Looking for a 5-7 day meditation retreat close to an airport
September 10, 2013 12:04 PM Subscribe
Help me find the ideal 5-7 day teacher-led meditation retreat close to an airport and/or close to Kansas City!
I'm interested in getting trained in Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction through the Oasis Institute and one of the requirements is several 5-7 day teacher-led silent retreats. Which is great, because I've always wanted to attend meditation retreats but haven't been able to excuse the time. However, I live in Kansas City and as far as I can tell, the Midwest isn't exactly the hotspot for meditation centers.
I'm willing to travel (plane or car), but ideally would like to find a site where I could take a shuttle or an affordable taxi ride from the airport to the meditation center.
I'd also like a place where I can have a single room. I snore and I don't want to inconvenience others by keeping them awake.
I am particularly interested in mindfulness approaches, metta and radical acceptance. I'd like to avoid the retreats where recordings are played in place of active teaching.
I'm interested in getting trained in Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction through the Oasis Institute and one of the requirements is several 5-7 day teacher-led silent retreats. Which is great, because I've always wanted to attend meditation retreats but haven't been able to excuse the time. However, I live in Kansas City and as far as I can tell, the Midwest isn't exactly the hotspot for meditation centers.
I'm willing to travel (plane or car), but ideally would like to find a site where I could take a shuttle or an affordable taxi ride from the airport to the meditation center.
I'd also like a place where I can have a single room. I snore and I don't want to inconvenience others by keeping them awake.
I am particularly interested in mindfulness approaches, metta and radical acceptance. I'd like to avoid the retreats where recordings are played in place of active teaching.
I happily recommend Spirit Rock Meditation Center and Insight Meditation Society. Both are near enough to airports and have enough out of town retreatants that arrangements are pretty easy. And the retreats are really wonderful. I have my favorite teachers, of course, but they're all good and reputable and sincere and trustworthy.
Dharmaseed has talks given by most of the teachers in both locations, so you can kind of test them out in advance if you want. Also, feel free to memail me. I've been doing silent meditation retreats with these folks in one form or another since the mid-80s, and have run across quite a number of the teachers in my time. :-)
posted by janey47 at 12:19 PM on September 10, 2013
Dharmaseed has talks given by most of the teachers in both locations, so you can kind of test them out in advance if you want. Also, feel free to memail me. I've been doing silent meditation retreats with these folks in one form or another since the mid-80s, and have run across quite a number of the teachers in my time. :-)
posted by janey47 at 12:19 PM on September 10, 2013
IMS and Spirit Rock are worth a visit. I've visited Spirit Rock once and sat 10+ retreats (8-10 days) at IMS and I consider it a second home at his point. It's not SUPER close to an airport - you'll have to take an airport limo and it might cost you $40 or so - but it's truly worth it.
IMS just this summer started ensuring all participants single rooms, but even before the brand new dormitory was built, snorers were generally granted private accommodation :)
IMS retreats focus on mindfulness and metta, and especially the inseparability of those two concepts. There are no recordings; it's all real teachers. Of course people connect differently with different teachers, but all the ones I've met have had real wisdom and insight to offer and have been inspiring examples of what practice can do for people.
Please feel free to MeMail me if you have any questions whatsoever about IMS retreats or teachers; I'm always happy to talk about them.
posted by Cygnet at 2:33 PM on September 10, 2013
IMS just this summer started ensuring all participants single rooms, but even before the brand new dormitory was built, snorers were generally granted private accommodation :)
IMS retreats focus on mindfulness and metta, and especially the inseparability of those two concepts. There are no recordings; it's all real teachers. Of course people connect differently with different teachers, but all the ones I've met have had real wisdom and insight to offer and have been inspiring examples of what practice can do for people.
Please feel free to MeMail me if you have any questions whatsoever about IMS retreats or teachers; I'm always happy to talk about them.
posted by Cygnet at 2:33 PM on September 10, 2013
I've heard great things about Spirit Rock, but as a Bay Area person I want to point out that it's really not very close to either SFO or OAK airports - I'd estimate an hour drive from either with no traffic. It looks like they have a carpooling/rideshare bulletin board, though, and a page about getting there via public transit options.
posted by needs more cowbell at 10:01 AM on September 11, 2013
posted by needs more cowbell at 10:01 AM on September 11, 2013
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heh
four hours N and E of you by car in Fairfield IA is the Maharishi University of Management, known as "the world's largest training center for practitioners of the Transcendental Meditation technique".
Personally, I'd start there and see what they can offer.
posted by edgeways at 12:18 PM on September 10, 2013 [1 favorite]