This retreat will explore the relations between body and mind on and off the mat. Imagining the body as the primary site of knowledge and creativity, we will import the awareness honed in the physical practice of yoga (with 2-3 yoga classes daily) into what we’ll dub “pencil play” – free-form writing and artistic practices. Participants will experiment with breath and body practices, meditation techniques, short writing exercises, and creative play in the art studio to explore the body’s five intelligences (emotion and desire; physical center; grace and strength; memory and cogitation; intuition, compassion, and ethics; and the integration of all these into spiritual wisdom).

Limit: 20 people

Guest Workshop Leader: On Saturday afternoon, Sheila Pelz Weinberg will conduct a 3-hour workshop on writing and mindfulness. After seventeen years as a congregational rabbi, Sheila now teaches mindfulness meditation and yoga internationally. She has published widely on such topics as spiritual direction, social justice, and mindfulness and is the author of Surprisingly Happy: An Atypical Religious Memoir, and the CD “Preparing the Heart: Meditations for Jewish Spiritual Practice.” She serves as faculty for the Institute for Jewish Spirituality and is creator and co-leader of the Jewish Mindfulness Teacher Training Program.

This weekend intensive lasts from Friday 6:30 pm to Sunday 3pm, offering the opportunity to deepen your practice in a small, like-minded group of 20 participants. Although this is a retreat in the sense that it takes one out of the world’s daily rush, the word “intensive” is no accident: participants will be asked to commit fully to the spirit of the group by refraining from cell phone and internet use during the daytime, observing sustained periods of silence, and attending all programmed activities. The physical practice of yoga will be accessible to all experience levels, ages, and body types.

Retreats include room and healthy, organic vegetarian fare to re-set your dietary clock; three daily yoga classes (morning vigorous vinyasa, optional afternoon targeted asana practice, and evening restorative); workshops on moving meditation, haiku, haibun, Thai massage, mindful communication; mindfulness practices from across traditions (Zazen, Shamatha-Vipassana, Metta, Quaker).

Travel directions to Pendle Hill.