Joy’s Tales from Thailand 2020

About Dharma Days

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 for this day, though dana/donations are accepted. See Registration link below to register. We will have chairs...

DHARMA DAY March 30

** NOW FULL **Saturday, March 30, 2024 (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 discussions, in order to deepen our meditative focus. All Dharma Days are suitable for oldies...

DHARMA DAY April 20

Saturday, APRIL 20, 2024 – 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. ** NOW FULL ** 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 discussions, in order to deepen our meditative focus. All Dharma Days are...

Nature Day 2024

Saturday, April 9, 2016- Nature Day with our expert nature guide, Joe Neal… an annual springtime tradition now, and folks from all over the Ozarks show up…we’ll meet (9 am) at the top of the Wattle Hollow driveway on Hwy 170, and stroll slowly down-hill. (People will share their binoculars if you don’t have any).

Then, we’ll share a pot-luck lunch overlooking the pond and mountains, (where Joe and others can also identify dozens of birds, just by sound….). And head down into the creek-bed, for a delightful nature walk into yet another eco-system.

Songwriters’ Creativity Weekend

May 3-5, 20246 p.m. Friday – 4 p.m. Sunday Here’s another opportunity to experience a conjunction ofcreativity, kindness, gourmet food, with the best possible guides onour musical journey: Donna and Kelly Mulholland, Jack Smith. Contact Judy Smith for information and registration:judysmith221gmail.com All Wattle Hollow retreats (except Songwriters’ weekend) areoffered by donation…e.g. no one is turned away for lack of finances,according to the ancient Buddhist tradition.

Great Mother Weekend Retreat

May 1 – 3, 2015 – This annual retreat is never the same twice. Because, we are never the same twice, on our path. Essentially, we’ll use meditation, writing, art, music and group sharing to find that inner Mother-space of loving-kindness and wisdom.

The many meditative sanctuaries at Wattle devoted to the Divine Feminine: Kuan-yin, Earth Mother, Black Madonna, Green Tara, Virgin of Guadeloupe, and Ferocious Mother may offer us archetypal inspiration about how to sculpture our own inner prayer and inner sanctuary.

DHARMA DAY May 25

Saturday, MAY 25, 2024 – 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. ** NOW FULL ** 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 discussions, in order to deepen our meditative focus. All Dharma Days are suitable for oldies...

Dharma Day – June 8

Saturday, June 8, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. This retreat will have a special focus on nature. (See above for fuller description of Dharma Day.) All Dharma Days are suitable for oldies and for newcomers…since we all need to arrive with “beginner’s mind,” anyhow. No charge for this day, in the ancient Buddhist tradition. Dana/donations are accepted, however. Friends, I suggest that you don’t wait too long to register for any of these offerings…They seem to fill up faster every year. Registration is required. Register –...

Dharma Day July 21

Sunday, July 21, 2024 (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 discussions, in order to deepen our meditative focus. All Dharma Days are suitable for oldies and for...

Tales of Joy #4

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 curmudgeon about holidays. So I wanted it to be low-key. I consider every day as a holy day… and sense a...

Tales of Joy #3

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 day. Meanwhile, the monsoons, pollution and extreme heat up in Bangkok take a rapid and unrelenting toll on...

Tales of Joy #2

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 watching the news, the whiskey cocaine of cellphone usage or whatever your hit parade happened to encompass in 2022....