned love.

This retreat will be based upon Stephen Snyder’s new book Buddha’s Heart. Participants are asked to obtain and read the relevant chapters of the book prior to the retreat.

The format of the retreat will include talks on our authentic heart’s qualities, instruction on the meditations and practices related to Compassion and Loving-Kindness, group discussion on the common resistances to these heart experiences, and one-on-one interviews with Stephen.

It is not necessary to have attended the first retreat of this 2-part series in order to participate in this one.

Attendance will be capped between  24 participants. Each participant will have a single room, and personal “safety bubbles” will be created in accordance with the current covid-19 conditions at the time to maximize individual and group health.

The following attendance prerequisites are currently in place as of this writing in order to provide the safest possible retreat environment under covid-19 conditions. In order for your registration to be accepted, we require that you:

1. Currently follow all covid-19 health and safety protocols recommended by the CDC, including mask-wearing, social distancing and hand hygiene.
2. Agree to abide by all covid-19 health and safety protocols in place at Cloud Mountain.
3. Are willing to closely coordinate your travel plans with Cloud Mountain, so we can provide you with the best options based on covid-19 travel restrictions in place.

Each participant will have a single room, and personal “safety bubbles” will be created in accordance with the current covid-19 conditions at the time to maximize individual and group health. We reserve the right to amend these prerequisites and policies according to changing covid-19 conditions. PLEASE FOLLOW THIS LINK FOR UPDATED INFORMATION ABOUT OUR COVID-19 HEALTH AND SAFETY PROTOCOLS.

Scholarship funds are available on all retreats to assist those with financial challenges. For more information, read the Scholarship section of our overview information.