This is an annual event of many years’ vintage at Wattle. Everyone is invited to come early, stroll around and visit the buildings (There’s a new cob project, called Sea World, in mid-construction), the Peace Path or the woodland creeks. Or just visit with each other.

We’ll gong the gongs at 4 p.m. to converge in the main hall and share a potluck vegetarian supper. (Dairy and eggs are fine, but please indicate the ingredients somewhere….)

Then, everyone is invited to circle up, and share some form of thanksgiving. It could be in the form of song, drama, music, poetry, or simply words spoken from the heart. The circle has been zoned for lovingkindness, and it is critic-free!

It is not necessary to contact me in advance about this event. Just come on out. No charge.

Saturday, December 12th, 9 a.m. – 4 p.m.

It will be a day of guided Vipassana meditation, with accompanying and optional yoga – about finding our own light in the darkness.

No charge for this day, but pre-registration is required.  Donations accepted.

The theme for this weekend silent meditation retreat will be:
“Time Out”

Joy Fox, Wattle Hollow owner, therapist, and retreat leader, will guide us in exploring our concept of time using Vipassana meditation, writing exercises and yoga.

Cost: by dana (the Pali word for donation)
Retreat Registration Form

October 17th and 18th (Saturday 10 a.m. – Sunday 4 p.m.)

Anna Cox, founder and director of 'Compassion Works for All'

Anna Cox is a practicing psychotherapist in Little Rock, Arkansas. She is also a trainer, lecturer and consultant on psychotherapy, meditation, the expansion of consciousness, subtle healing, death and dying, living spiritual lives and lives of compassionate service. She offers talks and workshops that encourage individuals to conceptualize their life as a spiritual journey rather than as an ordinary life of accomplishing goals that promise worldly happiness.

A practitioner of Vajrayana Buddhism since 1980, Anna has lectured and taught classes extensively on Buddhism. Anna helped to found the Ecumenical Buddhist Society in Little Rock, which supports a variety of Buddhist traditions by bringing lineage masters from around the world to offer teachings and retreats.

Since 1993, Anna Cox has offered volunteer psychotherapy and spiritual counseling, group psychotherapy, and meditation classes with incarcerated individuals on and off death row in a maximum-security prison. She has written and published the free monthly newsletter, Dharma Friends, since 1997. Anna Cox also presents lectures frequently on the abolishment of the death penalty in Arkansas and in other states.

For over twenty years, Anna has traveled the world extensively in pilgrimage to holy sites of all religions, places of human suffering, and to places of great transformation. Anna feels deeply that ours is one human family and that no one should be excluded.

Cost: $100. Details on the focus of the weekend will be coming soon. Meanwhile, you can register with this form: Retreat Registration Form

October 23 – 25, 2009 – A Music Weekend

Spend three days in the Heart of the Ozarks
and experience an eclectic, organic approach to creating music
in a provocatively creative atmosphere.
A weekend of musical exploration and growth.

Registration fee of $250 per person
includes rustic lodging, healthy gourmet meals, and…

* An intimate concert by Jack Williams and Still On The Hill
* Nature walks
* Open mics, song swaps, quiet time to write and create
* Inspiration and camaraderie

Workshops will cover all aspects of music making, including:

…”Songwriting off the wall and outside the box”
…”Upping the ante on your musical skills”
…”Connecting with an audience…even your family!”
…”Individual musical Q&A”

Space for the weekend is limited to 20-24 people and fills fast – if you are interested please don’t wait to sign up. For more information or to make your reservation, contact Judy by phone at (205)572-0056, (479)761-0001, or email at judy@jackwilliamsmusic.com

Plan to arrive in time for dinner on Friday evening and stay through lunch on Sunday.

Vajrayana weekend retreat led by Anam Thubten, a Tibetan master who currently resides in Berkeley, CA.

Anam Thubten Rinpoche

Anam Thubten grew up in Tibet and received traditional Buddhist training from various teachers at an early age. He had developed a special affinity towards a very inspiring Dharma teacher and hermit named Lama Tsurlo. Lama Tsurlo’s kindness and wisdom gave him the firm base to advance in his Dharma practice and still serves as a source of inspiration on the spiritual path, as well as his work as a teacher.

In the 1990s, he came to America, and people began requesting Dharma teachings from him. Since then, he has been traveling and teaching extensively in the U.S. and abroad. He is the founder of the Dharmata Foundation and the author of various articles and books in both the Tibetan and English language. His teachings mainly draw from Prajnaparamita. The timeless non-conceptual wisdom of Buddha. He currently resides in the San Francisco Bay Area, in California.

SORRY, this retreat has been cancelled!

Geshe-la will be doing a medicine Buddha initiation with healing ceremonies and instruction in seated meditation.

Geshe Thupten Dorjee was born Sonam Palden in Tibet just before the Chinese Communist invasion of 1959. He and his family escaped occupied Tibet and headed southward when he was three years old. The journey through the mountains to Bhutan was a long, arduous one for the family. On many cold Himalayan nights, they sought refuge in shelters created for animals. Much of Geshe’s early life was spent in a refugee camp in Bhutan with other Tibetan exiles. Unfortunately, most members of his family died while there due to the poor living conditions and lack of medical care.

After 8 years of these difficult living conditions, Geshe and his surviving family journeyed south and settled in Southern India. At the age of 13, Geshe entered Drepung Loseling Monastery in Karnataka, South India.

Over the next 22 years, Geshe made a thorough study of the vast scriptures, principally the five foremost Buddhist philosophical subjects, i.e., Pramana (Valid Cognition), Prajnaparamita (Perfection of Wisdom), Madhyamaka (Middle Way Philosophy), Vinaya (Buddhist Ethics), and Abhidharma (Buddhist Metaphysics). Geshe was ordained a Buddhist monk by His Holiness the Dalai Lama in 1986. In 1994, Geshe received the degree of Geshe Lharampa (meaning “Spiritual Guide”), the highest scholastic honor offered by a Buddhist monastic university. It is roughly equivalent to the Doctor of Philosophy, although its course of study and examination schedules are far more rigorous than the Western degree.

During his years at Drepung Loseling, Geshe taught scriptures and Tibetan grammar to the lower classes while pursuing his advanced course of study. For four years, he was supervisor of agricultural projects at the Monastery.

Cost: $100. Retreat Registration Form

This is a chance to slow down, renewing your commitment to silence and spaciousness
in the sanctuary of Wattle Hollow.

Dharma Day – Saturday, September 26th – 9 a.m. – 4 p.m.

Meditation and yoga will be guided by Joy Fox.
Cost: by dana (donation)