Posts by webadmin


Hello again, dear readers. I don’t know if I can describe the way that I am greeted here, all day long…like a beloved auntie who has finally returned… I am the oldest member of this community and therefore Pa Joy**, which means Auntie Joy, to all. Some of these relationships go back decades. We traveled Thailand together with Khun Mae and shared some challenges, too. It was my birthday last week…and I tend to be a...

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Sawadhi kha, 🙏dear readers. My first day in Thailand felt quite significant, for myself and for the entire community. Some of you may recall from last year’s Tales: I reported a sense of physical and energetic deterioration in the S.D.S. (Bangkok) center’s vitality level.For one thing, Ajahn Chom’s work crew was spending all their time in the southern center, creating fantastic new water features and landscaping miracles every...

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Hello again, dear readers. You all have reminded me why I write these Tales. Every year I experience prolonged labor and difficulty with Tales #1. My primary symptom is a sense of over-exposure… like I’m on YouTube giving birth. Then your responses come rolling in, almost immediately, bursting with the enthusiasm of shared confessions, and relief (this year) to be “not the only one” who is so damn crazy and strung out on...

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Hola, my dear readers. Harvesting veggies in the community garden I like to imagine each year is totally different from the one preceding it…. But I do seem to recall that the exact same thing occurred last year …hmmmm: I arrived here in the lovely town of La Paz (Baja Sur) and sloughed into a pleasantly vegetative state, setting up my little 1950’s kitchen, getting my drinking water, renting a bicycle…. And revisiting my...

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Welcome to this upcoming year, dear yogis! Wattle Hollow is currently closed in the winter and will reopen in late March, 2023. Meanwhile, if you’d like to receive the “Winter Tales from Joy” newsletter, send me your request and gmail address to: joyfoxwath@gmail.com...

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Dharma Days are a one-day opportunity, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., to take a personal tour in the Theravadan Vipassana meditation traditional practices of sitting, walking, eating and loving-kindness/metta. It’s a great chance for beginning meditators to get their feet wet, and for oldies to refresh their practice. We also do a mild 50-minute stretching/yoga/or creative movement session. An organic vegetarian lunch will be served. No charge...

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Sunday, APRIL 30, 2023 – 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. ** REGISTRATION IS NOW FULL – a waiting list has begun! ** We will be practicing the various forms of Vipassana Buddhist meditation:** Sitting (no sessions more than 30-40 minutes), various types of practices.** Walking (both indoor and outdoor)** An hour-long movement/yoga session**Eating (lunchtime will be `silent, with special focus on the food)** Metta/Lovingkindness...

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MAY 5-7, 2023 I’ve lost track of the number of fabulous weekends (29, maybe?) during which we have seen our “inner children” run free of their boundaries in a joyful exploration of what is possible, musically and creatively. Our amazing and talented guides are Jack Williams and Still on the Hill musicians, Donna and Kelly Mulholland. It feels like a family reunion, and the newest members are lovingly absorbed right away. These...

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May 19 – 21st (Friday 6 p.m. – Sunday, 4 p.m.) And what does that mean, you may be wondering? If you’ve spent any time with me, you probably already know, dears: It is the unexpected, the funny (or sometimes cruel or odd) “TWIST” of events that so profoundly informs and molds our lives! You could say: it’s what happens, in real time, to our carefully molded and static conceptions of how we would like things to be! I invite...

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10 a.m. – 4 p.m. Saturday, May 27, 2023 We will be practicing the various forms of Vipassana Buddhist meditation:** Sitting (no sessions more than 30-40 minutes), various types of practices.** Walking (both indoor and outdoor)** An hour-long movement/yoga session**Eating (lunchtime will be `silent, with special focus on the food)** Metta/Lovingkindness practice The practice of Noble Silence will be observed all day, except for...

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June 17, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. We will be practicing the various forms of Vipassana Buddhist meditation: ** Sitting (no sessions more than 30-40 minutes), various types of practices. ** Walking (both indoor and outdoor) ** An hour-long movement/yoga session ** Eating (lunchtime will be silent, with special focus on the food) ** Metta/Lovingkindness practice The practice of Noble Silence will be observed all day, except for group...

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JULY 14 – 16 (6 p.m. Friday – 4 p.m. Sunday) This weekend retreat experience has a caveat woven into it: are you prepared to spend a weekend of what might be sizzling heat, dripping with sweat…. as we explore the reality of our attachments and aversions? Of course, we don’t have a/c here at Wattle Hollow! Retreat Registration

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July 29th, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. We will be practicing the various forms of Vipassana Buddhist meditation: ** Sitting (no sessions more than 30-40 minutes), various types of practices. ** Walking (both indoor and outdoor) ** An hour-long movement/yoga session ** Eating (lunchtime will be silent, with special focus on the food) ** Metta/Lovingkindness practice ​The practice of Noble Silence will be observed all day, except for group...

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Heading south to SDS II, known as Bodhisattva Valley, we began to feel lighter and lighter. Nawng Joy, Aey and I have a way of sparking each other into silly happiness. Here we are at a lunch stop along the way. Yes, rice paddies are really that green. I packed pillows and extra towels and bedding into my luggage, in order to survive a week of sleeping directly on the cement floor like I did two years ago. And ear plugs, to drown out...

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