June 10-17 Retreat with Stephan Bielfeldt
In-person and Online
Stephan returns to Springwater this year in person from his home near Hamburg, Germany.
This retreat still has some spaces available. Please apply soon if you wish to attend.
Also, please note the change to Stephan's retreat: it will now be fully available online, with timed sittings, daily talks, opportunities for private meetings and daily online group dialogues.
Contact the Center if you would like to see the daily schedule for either the online or in-person versions of the retreat.
Stephan has recently written a book, the English translation, still in manuscript form, is titled "Seven Days in Silence." In it, Stephan writes:
People often ask me if I can recommend a practice that can help to quiet down the mind and stop the endless flow of thought. We are each of us free to look within, to see what is taking place in the moment, but I don’t consider this a practice. It’s wonderful when there is a moment of stillness and silence, but it is not the purpose of meditation to make it happen. It isn’t a matter of pursuing a goal, but rather of realizing that we are pursuing a goal. We have to see the importance of stillness and quietening down, without getting stuck in trying to get there. Indeed, observing our own striving,in order to better understand what is going on, is an essential part of this way of meditating. Often, we ar not even aware that we are trying to get somewhere, that we are trying to reach a goal.
For more information about Stephan, including talks and articles, visit his teacher page on the website.