WDC Autumn Retreat

Living from Our Center-Meditation at Rest, Awareness in Action

Check-in: October 6, starting at 3:00 PM
Orientation: October 6 at 5:00 PM
Program Conclusion: October 11, ending with lunch at 12:00 PM (noon)

What if meditation did not begin when you sat down, and did not end when you stood up? What if it could accompany you into conversations, decisions, challenges, work, relationships, and even moments of confusion or difficulty?

This retreat explores meditation as a living practice that extends far beyond the meditation hall. Through the discipline of seated meditation, participants will learn to calm the mind, gather scattered attention, and return to inner stillness. From that foundation, we will explore how the same meditative awareness can remain present while walking, speaking, working, listening, making decisions, and responding to life as it unfolds.

Drawing from the contemplative wisdom of Won Buddhism, this retreat emphasizes the unity of stillness and action, silence and engagement, contemplation and responsibility. Participants will practice remaining centered amid praise and criticism, gain and loss, comfort and discomfort, and the many changing conditions of life.

Rather than separating spiritual practice from ordinary life, this retreat invites us to recognize every encounter, pleasant or difficult, as an opportunity for awakening. Through meditation instruction, dharma talks, guided contemplation, mindful activities, and time in nature, participants will explore how awareness can remain steady in both stillness and movement.

Nestled by the beauty of nature with breathtaking views of the Catskill Mountains, the Won Dharma Center provides a quiet refuge where you can relax, rejuvenate, and awaken through the healing practice of meditation.