BRC Newsflash - July 2023

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The Buddhist Retreat Centre
Ixopo, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa		For people of all religions
BRC Newsflash: July 2023 Dear Retreatants,
Sue Cooper will be offering her 2 or 5 day Open The Heart And Still The Mind retreat: "Mist Rising, Dew Falling - Embracing Impermanence With Courage, Compassion And Joy" from 24-29 November. This is a fee-based retreat. Book early to avoid disappointment. The beautiful documentary "Bodhi Is Light" by film maker Richard Pakleppa has just been released. We include the trailer as a taster - view the trailer - and hope that you will support the film. If you would like to view the whole film, please apply for the link at: and consider making a donation of R200 or more in order to preserve the ongoing work of the Centre. We enclose banking details. Please reference with your Name/ Film.

Sunlight in the meditation hall		Image: Thalente Khomo
Saying Yes To Life Over Wesak during the full moon of May - as the Buddha did two and a half thousand years ago - we reflected on the possibility of breaking through those veils of ignorance and unknowing and radically waking up to the immensity of our existence so that we can infuse this wonderment of our existence into our ordinary lives. In my 88th year, as I look back on my life, I feel somehow privileged to have occasionally glimpsed fractions of that wonderment which became my motivation to keep trying. Wesak has always been a powerful and appropriate occasion available to all of us to nudge our minds to incline more towards enlightenment. But any retreat experience is an invitation to come into the freshness and wonderment of the present moment.

Cloud bands		Image: Nelson Alvares
Our June and July retreats are worth exploring as they all offer affirmation of life’s immense opportunities and a fresh perspective on how one can bring depth and meaning to our daily existence as we try to navigate the struggles and joys of life. We spend our lives trapped in a cycle of stress and anxiety and it is often our personal struggles that bring us to a retreat setting, so taking time out to deliberately connect to our inner resources will help us navigate life’s challenges a little easier. With Metta, Louis

Reclining buddha		Image: Thalente Khomo
Now And Zen: Reboot, Recharge And Retreat There is no better place than the BRC to rejuvenate the body and mind with nature, meditation and movement to guide you into presence and stillness.

A hike to Nalanda rocks	Image: Nelson Alvares
There are still a few spaces left on the following June retreats: indicates retreats held in Noble Silence Cultivating Mind-Heart Resonance Through Emotional Intelligence And Mindfulness Shanil Haricharan \| 3 days \| 15-18 June The past few years have highlighted the volatile and uncertain world we live in. To understand this world and resolve its problems, we must understand ourselves and our relationships. Over this weekend, you are invited on a journey of really getting to know yourself starting with confronting your conditioning which has created who you are today. In this journey we will probe the state of our mind, heart, body and spirit towards finding balance and harmony. Read more Come As You Are: Secular Buddhism, Existential Philosophy And Psychotherapy. Can Buddhism effectively treat the struggles we face in life? Jason Ross \| 5 days \| 23-28 June This retreat will explore the potential meeting place between Secular Buddhist practices, Existential Philosophy and Psychotherapy. We will explore methods such as Vipassana and Korean Zen meditation as a means of better understanding the nature of our own minds and the relationships we have formed with the struggles we are facing. The retreat will include yoga, meditation, philosophical reflection, therapeutic discussion and short periods of essential noble silence. Read more Saying Yes To Life -Taking Refuge In The Three Jewels Richard Chippindal \| Weekend \| 30 June- 2 July To become a Buddhist is to take refuge in the Three Jewels – the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha. In taking refuge in the Buddha, the depth of our awareness grows, enabling us to really savour the deeper dimensions available in every experience. Life then feels more “alive” making it possible for us to transform anger into compassion. In this retreat we will have the opportunity to gently explore the rocky terrain of life, and realise that the Jewels are none other than the enlightened Buddha nature that is already inside us. The retreat will be held in an atmosphere of silence and introspection. Read more

