Preparation for solitude.

Retreats are often very intense experiences.  They are immersive in nature.  A retreat should offer no alternative to escape into mundane distraction and idleness. 

Solo retreats can be even more intense.  You don't have the support of other practitioners around you.  You don't have that companionship and the ability to simply share a cup of tea.  Those seeking to go on a retreat into solitude should prepare themselves.

Self-reliant.

Is your practice strong enough that you can be self-sufficient without the guidance and support of your teacher or fellow students?

Know how to work with resistance and uncertainty.

How will you work with doubt and uncertainty on your own?  How will you overcome emotional uprising and commotion?

Be healthy.

A retreat is not a time to work with illness or disease.  Enter the retreat in a healthy state of body and mind. 

Free yourself from mundane activities.

You are entering retreat with a strong intention.  You are committed to the practice and have isolated this brief moment in time.  Don't waste it checking your email, social networks, calling and texting your friends.  Pay your bills before the retreat, stock up on food and necessities and identify those moments when your mind is grasping for something to entertain it.

Be decisive about the view.

Understanding the view, all practices fall into place.  Doubts naturally free themselves and problems arise as opportunities to let go.  Resolve all doubt and uncertainty regarding the view with your teacher, when you are confident in the view you are ready for retreat.  

Preoccupied.

We are rational, reasonable people.  We make choices and chart a course based on the best information available.  We use critical thinking, we weigh the pros and cons, and we make a decision knowing that we are the ones responsible for our path.

We know this, but what really motivates our decisions?

Often we have goals for the future.  We have bigger plans for ourselves and try to make sure that we can enjoy our future.  We think that the underlying motivation for our decisions is based on our future goals, but what if it was actually from our present fear?

What if our decisions are influenced by a fear lurking in the shadows of our mind that we haven't even acknowledged?

What if all of our goals and plans are based on this unspoken fear?  

We live our lives charting a course, thinking that we are making our way to happiness, but what if every choice and every action is really just another maneuver to escape our fear?   If we never turn and face it, will we ever truly be free?

What does it mean to be self-reliant if our minds are always preoccupied by fear?

The tool shed.

What's the sense in having a tool shed these days?

We live in a time when you can easily find someone with the necessary skills to fix your problem for you.  It doesn't really matter what the problem is, there is a product or service out there for you.  With all of these resources available to you at the tip of your fingers, what is the sense in having a tool shed?

Well, you might be a problem solver.  A self-reliant tinkerer.  You might be a mad scientist looking to do something that has never been done before, not like this.

You might be someone who isn't just looking for the right answer, you want to know how to solve the question.  Your not simply looking for the quick fix, figuring out the root of the dilemma is more important than the fix itself.

If you are this kind of practitioner, your view liberates you.  Your view is liberating because problems become malleable and you can sit with conflict and strife.  You are willing to explore the unknown and fearless in the face of resistance.   You know you already have the tools necessary to solve the problem, it is just a matter of working it out.  And you can do that.

Contrast this with the person who has no tools and every problem is an emergency.  Panic sets in at the slightest discomfort and the resolution to problems is always reliant on finding someone else for the fix.  We could call this other-reliant.

Be a source of refuge for yourself.

If you want to gain the freedom and confidence of being able to solve your own problems, you need to have a tool shed.  Meditation is that tool shed.  It is your mind lab.

You might learn to be a problem solver.  You also might discover something worth sharing. 

The Code.

1. You have the guts.
2. Your going to do the work.
3. Your going to work hard.
4. Your going to make the time.
5. Your self-directed and self-reliant.
6. You ask questions.  Lots of questions.
7. You dig deeper. 
8. You show up.  For yourself and others.
9. You love being generous.
10. You are authentic.

11. And this isn't all about you.

What do you Do for a Living?

I am a pharmacist.  I count pills, verify prescriptions, talk to doctors, counsel patients on their medications and answer a lot of questions.  That is my job.  It is rather repetitive.  I am a replaceable cog in the healthcare industrial machine. 

You might be a teacher, engineer or programmer.  You might be a project manager, carpenter, scientist, paralegal, author, lawyer, or designer.  You might even be homeless.  You most definitely are a friend, a neighbor and maybe even a parent.

That is your form.

What if you were to train in the formless?

What if you trained in being open and receptive, trained to listen to the needs of others?  What if you trained in patience and generosity?  Love and kindness?  What if you intentionally cultivated focus and insight?  

Can you imagine in the course of doing your job that you could also do your art- which is to use reality, people and interactions as your canvas to share generosity, love and kindness.  To give gifts that don't have a limit.  To benefit others. 

Your job- which was repetitive and unfulfilling- could take on an infinite and endless potential.  It is a strange notion, but you could fulfill your aims and the aims of others simultaneously. 

That is work worth sharing.  And it pays dividends. 

This One's For You

Normally you are told what to do for your homework.

Now we are asking you to do YOUR homework.
     Self-directed.
     Self-reliant.
     Motivated.
     Independent.
     On your own time.

And don't worry about failing.
Fail.  Fail often.
Then we will make sure you pass the class.