The Shape of Awake®: Meditation and the Alexander technique

“To take this posture itself is the purpose of our practice. When you have this posture, you have the right state of mind, so there is no need to try to attain some special state.” – Suzuki Roshi

Discover how to be fully present and at ease in your body. This will transform your practice and your life! This experiential retreat offers a safe, supportive and caring environment to learn about and befriend yourself, and to deepen your meditation practice.

Learning to be more embodied, to let go of excessive tension and allow your nervous system to settle, provides a powerful foundation for navigating the challenges of this time of uncertainty and change.

The Alexander process brings a quality of being that is expansive, balanced and open. It is the shape of equanimity. When strong emotions or anxiety arise, abiding in your body, free of protective holding patterns, allows you to access your fundamental resilience and meet all aspects of your experience.

What to Expect

During this retreat, we will draw on three contemplative practices that cultivate insight, compassion, and confidence:

• Mindfulness Meditation to relax mental holding patterns
• Alexander Technique to release physical holding patterns
• Focusing to access deeper feelings held in the body

Being upright is not just an arbitrary shape, it’s a perfect expression of meditation itself. In this 5 day meditation retreat, Hope Martin, a Seminar Leader and Master of the Alexander Technique, will help you establish ease, non-striving, and a friendly relationship to yourself in meditation and everyday activities. Learn to be more upright, supported, and relaxed in your meditation sessions and in your life.

Hope’s hands-on adjustments and instruction will teach you to access effortless, balanced posture – both light and grounded. This helps to greatly reduce the strain and discomfort that is experienced during extended periods of meditation practice.

You will become aware of unconscious habits that cause tension and pain as a result of fixed posture and mindset and learn to shift to a more easeful way of being.

Principles of Focusing will also be introduced to help loosen our habitually stuck places and to access the wisdom that resides in the body’s holding patterns.

In addition to meditation practice, the program will include periods of silence, experiential exercises, instruction on basic body mechanics and alignment, humour, as well as gentle hands-on work from the instructor to help release unnecessary tension.

Who Should Attend

Everyone is welcome to attend this retreat. Meditation instruction, guided practice and individual posture adjustments will be provided.

The retreat is ideal for both new and experienced meditators.  It will address any physical discomfort associated with sitting and everyday movements. This results in much more ease and presence in the practice and in everyday activities.

You will also learn to accommodate all your responses, including anxiety and stress and to release emotional reactions that get stuck in the deep holding patterns of the body.

Overview of Travel Days and Program Days

Friday, Sept 25  (Arrival Day)

• Check-in is open from 3–5 pm. Please plan to arrive before 5 p.m. if possible to settle in before dinner.
• Dinner is served at 6:30 pm. Orientation follows it.

Saturday, Sept 26 –  Tuesday, Sept 29 (Program Days)

• Each day runs approximately 7 am to 9 pm and includes guided meditation sessions, Alexander group classes with Hope Martin, highly skilled hands-on adjustments to find more ease and improve your posture, Focusing partnerships, and regular breaks for meals, time outside and rest.
• Sept 29 will conclude with an early closing session and celebratory dinner.

Wednesday, Sept 30 (Departure Day)

• Breakfast is at 8 am.
• Departures follow throughout the morning.

Retreat Cost

CAD $825 – 1475, depending on lodging choice.

Pay in full or place a 30% deposit to hold your spot.

Generosity Policy

We want everyone to be able to attend retreats at Dorje Denma Ling.

Read About Our Generosity Policy

NEW! 30 & under discount and Monastic discount are available during registration.
~When early bird pricing is in effect, the higher discount will take precedence.

Weekend-Only Attendance

Hope has agreed to offer weekend-only attendance to those who are unable to take the full week off. During the weekend you will be introduced to the fundamental principles and posture of the Alexandre Technique, and come away with a solid understanding of the basics.

However, you will get the maximum benefit if you can, attend the full week — which we highly recommend. The full retreat will greatly deepen the impact that the Alexander Technique will have on both your meditation practice and daily activities

If you would like to register for the weekend only portion of the Shape of Awake retreat, please follow this link:

Weekend-Only Registration

Stay for the Embodied Listening® Retreat

Following this retreat, Hope Martin will offer Embodied Listening®, a practice that beautifully complements the Shape of Awake program. By learning to listen more deeply to the body’s innate wisdom, we can move through challenges and uncertainty with greater ease and insight.

Embodied Listening® will take place from Friday, Oct 2 (before supper) to Monday, Oct 5 (after tea). We invite you to take advantage of this special opportunity to deepen your practice and enjoy a longer stay at Dorje Denma Ling. To do so, simply add two nights when registering for Shape Of Awake® and register for Embodied Listening® with this link: LINK TO ADD HERE

Testimonials

What I learned in the retreat was immediately useful and very interesting. Hope helped our  group experience the truth of ‘embodied wisdom.’ She was warm, compassionate, grounded, professional, and deeply informed. Her approach to the body perfectly parallels the compassionate self-observation we are engaged in as meditators. — Celena Matsen

Hope’s gentle encouragement to work with my physical and emotional discomfort helped me develop greater awareness of my recurrent holding patterns, greater trust in my body’s wisdom, and greater capacity to relax. As someone who had always armoured up to meet adversity, I have learned that I can drop the armour and engage difficult situations with greater gentleness and patience. — Mark D.

I find Hope to be a very skilled teacher with a strong intuitive sense of how to work with each individual. Her Alexander work is deep and subtle, and has been extremely helpful in deeply understanding some of the principles of meditation posture that had eluded me for many years. — Michael Chender

Other Useful Links

Registration and Cancellation Policy

What to Bring & Transportation