Residential Retreat with James Lowe Aug 30 - Sep 2, 2024 [2024aug30ssrc]

Retreat Description

A First Timer Retreat

“I don’t know what happens on a retreat, but I kinda want to try it. I have so many questions and feel intimidated because I’m new.”

“I don’t think I can meditate for that long, especially with more experienced meditators.”

“I know someone who wants to try a retreat but is intimidated to start.”

If this is you, or you know anybody who says these things, then this retreat might be a good fit.

BCIMS is happy to offer a First Timer Retreat. This shorter residential retreat is a sample of a more extended retreat. It is designed for new - or newer - meditators to learn what a retreat is and how to live and practice in silence.

We’ll help you develop the stamina to meditate longer, and we’ll introduce and explain the etiquette and practices of meditation retreats. Best of all, you’ll be with new or newer meditators, so you can relax and enjoy the environment.

Only 1 hour and 20 minutes from Vancouver, the Sea to Sky Retreat Centre is nestled beside Daisy Lake near Whistler. We’ll offer kindness and appreciation meditations focusing on the forest, lakes, and mountains. These practices will ground and energize your meditation while you learn how to sustain longer and longer meditations.

This is a perfect “Starter” Retreat where you’ll connect with nature and other meditators. Join us Friday, August 30th to Monday, September 2, 2024. For more information and resources before this retreat, click here.

General Info

Please read all of the information about the retreat carefully before registering:

Registration: This retreat will go on sale April 30, 2024 at 10am PST. We anticipate tickets will sell out very quickly. We recommend you register as soon as possible once the tickets go on sale.

Tuition and Room Assignments: We are offering two rates for this retreat: Base Rate CA$595, and Benefactor Rate CA$845. Folks who select the Benefactor Rate will receive a tax receipt for the $250 tax-deductible donation. We are grateful for donations to support BCIMS' Financial Asistance fund which goes directly to subsidizing rates at future retreats for folks requesting Financial Assistance.

Fees do NOT include a financial offering (dana) to the teachers. There will be an opportunity to offer dana to the teachers once you are at the retreat.

Please note most rooms on site are double-occupancy rooms. The Benefactor Rate does NOT guarantee you a single room. All registrants are assigned overnight rooms based on needs indicated in the Registration Order Form, and at the discretion of the organizers. For more information, please see "Overnight Rooms" below.

Financial Assistance is available for this retreat. Please apply by emailing jess@bcims.org, and let us know what amount you are joyfully able to contribute. DEI Financial Assistance: We are also offering financial assistance from our DEI fund (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion). This is intended to offer support to folks from underrepresented and systemically marginalized communities to attend residential retreats. We encourage folks who identify as BIPOC (black, Indigenous, and/or people of colour) and people of the global majority, 2SLGBTQIA+, have a visible or invisible disability, or are from other underrepresented and systemically marginalized communities, to apply by emailing jess@bcims.org. Please specify in your email that you are interested in applying for the DEI fund, and share what amount you are joyfully able to contribute. The application deadline is April 16, 2024.

BCIMS Cancellation Policy:

Up to July 25, 2024 - refund offered, less a $100 cancellation fee.

From July 26 to August 22, 2024 - 50% refund offered.

On and after August 23, 2024 - no refund guaranteed.

Please note, our BCIMS Cancellation Policy applies to all ticket holders, including those with discounted tickets.

About the Retreat Centre: Please read all about the Sea to Sky Retreat Centre including on-site accessibility, wildlife, facilities, and more here.

Accessibility Needs: There will be an opportunity on the Registration Order Form to specify any special needs or accommodations, including any needs or requests on washrooms, dietary, and access needs.

We may not be able to meet everyone’s preferences but we will do our best to accommodate needs and make the retreat as safe and accessible as possible. We encourage you to please reflect on the difference between needs and preferences for your stay as you fill out the Form, as this allows us to more easefully accommodate all retreatants.

Overnight Rooms: The Sea to Sky Retreat Centre has buildings for dining, meeting, and sleeping. Most accommodation is in shared double occupancy. Many areas of the property may be designated mixed gender areas. Rooms will be assigned in advance. In shared rooms, people will be housed with others with similar gender requests for housing.

There will be an opportunity to indicate on your order form a preference for sharing a room with another yogi should you be attending with a friend or partner.

Given the complexity of creating a safe and welcoming space for people’s diverse needs, we ask for your understanding and flexibility on room allocation.

Attending with a partner or friend: Attending the retreat and/or sharing a room with a friend or partner can be a rich experience. Discussing ahead of time how you will keep the precepts, including the precept of noble silence, can deepen this experience for you. If you are sharing in this way, please decide ahead of time how you will honour the silence together, especially in your room. This can help both of you relax into the retreat, and support the gift of silence in the community.

Cellphones/Devices: Our time on retreat is precious, and to support this we ask that you renounce your cell phone and other devices. The contact number of the retreat centre may be given to family or friends in case they need to contact you. If you wish, our retreat manager will take care of your devices safely and return it to you at the end of the retreat, or if you need it for emergencies. This renunciation greatly supports both your practice, and the practice of the community. Thank you!

Ridesharing: The information collected during registration regarding ridesharing will be distributed by email to all interested retreatants about four weeks prior to the retreat. Each individual is then responsible for directly making any ridesharing arrangement.

Dana: Registration fees cover retreat organizing costs, accommodations, and meals only. Voluntary donations (dana) for the teachings may be offered to the teachers at the retreat. More information will be shared with registrants.

COVID-19: It is anticipated that small gatherings will be allowed by the BC Provincial Health Authority at this time. All health guidelines in place at the time of the retreat for small gatherings will be followed and communicated to attendees.

Attendees are strongly encouraged to be fully vaccinated, including the boosters, though we will not be requiring proof during check in. Masks are optional and encouraged in shared indoor spaces.

About the Teacher:

In 2020 James Lowe became a fully empowered teacher with authorization from Spirit Rock Meditation Center to carry forth and teach the Dharma of liberation. Carrying the sacred trust of meditation masters from the forest monasteries, temples and retreat centres of Thailand, Burma, India and the whole world, James shares the Theravada tradition in a modern community. Trained as a counselling psychologist and adult educator, James shares the practice with pragmatic plain language. He aims to empower yogis to find their own way in the dharma. As a result, he emphasizes skills and practice and the felt sense of dharma in order to move people along the path of liberation.

With heartfelt gratitude, BCIMS acknowledges we are based in what is now known as Vancouver, BC, the beautiful, traditional, and unceded lands of the Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) peoples, who live on and have stewarded this land for thousands of years.