| June, 2009 Summer greetings from the Garrison Institute, a not-for-profit, non-sectarian organization exploring the intersection of contemplation and engaged action in the world. Below you will find short updates on our work applying contemplative wisdom to key social change fields, followed by highlights of upcoming events and retreats and some new book recommendations. For more on the Garrison Institute's mission and programs, visit our website.
You can also contribute by giving your time. Volunteers are an important and growing part of the community of supporters and colleagues growing up around the Garrison Institute, which also includes spiritual teachers, retreat leaders and participants, field professionals, scientists, activists, funders, advisers, staff and other visionaries. Volunteers do everything from editing our wikis to weeding our gardens. Whether you have tech skills, writing skills, a green thumb, a genius for organization, or just general willingness to participate, your talents and time are needed and welcome. To inquire about volunteer opportunities e-mail volunteers@garrisoninstitute.org.
CARE Cultivating Awareness and Resilience in Education (CARE) is a professional development and training program for teachers, giving them tools to cope with stress and support their pupils to overcome difficulties and flourish, socially, emotionally and academically. In 2009 the Garrison Institute together with Pennsylvania State University received a major Department of Education grant to greatly expand piloting and testing of CARE trainings. Grant implementation is beginning now – here’s a short article on the new pilot program.  NOTE TO TEACHERS
AND EDUCATORS: Our 2009 CARE summer retreat for
teachers is held at the Garrison Institute August 8-13. CEU credits for
participating in the CARE summer retreat for teachers are available.
Participants in last year’s CARE retreat enthused over the
program: “One of the most exceptional trainings I
have ever
attended–bringing contemplation into the classroom is
revolutionary.” “ I am amazed how the
exploration of
caring has changed my relationship with students.”
“
It both deepened my understanding of ‘mindfulness’
education and gave me tangible ways to use it in my work with
children.” “ It renewed my faith in teachers and
teaching.” “ Perfection! A rare
combination of warmth
and wisdom. This program is the embodiment of presence, intelligence
and practicability.” Creating Sanctuary Within Building on our CARE program, the Garrison Institute is collaborating with the Andrus Children Center to provide specialized training for K-12 teachers working with at-risk traumatized children. Andrus serves students who have been diagnosed with one or more mental illnesses and/or developmental disabilities; most have experienced significant loss and trauma. The Center employs the Sanctuary model for building nonviolent, democratic therapeutic community that can effectively address and resolve traumatic experiences. At Andrus’s request, the Garrison Institute is creating a pilot project called Creating Sanctuary Within, using mindfulness skills and other elements of CARE training to support Andrus’s implementation of the Sanctuary model and expand its work in teaching emotion management skills to students, teachers and staff. The pilot will be replicable for use not only in alternative schools, but in all K-12 school settings where behavioral problems are present – which is virtually any classroom. Professional Meetings In February 2009 the Institute held a forum on "Exploring Methodological Issues in Contemplative Education Research: A Focus on Teachers" -- part of an ongoing series of professional meetings for educators and researchers to help develop the field of contemplative education. Chaired by Penn State University’s Dr. Mark Greenberg and ICE initiative Director Dr. Patricia Jennings, it convened scientists and educators who study the effects of various interventions on teachers' well-being, attentional skills, emotion regulation, and classroom climate. They discussed assessment methodologies and worked to establish a compendium of assessments that can be used across different studies. Dissemination and Outreach We disseminate the results of ICE's work to the field through professional conferences and journals. In February 2009 Dr. Jennings and Dr. Greenberg published a detailed survey of the research literature on the social and emotional dimensions of teaching and learning, and a proposed model for the “prosocial classroom,” in the peer-reviewed Review of Educational Research. In recent months Dr. Jennings presented papers on contemplative interventions for teachers and students at meetings of the Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD), the American Psychological Association (APA), the American Education Research Association (AERA), the Society for Prevention Research (SPR) and two meetings of Penn State University’s Prevention Research Center. She gave the keynote address at the third international conference of PATHS (Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies) and moderated a panel on teaching children at the Happiness and Its Causes conference in San Francisco
Leaders' Forum June 17-20, the Garrison Institute holds the first-ever Transforming Trauma Leaders’ Forum, entitled “Integrating Contemplative Practices, Neuroscience and Cross Cultural Perspectives.” This interdisciplinary, by-invitation event gathers top trauma researchers, cognitive scientists, mental health professionals, clinicians and expert contemplative practitioners who are advancing the field of contemplative trauma care. They will share their work and examine the field from various complementary, comparative perspectives, including neurobiological research, healing communities and diverse spiritual traditions. Wellness Project The Wellness Project conducts trainings for people working in domestic violence agencies, using meditation, restorative yoga and complementary therapies to alleviate vicarious trauma, reduce burnout, strengthen resilience and help caregivers be more effective in their work with clients.  We recently
completed a three-year pilot of Wellness trainings, in
which over 400 frontline workers, supervisors and directors from 40
domestic violence agencies completed the trainings. Wellness
is now entering a replication phase. We are currently working
with domestic violence agencies, victim's assistance agencies,
children’s services and special education facilities to
establish on-site Wellness programs, enabling us to train entire
staffs. In settings where in-depth trainings aren’t an
option, we are now offering one-day Wellness workshops to shelters,
victims’ services agencies, violence prevention and other
care providers. We are also providing advice and technical assistance
to help family court services, children’s assistance services
and rape crisis centers create their own wellness programs. A Wellness
manual for use in diverse settings is forthcoming this year.
