
Friday Evening Program (In Person & Online)
September 12, 7:00 – 9:00 PM PT
Saturday & Sunday Retreat (In Person Only)
September 13-14, 9:00 AM – 4:30 PM PT
Register here for the Saturday-Sunday weekend retreat
Description:
Please join us for an IN PERSON ONLY weekend retreat with Gregory Kramer and Ann-Brown Griswold: Relational Dharma for a Ruptured World. There will be a Friday evening program and a weekend retreat. No registration is required for the Friday evening program (which will be offered both in person and online). Registration will be required for the weekend retreat. The Zoom link to the Friday evening program will be available 30 mins before it starts on the Zoom Links page.
We’re living through a time of deep rupture—with ourselves, between one another, and with the earth. The overlapping crises we face—climate collapse, systemic oppression, disconnection, and despair—are not just political or environmental. At their root, they’re relational. The hatred and injustice are born of closed heartedness. And in the absence of true connection, many of us turn to the search for pleasure and escape—leading to cycles of addiction and eco-destruction. This retreat is an invitation into a different way of being together—one grounded in the Dharma and in our capacity for presence, mutuality of awareness, and truth-telling.
In this retreat, we will practice Insight Dialogue, a fully relational meditation practice. By meditating together—in silence and in dialogue—we awaken mindfulness, tranquility, and concentration in the presence of others. In this field of awareness, the actual experience of inter-being can arise. The Dharma comes alive. As we turn toward direct experience with clarity and compassion, our capacity for wise relationship grows, revealing new possibilities for how we live and respond in the world. Our hearts soften, our minds clear, and something new becomes possible in how we relate and respond individually and collectively. Our hope is to nourish a capacity for social transformation that grows from wisdom, love, and the courage to stay connected—even in the hard places.
About Gregory Kramer
Gregory Kramer is the Founding Teacher of the Insight Dialogue Community and has been teaching insight meditation since 1980. He developed the practice of Insight Dialogue and has been teaching it since 1995, offering retreats in North America, Asia, Europe, and Australia. He has studied with esteemed teachers, including Anagarika Dhammadina, Ven. Balangoda Ananda Maitreya Mahanayaka Thero, Achan Sobin Namto, and Ven. Punnaji Maha Thero. Gregory is the author of A Whole Life Path: A Layperson’s Guide to a Dhamma-infused Life (Insight Dialogue Community); Insight Dialogue: The Interpersonal Path to Freedom (Shambhala); Seeding the Heart: Practicing Lovingkindness with Children; Meditating Together, Speaking from Silence: The Practice of Insight Dialogue; and Dharma Contemplation: Meditating Together with Wisdom Texts. He has taught widely on a relational understanding of the Buddha’s teachings and is currently writing a book on relational Dharma. For additional information about Gregory’s teachings, please visit his website.
About Anna-Brown Griswold
Anna-Brown fell in love with Insight Dialogue practice in 2012 after nearly twenty years of practice and study in the Tibetan and Zen koan lineages of Buddhism, including monastic practice and extended solitary retreats. For most of her adult life she’s been experimenting with how to integrate the awakening power of dharma practice, the skills of psychotherapeutic healing, and an embodied lens of social justice. Anna-Brown currently shares Insight Dialogue practice online and locally in Seattle, WA, where she works as a trauma therapist and facilitator. As a mom to a toddler, bringing Insight Dialogue into the whole beautiful mess of parenting is an ongoing practice.
Questions
For questions about the retreat, please contact registrar@seattleinsight.org.
Registration & Donation
This weekend retreat includes a Friday night program and and weekend non-residential retreat. No registration is required to attend the Friday night program. The Zoom link to the Friday evening program will be available 30 mins before it starts on the Zoom Links page. Registration for the weekend retreat can be found here.
The suggested event donation is $5, plus teacher dana. (Dana is a term for generosity, or freely offered giving.) Teacher dana can be offered at the event. Please use your best efforts to pay the suggested donation or another heartfelt amount. All are welcome regardless of ability to pay.