National Retreats - inspiring the sangha around the world!
National Rigpa Teams
Annual national retreats have been a long standing tradition in Rigpa and they continue to be an integral event each year for the sangha to get together, be together, and study and practice together. In late 2021 / early 2022 the retreats in Switzerland, USA, Spain and Germany and the Shyonnu Winter Retreat saw hundreds of sangha members getting together in retreats led by many of Rigpa’s newly-introduced teachers, and focusing on a unique topic especially for each national sangha.
Here are some of the highlights of the latest retreats, and you can read the full report shared by each country below.
The Swiss sangha, with their COVID passes in hand, were excited to be able to all gather in person for a change, and focus on practice—specifically meditation, compassion, devotion and Guru Yoga, and integrating and maintaining our lineage.
The US and Canadian sangha gathered completely online focusing on ‘Compassion and Community’, in a retreat led by Christine Longaker. The US team said the retreat showed clearly that we can come together as a sangha over great distances and create a truly transformative experience, even on Zoom!
The Spanish sangha, as well as the students of their public programme, both online and in-person, gathered as every year in December to share a weekend full of teachings and practices, guided by Verena Pfeiffer on the Four Noble Truths.
Living the teachings ‘for real’, Rigpa Germany’s retreat on the topic of impermanence lived up to its title when plans changed in several ways - an additional teacher, Ringu Tulku Rinpoche, was added to the retreat at the last minute, and the sangha group who had gathered in person in Dharma Mati had to all return home half way through the retreat due to a COVID case. Clearly, the participants had integrated the teachings they received on “facing impermanence with ease” very well!
In parallel to the German retreat, the Shyonnu retreat was also happening in the Dharma Mati centre in Berlin. With an impressive programme of around 6 to 7 hours of meditation practice a day, alternating sitting and walking meditation, as well as Qi Gong and time to hang out (first in-person then online).
Later in January (27-30 Jan.) the Australian retreat will take place and this year the Australian team set the schedule specifically so that the international sangha can join!
✲ Read the full stories of the latest national retreats below.
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Swiss National Retreat
‘Rediscovering the Treasures of our Practice’
As every year, the Swiss sangha from Rigpa once again gathered in October for a national event at the center of Landguet Ried, in Bern. Throughout the year the Swiss sangha connect mostly in their language groups and city locations – the French-speaking groups in Geneva and Neuchâtel and German-speaking groups in Zurich and Basel, so the annual retreat is a precious opportunity for the whole sangha to come together as one national sangha, in a retreat led by their own Rigpa teachers for the second year in a row.
The title of the weekend was "Rediscovering the Treasures of our Practice"! The focus was therefore entirely on practice.
We focused on:
meditation
compassion and bodhichitta
devotion and Guru Yoga
integration and maintaining our lineage.
Despite the COVID pass obligation and the health protection measures in force, an inspiring atmosphere conducive to the practice was quickly created. The alternation between listening to the teachings, sharing and practice allowed each participant to deepen and clarify their practice. In addition, after a long period of videoconferencing, being back together “in the flesh” was greatly appreciated!
A big thank you to the organizing team!
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US national Retreat
‘Overcoming Adversity Through Compassion and Community’
The 2021 Rigpa US national retreat was held this year as a 3-day weekend intensive on 3-5 December, led by Christine Longaker and a presentations team of our newly introduced teachers. Over 140 students from across the US and Canada attended this fully online event, which was supported brilliantly on Zoom by our event team. It was the first time since 2018 that we opened up a retreat event to the public. Several people attended who were new to Rigpa, and we were also very pleased to welcome back sangha members who we haven’t seen in some time.
Three main themes were addressed:
• connecting with and cultivating the feeling of compassion,
• discovering how each of us needs understanding and healing,
• and reflecting on how healing our own lives supports one's ability to actually accomplish the Path.
Along with Christine’s teachings and supporting teachings by four of our own Rigpa US teachers, short video pieces by Sogyal Rinpoche and Tsoknyi Rinpoche were presented.
As the teachings tell us, when you can be kind to yourself, only then can you flood the world with kindness. It is a heroic journey to heal our own hearts so that we can truly recognize our inner nature.
Christine, with her relaxed, confident and engaging manner, created a space which allowed for this personal exploration to happen in a safe and nurturing environment. She brought an encyclopedic knowledge of the work being done in the field of compassion, and revealed many sources of scientific investigation and literature that are available. Many preliminary compassion practices were shared. Sogyal Rinpoche’s videos highlighted the benefits of compassion and how to work with obstacles that can prevent compassion from developing fully in us. These included instructions on the Heart Practice and Loving Kindness practices. Tsoknyi Rinpoche’s videos described the handshake method for accepting difficult aspects of oneself, and dropping our backpack of resentments and neuroses. Both these methods can help to increase our connection with essence love. These teachings were amplified by our US teachers who led many beautiful guided practices.
We saw once again how prioritizing Loving Kindness and Forgiveness for ourselves is the crucial step in accepting those parts of ourselves that are hurt or feel shame. Many of the more seasoned students attending the retreat remarked that they had not spent much time in this domain of practice recently, and that this weekend showed them the necessity to encounter those feelings which are hard to bear and find the willingness to forgive themselves. Building on this foundation of stability makes it possible to realize inner freedom.
Doing this together as sangha brought real depth to the guided practices as well as a sense of meaningful support when we came together in discussion groups. We also offered participants a variety of discussion groups focusing on topics relevant to the times we are living in. These groups were facilitated by US teachers and were well-attended. The topics included:
deepening our understanding of the teachings through listening and speaking from the heart;
supporting ourselves and others through challenges by being present with change and loss, and being present as we care for others;
owning our past; and
a chat with the Rigpa US Board.
