Lily is offering daily yoga classes as part of Real Love Retreat this September with Krishna Das, Sharon Salzberg, Robert Thurman and friends at the Menla Mountain Retreat Center in Phoenicia, NY. Join us for a weekend immersion exploring a world of great possibility in Real Love: The Power of the Loving Heart. These amazing teachers bring a lifetime of experience nurturing a greater capacity for love rooted in both the Buddhist and Bhakti traditions.
ABOUT THE RETREAT
In this weekend retreat, this incredible teaching team offers practical tools and techniques to learn to distinguish between the skillful habits that lead to awareness and deeper connection, and the unskillful habits that reinforce our sense of separation. Whether consciously or unconsciously, we all live our lives searching for a sense of belonging, yet still find ourselves feeling cut off and alone. What holds us back from connecting to ourselves, to our core emotional needs – as well as to one another and to our individual and shared experiences alike? What keeps us from realizing our essential need for real love? Complimentary chanting and meditation practices allows us to reach into our hearts, open them, and take risks by breaking free of the limits and expectations of love we usually carry. In doing so, we create a spacious balance of mind that allows us a more direct, experiential relationship with love. Join us for an immersive weekend to explore the magnitude of the heart and the transformative power of love within us.
YOGA with Lily Cushman: Learn how to integrate and deepen the heart practices of chanting and meditation into your body for greater balance and ease. Our bodies can serve as the vehicle to help us ground these tools into a new way of being by gently exploring how we relate to ourselves and our inherent limitations in action! Lily guides an integrative yoga practice designed to bridge our habitual way of experiencing life with the newfound curiosity and connection that heart practices allow for. Classes are for all levels of student, no previous yoga experience is necessary. Retreat includes two daily yoga classes: an early morning practice, and an afternoon practice each day.
ABOUT THE TEACHERS
Krishna Das has been called yoga’s “rock star,” layering traditional kirtan with instantly accessible melodies and modern instrumentation. With a remarkably soulful voice KD has taken the call-and-response chanting out of yoga centers and into concert halls, becoming the best-selling western chant artist of all time. In 2012, his album ‘Live Ananda’ was nominated for a Grammy in the Best New Age album category. KD now travels the world sharing his kirtan practice and wonderful stories of his life on the spiritual path, and discusses bringing chanting into our lives through retreats and workshops. For more information visit his website HERE.
Sharon Salzberg is a central figure in the field of meditation, a world-renowned teacher and NY Times bestselling author. She has played a crucial role in bringing meditation and mindfulness practices to the West and into mainstream culture since 1974, when she first began teaching. She is the co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, MA and the author of ten books including NY Times bestseller, Real Happiness, her seminal work, Lovingkindness and her forthcoming release by Flatiron Books, Real Love. Renowned for her down-to-earth teaching style, Sharon offers a secular, modern approach to Buddhist teachings, making them instantly accessible. She is a regular columnist for On Being, a contributor to Huffington Post, and the host of her own podcast: The Metta Hour. For more information visit her website HERE.
Robert AF Thurman is Professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies at Columbia University as well as co-founder and President of Tibet House U.S. and its Menla retreat and spa in service of H. H. the Dalai Lama and the people of Tibet. A close friend of the Dalai Lama’s for over 50 years, he is a leading world-wide lecturer on Tibetan Buddhism, a passionate activist for the plight of the Tibetan people, a skilled translator of Buddhist texts, and inspiring writer of popular Buddhist books. His most recent book is the newly published 300 page graphic novel, Man of Peace: the Illustrated Life Story of the Dalai Lama of Tibet. In partnership with Nena Thurman and other teachers and dedicated contributors, he now focuses on making Tibet House US and its Menla retreat and spa a global center for the promotion, study and practice of Tibetan Buddhist healing arts and sciences of body, mind, and spirit, dedicated as a complement to the vast life work of its patron, His Holiness the Dalai Lama. For more information visit his website HERE.
Nina Rao learned traditional chants (bhajans) from her grandfather in a village in south India when she nine years old. The chants quietly stayed with her until she rediscovered chanting with Krishna Das in New York in 1996. For many years Nina has been Krishna Das' business manager and assistant, often touring with him playing cymbals and singing. In January 2013, she released her debut album, "Antarayaami - Knower of All Hearts". Nina regularly leads kirtan, chanting of the Hanuman Chalisa, and sings for yoga classes in her hometown of Brooklyn, NY and beyond. For more information visit her website HERE.