Bold Leadership on Climate Change Ongoing, by-invitation retreats at the Garrison Institute convene leaders from diverse backgrounds to create new frameworks and mental models for working together across multiple sectors on climate change issues.  One especially key sector for climate impacts is
buildings, which are
responsible for 42% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. The Institute
recently held "Real Estate Leadership in the
Age of Climate Change," a retreat
convening 30 leaders in the real estate industry, along with leaders of
community-based affordable housing organizations and emerging younger
leaders. The retreat focused on strategies and
leadership skills that will help them change their organizations and
reduce the climate impacts of their buildings. We are now planning our next major ecological symposium on neuro-economics and climate change, convening thought leaders from around the world to explore how recent discoveries in neuro- and behavioral economics and other new fields of thought can help reshape our economic assumptions and inform our approach to climate policy.
 Yongey
Mingyur Rinpoche: The Heart of Meditation, June 25-30, and Mahamudra
Level 1, June 30-July 5 Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche is one of the most celebrated among the new generation of Tibetan meditation masters, deeply versed in the practical and philosophical disciplines of the ancient tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. He is the author of the internationally acclaimed The Joy of Living, and the new Joyful Wisdom: Embracing Change and Finding Freedom (see BOOKS section below). Click here to read "We Always Have Joy," his article in the May 2009 issue of Shambhala Sun. The Heart of Meditation, June 25-30: Focus on the core meditation practices of the Buddhist tradition with an emphasis on developing loving kindness and learning to transform the issues and frustrations of everyday life into joy. Mahamudra Level 1, June 30-July 5: An exploration of the profound tradition of Mahamudra, a form of meditation practice focused on the nature and essence of mind, and the practice of Bodhicitta, the path of compassion and freedom from attachment. Click here for the retreat information guide, or to register, click here. For more information on Mingyur Rinpoche and the Yongey Foundation, visit www.mingyur.org or call 970.879.5425.  Cultivating Awareness and
Resilience in Education (CARE) Retreat for Teachers, August 8-13Sponsored by Garrison Institute's Initiative on Contemplation and Education Studies show that helping teachers cope with stress does more than reduce burnout; it helps them be healthy social and emotional role models and improves educational outcomes for students. This teacher training offers evidence-based practical skills to improve stress management and improve emotional awareness, concentration and responsiveness. These skills include relaxation, movement, deep listening, emotion-awareness training and much more. You will be able to apply these in the classroom so you can be the caring, compassionate teacher you are. The retreat offers 37 hours of training over five days. Continuing Education Units (CEUs) are available. Visit our web calendar to learn more, or to register, click here, email the Garrison Institute at retreats@garrisoninstitute.org or call 845.424.4800.  Fourth
Annual Focusing Institute
Summer School, August 21-27 Imagine yourself developing an 'emotional muscle' to deal with difficult situations. The Focusing process is the ground-breaking work of Eugene Gendlin, showing how we can live in contact with the "more" that we really are. Gendlin's process has been elaborated in exciting ways by teachers and therapists in over 30 countries, enhancing psychotherapy, personal growth, creativity, decision-making, relationships and much more. The Focusing Summer School is a rare opportunity to study with five "master teachers" of Focusing - Ann Weiser Cornell, Elena Frezza, Nada Lou, Greg Madison and Kevin McEvenue - as well as with Eugene Gendlin. The Summer School is appropriate for anyone, at all levels of Focusing, from beginners to Focusing teachers, for both personal and professional development. For more information or to register, please visit www.focusing.org/fiss.  Shaikh
Kabir and Camille Helminski with James Winston Morris: The Living
Tradition, September 24-27 Annual East Coast Retreat of the Threshold Society The Living Tradition, with special guests including James Winston Morris, one of the world's most respected voices in the field of Sufism, will appeal to anyone wishing an authentic, rigorous and friendly experience of the path of Sufism. Committed to a contemporary, progressive experience of Sufism which also values and respects the traditions and practices of classical Sufism, the Threshold Society has developed a mature and sincere community which welcomes newcomers openheartedly. Over the entrance to Mevlana Rumi's Dergah in Konya are the words, This is the Kaaba of the lovers. Those who entered here became complete. This retreat will explore the implications of these words, with traditional Sufi practices (zikr, or the invocation of remembrance, meditation, opening hearts with music and voluntary prayer), reflections on Sufi teachings, friendship and time in nature. For more information on The Threshold Society, please visit www.sufism.org. To register, please contact Rahima at rahimamcc@sbcglobal.net.  Ayang
