Love Without Apps Meditation Retreat

SPIRIT JOURNEYS Love Without Apps: Meditation in Action as a Path to True Love WHERE:  Bodhi Manda Zen Center in Jemez, New Mexico WHEN:  Saturday August 10 - Thursday August 15, 2019    WHO: For Gay, Bi, Trans and Questioning Men!   Putting meditation into action to overcome the real challenges of loving yourself, loving each other, & finding someone to love -- without apps!   Love is not a thing to be earned, possessed, won, or given ... it is the quality of an open heart, alive to itself and its world. How many of us have wasted minutes, hours, even days in the hunt for love, or even a little connection: perfecting ourselves, presenting ourselves, creating profiles and checking the apps on our phone constantly, only to find ourselves somehow incapable of really enjoying our lives or the people in them? Have you noticed that the very things you're doing to meet other men make you (and them!) less available for real connection and intimacy? Has the hunt become an addiction of its own? If you have, this is the retreat for you!           For six days, we invite you to unplug from your devices, catch your breath, and remember what it feels like to relax, play, and enjoy the company of other men without the painful quest to possess. In this six-day meditation retreat, we will explore the nature of our own addictive patterns and the ways those patterns rob us of the things we want. We will discover a way of meditating that cultivates true presence and intimacy with our lives, opens our hearts, and makes us available to the goodness and love around us. Finally we will each create, with the support of our brothers, a plan for keeping our hearts open and cultivating deeply fulfilling relationships with ourselves, each other, and our world, free from the compulsive patterns of seeking that have kept us from what we truly want. Join us for a week-long exploration of joyful meditation, powerful conscious breathing, and learning how to relax your mind and body into joyful, loving presence. You will never think of love, your breath, your meditation, or your life, the same way again!    This restful, playful and profound meditation retreat will give you a foundation in sitting and walking meditation as practiced in the Zen Buddhist tradition, integrated with a wholehearted and embodied exploration of being fully human through powerful conscious breathing, movement practices, dance, deep sensing exercises, chanting, and heart circles. Conscious breathing, the cornerstone of spiritual practices around the world, will show us how to relax habitual patterns in the mind and body, soften our rigid sense of self, perceive the subtle fields of living energy and interdependent relationship that we arise from, and touch the truth of our own awakened nature. We will also be drawing on some of the most beautiful Buddhist teachings from Dogen and other Buddhist practitioners throughout time in our exploration and practice of the four boundless attitudes in our everyday lives. Every afternoon will offer free time to unwind and build friendships that can last a lifetime.   YOUR GUIDES   Hunter Flournoy is the owner and director of Spirit Journeys. A heart-centered life coach, therapist, and spiritual healer, Hunter teaches skills for self-love, conscious breathing, and spiritual practice to help people break free from shame, trauma, and addiction, and create joyful lives. He is a certified Somatic Breath Therapist and a pioneer in the use of breathwork in trauma and addiction treatment, and his work integrates two decades as a licensed psychotherapist with twenty-five years of experience in the world's shamanic and mystical traditions, including the Buddhist, Sufi, Eastern Christian, Toltec, and Currandero traditions. Hunter offers individual sessions by phone and in person, retreats, ceremonies, and journeys around the world. To learn more about Hunter and his work, go to www.hunterflournoy.com.   Jiun Hosen, Osho, was appointed Abbess of Bodhi Manda in 1989 and then again on April 10th, 2015. Having begun her training with Joshu Sasaki Roshi in 1979, she has been residing at The Bodhi since 1980. Ordained as a Zen nun at Bodhi Manda Zen Center on April 30, 1983, she received the “Suijishiki” ceremony at the Rinzai-ji Zen Center in Los Angeles, California on July 21, 1988 that recognized her as an Osho (Zen priest). Her compassion, humanity, and dedication have been inspiring Spirit Journeyers for over twenty years. To learn more about the Bodhi Manda Zen Center, visit www.bmzc.org.