Little Buddha at the Family Retreat		Image:Julia Shuttleworth
Conducted Retreats July 2023 Rejuvenating The BRC: A Family Retreat With Children In Mind Anisha Maharaj \| 3 days \| 4-7 July Children's rate is 50% of cost Parents and children are invited to join a three-day retreat in the rolling hills of the BRC. Anisha will instill an appreciation of simple pleasures, joy and gratitude. The days will be filled with drumming, making art, mandalas and wind-chimes, nature walks, ubuntu story-telling and toasting marshmallows under the stars. Children of school-going age (8 years and up) must be accompanied by an adult. Read more Traditional Hatha And Raja Yoga Duncan Rice and Sharleen Lupke \| Weekend \| 7-9 July Join Duncan for a weekend of reflection, rejuvenation, relaxation and restoration. The retreat is based on the ancient practices of hatha and raja yoga and is open to all levels of ability, including beginners, who wish to understand the fundamentals of yoga and develop, or deepen, their own practice. In the tranquil environment of the Buddhist Retreat Centre, we will discover how shatkarmas (cleansing techniques), asanas (postures), pranayama (control of the breath), mudra (gestures to manipulate and stimulate the energies in the body), bandhas (energy locks with the body) bring us into equilibrium. These traditional practices will help us to develop awareness of body, mind and breath. As the body gently opens like a lotus flower, and we start to release our past impressions, so the mind becomes relaxed preparing us for meditation. We will follow traditional guided meditation techniques in the meditation hall and in the labyrinth to quieten the mind, calm anxieties, recover balance in life and enhance creativity, insight and self-reflection. Sharleen Lupke will be offering sunrise qigong. Read more Active Hope - Practices For Difficult Times Tsunma Tsondru \| Weekend \| 14-16 July Hope does not sit on the threadbare couch clutching a lotto ticket, passively waiting for good luck. Hope wields an axe, actively breaking down the door in a crisis. We can’t escape that Earth is in crisis. It’s also ever-more evident that we feel this crisis within ourselves as personal crisis. There is creeping hopelessness, fatalism, anxiety, denial, and numbness - a disengagement from the natural world which sustains us. The inner crisis even has a name now: eco-anxiety. To hear the daily news is to hear the myriad ways in which humanity is sensing and expressing the eco-anxiety. How to respond to these crises? Can we better understand the eco-anxiety of these times? How should we live in these times? Within a framing of Active Hope, the weekend will be spent in group and solo practices from The Work That Reconnects, moving through the spiral of gratefulness, grief, and transformation that will unlock your unexpected resilience and creative power. Hope is waking up to the beauty of life, on whose behalf we can act. As Joanna Macy always says: I am so grateful to be alive at this time of great upheaval, because we are made precisely for these times! Mostly we will practise in silence. As much as possible we will practise outdoors, in contact with nature. The retreat will be held in an atmosphere of silence and introspection. Read more Beginner's Mind, Quiet Mind: Meditation Instruction And Practice For Meaningful Daily Living Tsunma Tsondru \| 5 days \| 16-21 July It is important for us to take time out from the incessant demands and fast pace of daily life. The BRC gives us a space to step off the wheel and the time to come home to the quiet, strong refuge which lies at our centre. Cultivating the natural state of peace and ease that lies there reveals our true nature - which enables us to not only help ourselves, but to help the world of which we are part. Then daily living becomes meaningful. This mid-week retreat will bring out our Beginner’s Mind through the practice of meditation. The time will be silent, quiet, and slow. There will be meditation instruction and guidance, formal sitting, and time for walking, writing, or staring into the distance. The retreat is suitable for those with or without meditation experience and will be held in an atmosphere of introspection. Read more Moving Meditation: Power Back Your Chi With Tai Chi Brett Vallis \| Weekend \| 21-23 July Tai chi is a practice embracing the mind, body and spirit. Originating in ancient China, it is one of the most effective exercises for the health and well-being of our body and mind. The essential principles include integrating the mind with the body; the control of movement and breath; generating internal energy, mindfulness, song (loosening) and jing (serenity). The ultimate purpose of tai chi is to cultivate the chi or life energy within us to flow smoothly and powerfully throughout the body like water flowing in a river - beneath the tranquil surface there is a current with immense power - the power for healing and wellness. This retreat is for beginners and seasoned practitioners alike - for many, it starts somewhere and continues as a lifetime journey.Therapist, Nolwazi Bandezi, will be offering massage, aromatherapy, and other healing treatments on appointment over this weekend. Read more Finding And Keeping Your Centre: Taking Care Of Ourselves In Order To Be Of Service To Others Tessa Pretorius \| Weekend \| 28-30 July Why is it so difficult for us to be kind or gentle or good to ourselves? Perhaps it is because we have grown up within the paradigm that ‘good people put the needs of others first’. In other words, we believe that we need to sacrifice ourselves in order to show we care. Or, it could just be that finding time for self-care just means one more thing on the already unobtainable to-do-list. But what if caring for ourselves wasn’t that difficult? What if, by a few simple adjustments or re-tuning of your emotions, thoughts or attitude patterns, we could find that calm place on the merry-go-round where we were at our best and could deal with and handle what life throws at us with style. The Buddha’s teachings emphasise the importance of taking care of ourselves in order to be of service to others. The wisdom of this teaching tells us that when we are kind and good to ourselves, we are automatically much more so to others. Read more A Personal Self Retreat: Walk Into Stillness People often yearn for an opportunity to recalibrate their lives and to spend some time in quiet reflection among like-minded people. The BRC provides such a refuge - where silence is a precious commodity. Treat yourself to a personal retreat. Resident staff members Venessa Muller and Nelson Alvares will be in situ to offer guided meditation. Read more

