Bring your pursuit of Happiness down to Earth at Far Horizons Retreat Center near the Giant Sequoias! Thursday, June 23 - Sunday June 26, 2011
The remedy for happiness is not in pill form, or high performance engines or the 10th pair of black shoes.
The remedy is not to deny that difficult times are here or to find the silver lining in every cloud, but to foster the positive experiences that are available to the brain so that the circuitry for positive emotions stays charged and showers bright rays when dark clouds pass over the heart.
Invest four days with Lori Granger, LMFT in the splendor of the Sequoia National monument to learn the perceptual skills and mental attitudes you need to begin your intentional happiness practice: Centering, Capability, Contentment and Compassion.
Bring your pursuit of Happiness down to earth with mindfulness meditation, mindful movement and guided imagery in the context of nature, group sharing and individual contemplation.
Affordable housing from campsites to cabins are available and your daily lodging costs include three healthy, hearty, home-cooked vegetarian meals per day. This retreat includes morning/afternoon meditation, movement, Qi-Gong, and introspection under the giant Sequoias will help us to synchronize body and mind and open to a deeper connection with our authentic selves and our intention for happiness in this life.
Amidst the beauty of nature, Lori Granger will teach you to cultivate The Four C's:
Centering: synchronizing body and mind and being grounded in the present
Capability: an enduring sense that we can adjust and adapt to whatever challenges us
Contentment: accepting reality just as it is and being just fine most of the time
Compassion: embracing our struggles with curiosity and love and extending that open-heartedness to others
Mindful Movement will be led by certified Tai Chi Easy Facilitator and Qi Gong Community Leader Andrea De Zubiria, M.S., P.T. Andrea integrates traditional concepts and her physical therapy background with a creative and stimulating teaching style. She makes Qi Gong immediately accessible and easy to learn and she's excited to return to Far Horizons to facilitate mindful moving, attention to breathing and delight in the beauty of Sequoia National Park.
View a photo-slideshow of morning Tai Chi from Practice Happiness 2010!
Ancient wise sages, poets, seekers and today’s spiritual leaders are now joined by neuroscientists in their pronouncements about the pursuit of happiness.
Happiness is a choice!
It requires a set of perceptual skills and mental attitudes that need to be learned and practiced. They are not skills that the culture at large professes or supports. Our culture encourages a pursuit of happiness that largely depends on the “hunter-gatherer” approach: "happiness is out there, in possessions and people that I have to become skilled in acquiring. If I fail to acquire, I feel that I have failed and can then take a pill to feel better."
The old metaphor about the glass half full or empty refers to the perceptual skill of wanting what you have and appreciating the positive while tolerating, even accepting the negative. Current neuroscience, especially Rick Hanson’s work point to the basic brain facts that our minds tend to take in the negative and get stuck in negative thinking patterns while neutral or positive states are quickly taken for granted.
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“Your brain preferentially scans for, registers, stores, recalls and reacts to unpleasant experiences...it’s like Velcro for negative experiences and Teflon for positive ones.” Rick Hanson, Ph.D.