Rinpoche: 100 Peaceful & Wrathful Deities Zhitro Empowerment
Retreat, September 28-October 4From the Treasure Cycle of Karma Lingpa - The Profound Dharma of the Natural Liberation Through Contemplating the Peaceful and Wrathful: Stage of Completion Instructions on the Six Bardos - these precious teachings are not given frequently in the West, and include the construction and dissolution of a Zhitro Sand Mandala. The empowerment and teachings illuminate the processes of death and rebirth, introduce the accompanying experiences, and prepare one for making the most of these transient opportunities encountered in the bardo (intermediate state) between death and rebirth. Among Tibetan Buddhist lamas, perhaps none are more deeply identified with teachings on the bardos than His Eminence Ayang Rinpoche. He continues the unbroken line of succession of the Drikung Phowa lamas from the Supreme Guru Dorje Chang to the present time. For more information or to register, visit www.amitabhafoundation.us/, email NY@amitabhafoundation.us or call 585.749.3626.  Tsoknyi Rinpoche: Bardo Retreat
– Understanding our opportunities for freedom within life and
death, October 16-22This retreat explores Tibetan Buddhist teachings on the bardo states, which offer powerful insights into our experience of death, and how to use it to reach enlightenment. In the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, there are six major bardo states, or intermediate states of consciousness, we enter as we make our transitions through birth, life, dreams and dying. Inherent in each are great opportunities for liberation in life and in death. For over 15 years, Tsoknyi Rinpoche III has been teaching students worldwide about the innermost nature of mind in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. The abbot of Ngesdon Osel Ling Monastery in Nepal, Tsoknyi Rinpoche is the author of Carefree Dignity and Fearless Simplicity, and has a keen interest in the dialogue between neuroscience and Buddhist practitioners. Prerequisite: this retreat is open to those who have previously attended one full six-day retreat with Tsoknyi Rinpoche. For more information on the retreat or to register, email megan@pundarika.org. Contemplative Outreach: Father Thomas Keating, Gail Fitzpatrick-Hopler and Fr. Carl Arico: Heartfulness – The Christian Contemplative Journey,  October 23-29Centering Prayer is a contemporary Christian contemplative practice derived from the Desert Fathers and other early Christian sources. It quiets the faculties and focuses on Divine presence and action within, experiencing God’s presence as the ground in which our being is rooted, strengthening the intuition of the oneness of the human family, and of all creation. Father Thomas Keating, one of the originators of Centering Prayer, will lead a weekend retreat, October 23-25, which is followed by a Centering Prayer immersion retreat with Gail Fitzpatrick-Hopler and Father Carl Arico, October 26-29. Garrison Institute spiritual adviser Father Thomas Keating is a Trappist monk, abbot and prolific author who co-founded the Centering Prayer movement. Father Carl Arico and Gail Fitzpatrick-Hopler are Centering Prayer teachers and co-founders of the Contemplative Outreach, Ltd., a worldwide network of individuals and small groups committed to living the contemplative life. To register or for more information, email maryanne@coutreach.org.  Sharon
Salzberg and Sylvia Boorstein: Karuna or Compassion Meditation,
November 19-22Karuna is the word for compassion in Pali, the language of the original Buddhist teachings. A meditation that cultivates our natural capacity for a compassionate and loving heart, Karuna practice is traditionally offered along with meditations that enrich lovingkindness, joy in the happiness of others and equanimity. These practices lead to the development of concentration, fearlessness, happiness and a greater ability to love. This retreat in social silence is for both beginning and experienced meditation practitioners and will feature silent sitting and walking meditation, presentations, question and answer periods and guided Hatha Yoga sessions. Sylvia Boorstein is a co-founding teacher of Spirit Rock Meditation Center and the author of many books, including Don’t Just Do Something, Sit There. Sharon Salzberg is a co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, MA, and is also the author of many books, including The Force of Kindness. For a registration form, click here. For more information on the retreat, email the Garrison Institute at retreats@garrisoninstitute.org or call 845.424.4800.  Gelek Rimpoche: The Unique Path to Liberation, October 9-12 Gelek Rimpoche will present the unique path to liberation through 3 Buddhist texts which emphasize the unique qualities and profound contributions of the great 14th century master, Je Tsong Khapa. On the basis of the texts and prayers of the 17th century scholar Guntag and the great 20th century master Pabongka, Rimpoche will show how the teachings of Je Tsong Khapa can truly make a difference in our lives. Notably, this year marks the 50th anniversary of Gelek Rimpoche’s and many others flight from Tibet. Rimpoche’s teachings come to us at a very rare time in Buddhist history. Amazingly, we have the unusual opportunity to learn not only from his vast training as a Tibetan Buddhist incarnate lama, but also from his very unique and personal life experience.