Candelabra aloes		Image: Lisa de Venter
About the BRC Perched on a ridge at the head of a valley in the Umkomaas river system in KwaZulu-Natal, the Buddhist Retreat Centre looks out on a vista of indigenous valleys, forests and rolling hills receding like waves in the blue distance. Here, for forty two years, people of all religions and none have come to experience peace and tranquillity. It is a gentle, sympathetic space where one can be still and get in touch with oneself and reflect on the things that crowd one's life. The BRC was voted by CNN as one of the ten best meditation centres in the world. CNN Travel awarded another feather in the BRC’s cap by voting it as one of the ten best spiritual centres in South Africa, recently. The BRC was awarded Natural Heritage status in 1995 under the auspices of the Department of Environmental Affairs and received a certificate to that effect signed by President Nelson Mandela for turning an eroded farm into the natural paradise it has become - thousands of indigenous trees were planted by retreatants under the supervision of Mervyn Croft - with 160 species of birds, including the Blue Swallow, otter, deer, antbear and indigenous forests. The Centre was also given the special status of “Custodian of the Blue Swallow” for its work in preserving the breeding areas of this endangered bird. Recently, Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife granted the BRC “Private Nature Reserve” for the conservation of the rare Blue Swallow and Mistbelt Grassland. The BRC facilitated the founding of Woza Moya, the community-based NGO, located in Ufafa Valley, twenty-two years ago, on the estate. Their vision is for all people in the community to be healthy and.productive, to live in a safe and clean environment, with good access to services and social justice. The Centre continues to support the organisation by showcasing their crafts in the shop and sponsoring their trainers and consultants. We have been very touched by your appreciative letters, emails and friendship towards the BRC - your spiritual home from home. We are deeply grateful for your generous gifts to the Centre in the form of PUY and Monthly contributions, new beds and bases, office chairs and a desk, a new refrigerator, microwave oven, bathroom towels, indigenous trees and seedlings, books for our library, a generator, garden benches, pillows, towels and linen, geyser insulation blankets, clothing and Dana for our staff, an inverter and beautiful antique scrolls and Imari platters and ceramics, framed prints and Thankas, new tablecloths and serviettes - and so much more. Thank you to all of you who continue to support our work in Ixopo with monthly and Paid Up Yogi contributions and donations, with gifts, or with skills and time. And, of course, to everyone who comes to the Centre - you keep us open and viable - and to our teachers who keep the Dharma wheels turning. We are deeply grateful for your generosity towards us; it encourages us to continue Louis’ beautiful vision and legacy for the future. Please continue to support the BRC by becoming a friend of the Buddhist Retreat Centre (a registered non-profit organisation) and find out more about the BRC's Paid-Up-Yogi and Sangha Friends’ projects. Chrisi Visit our website for further information, directions, image gallery etc.
www.brcixopo.co.za \| 087 809 1687 \| 082 579 3037 \| 031 2095995 Share: \| Follow us:
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