One-day online retreat
This day-long retreat, led by John Makransky, PhD, introduces Sustainable Compassion Training — a practice drawn from Tibetan Buddhism and modern psychology to help participants connect with innate qualities of awareness, warmth, and unconditional compassion. Through guided meditations, talks, and discussion, it offers those with some prior mindfulness or compassion practice a supportive space to deepen that practice further.

The retreat
The programme of training introduced in this retreat, adapted from Tibetan Buddhism with input from modern psychology, is called Sustainable Compassion Training. From a Tibetan Buddhist perspective, our innate awakened nature, often referred to as ‘Buddha nature’, is the basic space of our being undivided from tremendous capacities of awareness, warmth, unconditional love, compassion, and wisdom.

These awakened capacities are always available below our surface consciousness, in the ground of our experience, but hidden by our habits of self-clinging thought and reaction.

In this retreat, we will explore several ways derived from Tibetan Buddhism to become increasingly receptive and transparent to qualities of this innate nature – through sense experience, through relational fields of loving connection, and by settling directly into the intrinsic openness, luminosity, and unconditional warmth of our pre-conceptual awareness. These qualities help us start to unify with their source in the ground of our experience, our Buddha nature. From that depth, we can learn to sense others in their depth, and to hold them in the same unconditional, compassionate qualities.

This contemplative process also empowers our ability to discern the empty, constructed nature of all thoughts and reactions that ordinarily impede care and compassion, freeing the mind for further access to innate awakening capacities that are prior to such constructions.

In this day-long retreat, we will adapt this pattern of practice from Tibetan Buddhism, with some assistance from modern psychology, to make it accessible for people of all backgrounds and faiths who have previous contemplative experience and seek an accessible way to cultivate unconditional love and wisdom.

The retreat is running from 12 to 7pm (GMT time), with a break between 3pm and 4pm. It will include short talks that introduce guided meditations, Q&A, and discussion.

Who’s it for?
The retreat is designed for people with some experience of mindfulness and/or compassion practice who want to deepen their practice in a supportive, safe environment. At a minimum participants should have a daily practice of meditation or prayer and have previously done a daylong retreat or more.

Teacher
John Makransky, PhD

Attendance certificates
This all-day retreat counts towards the requirements to attend silent retreats as part of your BAMBA registration as a mindfulness teacher. Certificates of attendance can be supplied on completion of the day’s training, if requested.