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This summer saw many friends visit the Center– guests, members, former staff, plus new and enthusiastic volunteers. Thank you everyone, whether you simply shared your presence, or worked in the kitchen, office, housekeeping, garden or construction departments. It’s wonderful to see a return to vibrancy after the uncertainty of the pandemic.
The online community too continued to participate as they met, sat and dialogued together. Keep reading for information about many opportunities to join in the Center’s meditative work online or in person in the coming months.
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Staff Opening at Springwater Center
The Center is still looking for people interested in volunteering and/or joining staff. The main benefit is the opportunity to attend many retreats and to work with the Center’s meditative community in the spirit of the work of its founder Toni Packer. A five-week period of volunteering is a requirement before being accepted on staff. If you have interest or questions about joining staff or scheduling time to come visit and volunteer, please email info@springwatercenter.org.
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Seven Day Silent Retreat with Richard Witteman
September 17-24th
Register here to participate in-person or online.
Richard Witteman will lead this 7-day retreat, online via Zoom, from his home in northern CA.
Richard has been leading retreats at Springwater since 2003. He began meditative work in 1971, and was a student of Roshi Philip Kapleau at the Rochester Zen Center for ten years. In 1982 he began working with Toni Packer, and has been part of Springwater Center since its inception.
Richard wrote, “Meditation is an invitation to wonder and curiosity. An invitation to soften around our ideas of what life is or should be, and to enter into the fullness of our moment to moment experience. To be here with the same spirit of wonder and curiosity we had as children – allowing everything to be fresh and unknown. Its an invitation to discover for ourselves the miracle of awareness.”
As Richard will be participating remotely, a screen will be set up in the sitting room during the talk and group dialogue. There is still in-person and online space available for this retreat with Richard. Please email Stacey at info@springwatercenter.org for more information.
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Retiro de Indagacion Meditativa
September 16-19th, Online Event
This Retreat doesn’t require any previous experience. If you are interested and need more information about the schedule and its agenda or want to reserve a space, please e-mail Sandra Gonzalez or Corrine Stoewsand. The spirit of this retreat is what has been referred to as “the work of this moment” by Toni Packer, the founder of Springwater Center. This work is an invitation to be here now observing, listening, wondering or questioning whatever unfolds in the moment, with an open mind that is ready and alert. For more information about Sandra Gonzalez click here.
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Teacher/Facilitator Dialogue Session
Saturday, October 15th, 1:30-4:30pm EST
Online event
Following a 25-minute minute sitting, two or more Springwater Teachers will dialogue about a specific theme or question. An open group dialogue will conclude the online event. Questions or themes of interest can be emailed to info@springwatercenter.org.
The day’s event will take place in the same Zoom room used for our other online programs. If you need the link, please email reception for assistance.
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Four Day Silent Retreat
In-Person with Stew Glick
October 21-25
Stew Glick began working with Roshi Phillip Kapleau at the Rochester Zen Center around 1971. He later began working closely with Toni Packer and came on the Zen Center staff in 1979, and has been giving talks and leading retreats at Springwater Center since the mid-1990’s.
He writes, “An important ingredient in meditative inquiry is this act of open listening. Listening, wondering and not knowing: this can all happen alone or together with like-minded people. Looking together with others has the opportunity wherein someone might point something out that we haven’t noticed or seen before. In the spirit of something Nisargadatta – an Indian teacher – once said, in an instance such as this . . .’What does it matter, who is who?! What matters most is the looking itself – in which there is truly no ‘me’ and no ‘you’. Can we meet together in that spirit?'”
Hear talks and see articles from Stew here.
There are still a handful of spaces open for this retreat. Register here.
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All Day Sitting
with talk by Bob Dattola
October 29th In-Person event
Join us for a day of quiet and listening. The All Day’s optional schedule begins at 8:30 am and includes timed and untimed sittings, a talk offered by Bob Dattola, a vegetarian lunch and an afternoon group dialogue.
Participants are invited to stay overnight as guests.
Only the day’s talk will be broadcast live over Zoom. Please contact reception with questions at info@springwatercenter.org for more details.
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Online Offerings
Online events offer new possibilities for sharing in the work of this moment with others. See our online offerings calendar for the schedule of online sittings, Saturday Programs and Facilitator Dialogue Sessions.
These events are available at no cost, while donations are always appreciated to sustain the work of the Center. Auto-debit options are also now available for your convenience.
Click here to listen to the talk from a recent online Saturday Program. Chosen in honor of the 9th anniversary of Toni’s passing, this talk addresses absorption in thoughts and feelings of self concern.
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Talks Available Online Live During In-Person Retreats
During in-person retreats, talks can be accessed live for those unable to be here. By logging into the Zoom room used for other online offerings at the scheduled time of talks, you can remotely listen to talks live at no cost. Please note recordings of any retreat talks are available for a fee.
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Still to come in late fall…
There is more to look forward to with our last Quiet Week of 2022 from November 5-11, and Sandra Gonzalez‘s retreat November 12-19th. If you’d like to plan ahead, reservations are being being accepted for all upcoming events. And stay tuned for the 2023 calendar coming soon!
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Center Closed 9/25-10/3
The Center will close on September 25th for a staff break after an eventful summer. The Center will reopen for guests again beginning October 4th.
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40th Anniversary
A new memory of the Center’s early days has been received from old friend and staff member Peter MacLachan. Use this link to access the page, and if you too have memories or photos to share, please send them to info@springwatercenter.org.
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COVID Updates
In response to the dynamic nature of COVID, we make every effort to keep our website up to date with the most current information and requirements. If a change occurs for an event you are registered for, we will notify you with as much notice possible.
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