Sharon Salzberg and Sylvia Boorstein: The Four Boundless States

Open to the public

Lovingkindness is a meditation that cultivates our natural capacity for an open and loving heart. It is traditionally offered along with meditations that enrich compassion, joy in the happiness of others, and equanimity. Together these 4 qualities are known as the boundless states, or the qualities that form our heart's best home. These practices lead to the development of concentration, fearlessness, and genuine happiness. Sylvia Boorstein and Sharon Salzberg will introduce these teachings and support us in our own experience and cultivation of these qualities through direct instruction and guided meditation using classical techniques in a modern idiom.

This retreat will be held in the context of silence. There will be opportunities for questions and answers. There will be a yoga practice session offered daily.

Registration: There are limited spaces in double rooms available. Please call 845.424.4800 to register. Note that Garrison Institute offices will be closed Wednesday, 11/21, and will reopen Monday, 9/26, 9 am EST.

Sylvia Boorstein, a psychotherapist since 1967, has been a meditation teacher since 1985 and is a co-founding teacher of Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Woodacre, CA. She is the author of many books, including It’s Easier Than You Think: The Buddhist Way to Happiness; Don’t Just Do Something, Sit There; That’s Funny, You Don’t Look Buddhist: On Being a Faithful Jew and a Passionate Buddhist; and Pay Attention, For Goodness’ Sake: The Buddhist Path of Kindness. For more information about Sylvia, please visit: www.spiritrock.org.

Sharon Salzberg has been a student of Buddhism since 1971, and has been leading meditation retreats worldwide since 1974.  She teaches both intensive awareness practice (vipassana or insight meditation) and the profound cultivation of lovingkindness and compassion (the Brahma Viharas).  She is a co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts and The Barre Center for Buddhist Studies. Sharon's latest book is the New York Times Best Seller, Real Happiness: The Power of Meditation: A 28-Day Program, published by Workman Publishing. She is also the author of The Force of Kindness, published by Sounds True; Faith: Trusting Your Own Deepest Experience, published by Riverhead Books; and Lovingkindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness, published by Shambhala Publications. For more information about Sharon, please visit: www.SharonSalzberg.com.