Equanimity in Difficult Times :
A Daylong Retreat with Aishah Shahidah Simmons & nico hase
Saturday, October 12th
10 am to 4 pm pacific time
There’s a lot to worry about these days. From the big things, like continuing racial injustice and the ever-mounting consequences of climate change, to the personal things, like raising kids and paying the rent on time . . . how can we maintain a sense of balance and evenness in the midst of it all?
The answer is uppekha parami, the cultivation of an embodied equanimity. And the way to build this evenness of the heart is step-by-step, moment by moment, one mindful breath at a time.
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In this one-day online retreat, Aishah & nico will delve into upekkha parami ("equanimity"), that quality of the heart that keeps an even keel.
The day will begin with an hour of conversation and an opening talk around the theme. We’ll then sit and walk for four hours in lightly guided practice, before reconvening for a closing talk and further dialogue.
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This daylong is the last in a series of ten online daylong retreats on the paramis hosted by Refuge of Belonging, a collective founded by nico hase & Devin Berry that is dedicated to sustaining the relationships and the deepening the dharma that people experience in insight meditation retreats.
The ten paramis (“furtherances” or “completions”) are foundational to the Buddhist path of awakening. Spanning states of the heart from kindness and equanimity to resolve and renunciation, they offer us a time tested way forward, a manner of cultivating what most truly benefits ourselves and others, both right now, in this moment, and as a stepping stone to final liberation.
Registration & Payment
Please use the button below to register. We offer these daylong retreats on a dana model. The suggested donation is $50 to $150 per session. We gratefully accept contributions of greater or lesser amounts, based on your resources.
After registration, you will receive a confirmation email from Rachael Tanner-Smith, our retreat manager. A day or two before the event, you will receive a second email with a Zoom link and other information.
Looking forward to seeing you there.
Aishah Shahidah Simmons (she/her) is a Black feminist lesbian survivor-healer, and a trauma-informed, certified Mindfulness meditation teacher. She's been practicing Vipassana meditation since 2002 and has more than one year of cumulative silent retreat practice in the U.S. and India. Aishah is also an internationally acclaimed filmmaker, author, and lecturer whose work, NO! The Rape Documentary and love WITH accountability, breaks silence about sexual violence, provides healing paths for trauma and advocates for humane responses to inhumane actions. Since June 1995, Aishah has screened her work, guest lectured, and facilitated over 400 workshops and dialogues across the United States, and internationally.
nico hase lived in a monastery for six years before earning a PhD in counseling psychology and becoming an Insight Meditation teacher full time. He currently mentors mindfulness teachers, teaches online and in-person retreats, and speaks with students in one-on-one sessions. He and his beloved life partner devon are the authors of How Not to Be a Hot Mess: A Buddhist Survival Guide for Modern Life.
