Retreats

  • $274.00 – Residential Option
    plus dana (offered at the end of the retreat) to the teacher and to Heartwood. You can read more about the practice of dana here.
  • $207.00 – Commuter Option
    plus dana (offered at the end of the retreat) to the teacher and to Heartwood.
    Commuters attend the full retreat, including lunch and dinner, but are not provided with overnight accommodations. It is important to note that by registering as a commuter, you agree to attend the entire retreat and to arrive and depart at the scheduled time each day. Your presence is important, as having retreatants come and go or miss sessions can disrupt the container created by group practice.

Date & Time Details: Opening Day: check in is between 2-5pm, orientation at 5:30pm and supper at 6pm. Closing Day: ends at 11am.

Location: Heartwood Refuge and Retreat Center

Address: 159 Osceola Rd. Hendersonville, NC 28739

Contact: Retreat Manager
[email protected]
828-356-5568

Cancellation Policy: Full refund issued for cancellations received at least 4 weeks prior to the event

An $89 cancellation fee retained for cancellations received between 2 and 4 weeks prior to the event

No refund will be issued for cancellations received less than 2 weeks prior to the event

Room Assignments: Rooms are double-occupancy. Depending on the number of retreatants, if single rooms are available, we assign them in order of registration to those who registered earliest.

Email us about program

“Letting Go” The Practice of Compassionate Effort

with John Orr

July 12 - 15, 2018

A wise teacher once suggested that we can not let go of that which we haven’t accepted. We use compassionate awareness to be present with whatever arises in our everyday experience, no matter how challenging that may be. By resting in the open heart and being mindful of when we may be contracting around difficult states of body and mind, we learn to invite release and letting go. We do not try to let go, as much as invite release, born of love. Instruction in Vipassana (Insight) Meditation and Pure Awareness Practice, as well as, Heart Centered Meditations will be offered. Dharma talks, chanting from various spiritual traditions and optional yoga will be part of the weekend, which is conducted in noble silence.

In the words of the Thai Meditation Master Ajahn Chah

“Do everything with a mind that lets go.

Do not expect any praise or reward.

If you let go a little, you will have a little peace.

If you let go a lot, you will have a lot of peace.

If you let go completely, you will know complete peace and freedom.

Your struggles with the world

will have come to an end.”

Leader

John Orr
John Orr received Theravada Buddhist ordination while living in Thailand and India as a monk for eight years in the 1970’s. He has been teaching meditation and leading retreats internationally since 1980 and has also practiced in the Taoist, Dzogbchen and Hindu Yoga traditions. He teaches through the New Hope Sangha in Durham, North Carolina and Deep Spring Center Ann Arbor, Michigan. He recently retired from teaching for three decades at Duke University.
Learn more about John Orr