May 10th-12th, 2024

Arrival/Registration Time:
Friday May 10th 3pm-5pm

Departure Time:
Sunday 12th around Noon

Cost
$250 Partial Scholarship Double
$500 Shared room Double
$1,008 Single room
* If you can’t afford the registration, please reach out to info@againstthestream.com to inquire about full scholarship. These prices include all meals.

Cancellation/Refund Policy:

- Registrations are non transferable
- Cancellation prior to 30 days or more before the retreat: $100.00 cancellation fee (per reservation).
- Cancellations within 30 days of retreat are non-refundable, non transferable.

Name of Retreat Center:
St. Paul’s Commons

Address:
840 Echo Park Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90026

Against the Stream Spring Retreat
This year we are doing an Urban residential retreat. The retreat center is located in Echo Park Los Angeles. This is a great opportunity to practice the dharma in the kind of environment that most of us live in. Although the center is self contained and will support our practice of noble silence. Participants can also experiment with doing walking meditation around the lake.

There will be daily instructions in sitting and walking meditation and dharma talks as well as periods of silent practice.

Noble Silence Retreat Information
The retreat will be held in ‘Noble Silence’, which means all who attend will remain silent from the opening dharma talk until we break silence on the final day.

Noah will offer guided meditation instructions twice a day and offer a dharma talk each night. The meditation instruction will include both mindfulness and heart practices to be done both as sitting and walking meditations.

‘Noble silence’
In this form of meditation retreat we avoid all social communication, this includes eye contact and normal pleasantries like smiling at each other or holding doors open etc. Reading and journaling are also discouraged. A silent retreat is an opportunity to be mindful of all of our activities and mind states free from the normal distractions of everyday life and not obscured by our social interactions with each other. The outcome is deeper insight into the impermanent, impersonal and unsatisfactory nature of all things. These insights deepen our practice and help wake us up to the reality that the only reliable refuge is internal.

Dana For Retreats
The cost associated with attending an Against The Stream retreat only covers the rental of the retreat center, food and some associated administrative expenses. As has been done for 2,600 years the teachings are freely offered, the teacher does not receive any payment for teaching the retreat other than the voluntary donations that are offered at the end of the retreat known as Dana. It is up to each student on retreat to decide for themselves what they wish to donate to support the teacher, manger and the teachings.

For Weekend retreats a suggested donation of $200-$400 would be appropriate for most, but those who have more are encouraged to give more and those who have less are encouraged to give whatever feels generous to them based on their current financial situation.