Our retreat showed clearly that we can come together as a sangha over great distances and create a truly transformative experience, even on Zoom! We are very appreciative to Christine who took such great care in training and working together with the US teachers so that their first foray into retreat presentation was well-coordinated. The sangha really appreciated their manifesting as holders of the lineage.
All in all, this experiment in format was highly successful, and we thank the many who managed things in the background to make this a most memorable retreat.
As one retreatant stated, “I feel like this skillful integration of the teachings on self-compassion with Christine's own experience-based insights is pulling it all together and filling a gap that has been undermining my spiritual path.”
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Spanish retreat
‘Frustration and its Cessation’
More than 120 Rigpa students participated in the 2021 Spanish national retreat in December, guided by Verena Pfeiffer on the Four Noble Truths. It was a wonderfully inspiring weekend during which students got an experiential taste of the depth of these teachings, with their simplicity and their relevance for our everyday life. Both established students and new students made the most of this opportunity to settle into retreat and reinspire themselves. It was a weekend full of teachings, contemplations and practice.
In this online retreat we used the three wisdom tools to come to a more experiential understanding of the teachings on the Four Noble Truths. Verena held the teachings and content very inspiringly, with Rigpa teachers, Miguel Oramas and Maria Garcia, supporting with the reflections and meditations. The interplay of the three wisdom tools made the retreat very lively and many students commented how they felt that the retreat was very experiential.
To further enrich the teachings, we used videos of Sogyal Rinpoche, Mingyur Rinpoche, Jetsün Khandro Rinpoche and Ringu Tulku Rinpoche.
In addition, in the mornings and in the evenings students had the option to practice together in practice sessions guided by Fran Casas and Sally Burgess. All this made for a framework of study, reflection and practice that facilitated our immersion in the wisdom of these precious teachings. What an opportunity to end the year with this flavour!!
One student, Aurora Olmedo from Valencia, commented: “I am delighted with this opportunity that you have offered us. It is fabulous how Verena is able to show us such profound teachings with a didactic approach in which she makes you easily delve into and experience them, and not only conceptually. It is as if she managed to penetrate every pore of our skin. Thank you.”
And Remedios Mesa from Tenerife said:
“First of all, thank you for organising this event which once again gives us the opportunity to immerse ourselves in the fundamental teachings in greater depth. I think this retreat has allowed me to glimpse a little bit more the reality of impermanence and how it subtly manifests in me. This is in addition to those times of impermanence which are very evident. This has helped me open up to the new changes and discomforts.”
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German Annual Winter Retreat
‘Parting and new beginning – Facing impermanence with ease
The German national retreat from December 28th to January 2nd really lived up to its title.
The team of German teachers and instructors, Karin Behrendt, Beate Dirkschnieder, Stefan Rehme and Maren Repenning, based this retreat on the first three chapters of The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying and guided around 100 participants, out of which two thirds followed the retreat online and one third started to follow on location at Dharma Mati.
The instructor team showed teachings of Sogyal Rinpoche, Ringu Tulku Rinpoche and other masters that captured the deep sense of freedom and gratefulness that comes from a thorough understanding of impermanence.
The participants were supported in really bringing that understanding home by a number of contemplation questions that ended in personal sharing circles of two to three people. Many people expressed their gratitude for these sharings, as it really opened new layers of understanding and integration for them.
The timing of the retreat at the transition from one year to the next was perfect, and we had a wonderful surprise at the beginning of the new year, when Ringu Tulku Rinpoche agreed to give an online live teaching on impermanence as a new year’s greeting and part of the retreat. Watch the teaching here!
Speaking of good timing: on the third day of the retreat, the participants and team at Dharma Mati faced an actual real life teaching of impermanence when due to a COVID case everyone was asked to go home and follow the rest of the retreat online. Clearly, the participants had already integrated the previous days of “facing impermanence with ease” very well – it went very smoothly and everyone shared a joyful flexibility that made this transition quite uncomplicated.
Overall, it was a wonderful time of connection with our Sangha friends, connecting with our own potential and contemplating the impermanence of life. Hats off to our wonderful instructors who guided us along this truly unique experience.
Robert Hutter shares his experience as a participant of this retreat:
“The contemplations, inner reflection and exchange with other retreatants in the context of Rinpoche’s precious teachings on impermanence provided a wonderful and supportive training for my path. It was the special atmosphere in retreat that allowed me to access deeper layers of my being and enabled me to uncover what was always already there.”
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Shyönnu Practice Retreat
After our 2020 Shyönnu Winter Retreat had to take place online, we were super happy that this year we could meet in person in the cozy Dharma Mati Rigpa center in Berlin.
We were eleven young people between 18 and 35 years old coming from all corners of Germany and its two neighbouring countries France and the Netherlands.
Our time together started with a delicious dinner and a hang-out day to catch up or get to know each other before the retreat started on the evening of the 28th December. The retreat itself was practice based - with around 6 to 7 hours of meditation practice a day, alternating sitting and walking meditation. We also did Qi Gong together, had moments to share about our practice and joined the parallel German Sangha retreat for their morning meditation and loving kindness practice.
Exactly half-way the retreat we had to shift our sessions online due to Covid precautions. Interestingly, this brought us more together and ironically gave the retreat a more social note because we had to actively keep up our connection. Any moment that we could still meet outside became more precious and we were grateful that we could still stay in the Dharma Mati guesthouse and eat the delicious food there ;)
Overall, this Shyönnu meditation retreat was an enriching time together - getting to know our minds better and learning to appreciate ourselves and others. Everyone left with an envelope full of little notes on which we wrote what we appreciate in each other. Thank you to the Dharma Mati team and community for hosting us and everyone who came to or rejoiced in this retreat!
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