 June 20
at the Cathedral
of Church Saint John the Divine
in Manhattan, a Garrison Institute partner organization, will hold a
pre-dawn Sunrise
Solstice with the Paul Winter Consort. For the last 13
years on summer solstice weekend, hundreds of listeners have risen long
before dawn to hear the Paul Winter Consort welcome the sunrise within
the resounding acoustics of the world's largest cathedral. Beginning in
complete darkness, musicians surrounding the audience play continuously
for two hours as the cathedral's stained-glass windows gradually
illuminate to usher in the longest day of the year. Joining six-time
Grammy-winner soprano saxophonist Paul Winter will be Armenian vocalist
and percussionist Arto Tunçboyaciyan, as well as Eugene
Friesen on cello, Steve Gorn on bansuri flute, and Tim Brumfield on
pipe organ. At 4:30 a.m., Cathedral of Saint John the Divine, 1047
Amsterdam Ave., Morningside Heights, 866-811-4111, www.solsticeconcert.com;
$35.July 23-26 The 2009 Applied Mindfulness Conference will take place at Karme Choling Shambhala Meditation Center, Barnet, Vermont. Hosted by Tail of the Tiger, the conference is gathering mindfulness practitioners to dialogue and share the skillful means they are using to integrate these teachings into their work lives, such as educators, health care professionals, business professionals and those involved in social action. Garrison Institute Senior Fellow David Rome is one of three keynote conference speakers. He will speak on the contemplative discipline of “Focusing” in “Making Wise Decisions: Engaging the Body as a Source of Deeper Insights.” Read an interview on the subject with him here, as well as an article he wrote for The Shambhala Sun. August 24-28, Mariandale Retreat and Conference Center in Ossining, New York hosts its Hudson-Fulton-Champlain Quadricentennial event, “A Sacred Celebration: The River that Flows Both Ways and the Land along its Shores.” The organizers describe it as “A week of reawakening, reflecting and ritualizing our human relationship with the beings in this most bio-diverse river region in the U.S.,” exploring that relationship through environmental perspectives, poetry, music, meditation and Native American history and spirituality. Learn more at www.mariandale.org or e-mail lrivers@ophope.org. October 8-9 at Constitution Hall in Washington, DC, the Mind and Life Institute is sponsoring Educating World Citizens for the 21st Century: Educators, Scientists and Contemplatives Dialogue on Cultivating a Healthy Mind, Brain and Heart, a two-day dialogue on education bringing together His Holiness the Dalai Lama with leading educators, scientists and contemplatives, including many who advise and participate in Garrison Institute programs. They will explore how our educational system can evolve to meet the challenges of the 21st century, teaching people to be compassionate, competent, ethical and engaged in an increasingly complex and interconnected world. For details and registration, please visit www.EducatingWorldCitizens.org. 
Joyful Wisdom: Embracing Change and Finding Freedom (Harmony Books: 2009) by Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche with Eric Swanson. A young, accessible Tibetan Buddhist master of high lineage and bestselling author who teaches frequently at the Garrison Institute, Mingyur Rinpoche’s new book discusses the timely problem of anxiety in our lives – and his own. He experienced anxiety attacks as a child, and learned to befriend instead of resist the problem. He explains the relevance of Buddhist teachings to our modern day anxieties, helping us “look directly at the disturbing emotions and other problems we experience in our lives as stepping-stones to freedom. Instead of rejecting them or surrendering to them, we can befriend them, working through them to reach an enduring authentic experience of our inherent wisdom, confidence, clarity, and joy.” Publisher’s Weekly calls Joyful Wisdom “an unusually lucid and graceful addition to the modern canon….The exceptionally clear descriptions combined with Mingyur’s compassion and gentle wisdom make this book a valuable guide to Buddhist practice.”
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