Working Creatively with Negative Emotions

Thurs 16 Jan @ 7pm to Sun 19 Jan @ 5pm

The Insight Retreat takes place at the Centre and is hosted by the Insight group, It is a follow on from last year’s retreat and the Insight sessions that take place every second week. People on the Insight group will be given preference in terms of bookings for the retreat. Everyone is welcome to attend!

Please book to ensure your place: email capetown@kagyu.org.za

Many people relentlessly battle with their emotions and end up leading conflicted and unhappy lives. But this does not have to be the case. In Buddhism the negative emotions are described as ‘mind poisons’, but the poison contains hidden gold.

This retreat will focus on working creatively with the negative emotions that afflict us. It will be drawn from the Tibetan Buddhist approach of learning to recognise and express the wisdom nature of our emotions. The view here is that our emotions are a source of vitality that can enliven and enrich our lives. The key is how we relate to them: either they can fuel an inner storm of conflict and suffering or they can fuel a path of inner abundance and waking up.

Rob and Choden will offer a path to working with the afflictive emotions of fear, anger, desire, jealousy, pride and ignorance. These are like the primary colours of our emotional life which, when combined, result in the rich variety of emotions we feel.

The path of practice will be to recognise when these emotions are triggered and how they feel within us. This is a mindfulness skill. Next, we turn to look at the mind that is afflicted by anger or desire, for example, and see its empty and insubstantial nature. This is a key insight skill. We then apply the antidote of compassion drawn from the 4 Immeasurable Qualities (loving kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy and equanimity). Finally, we learn to rest ‘in the midst of our experience’ and allow the wisdom energy to integrate within our being.

The retreat will involve teachings and guided practices from Rob and Choden, as well as sharing and inquiry and some periods of silent sitting

Cost: Members R570, Non-members R700