CREATING YOUR VIRTUAL RETREAT ENVIRONMENT
Meditation practice is supported and enhanced by a tight retreat container in which our normal activities and distractions are kept to a minimum. The borders of our retreat enable us to go deeply into our practice experiences. Like cooking a good stew, we want to keep the heat steady and the lid on. During this virtual retreat we invite you to do your best in creating this container in your own home.
Technical & Retreat Guidelines
- Please don’t multitask while online with our community.
- Engage as fully as you would if we were in person.
- Everyone will be muted during the majority if not the entirety of the retreat to cut down on feedback and extraneous sounds.
- The session facilitator will provide specific guidelines for when to submit a question or a comment while a live session is underway.
- Troubleshoot your audio issue using Zoom’s audio help guide. You might also try leaving the event and rejoining it.
- It is helpful for creating community to allow your video to be on during the meetings.
- Please keep your audio on mute so that we can hear the speaker clearly.
- Troubleshoot any video issues by using Zoom’s video/camera help guide
Your Space
- Pick a place where you will sit to receive teachings and to practice. Be intentional about your choice of space. Where do you feel most awake, receptive and at ease? Where is the view supportive of your practice? Where can you be undisturbed?
- Set up your chair/cushion in advance, along with a side table for a notebook, water, and anything you’ll need during our sessions. Make sure you have an outlet nearby to plug in your computer.
- Uplift your space in some way, perhaps with a flower or a candle, or a small shrine.
We at Tara Mandala wish you an enriching and inspiring experience. We are here to support you.
May All Beings Benefit!
How to Prepare for a Multi-Day Retreat
- Create your personal schedule aside from our meeting times. Decide when you’ll get up in the morning and go to bed at night, have your meals, do exercise and/or go outside. Short naps can be wonderful during retreat, so you could consider building in 20-30 minutes for this each day.
- Turn off social media, news and other entertainment. Take care of any critical communications before our retreat, so that outside communications are kept to a minimum during our days together.
- If you live with other people in your home, discuss your retreat with them ahead of time, including your intentions, motivation, and personal schedule. Supporting someone in retreat can be quite rewarding, so consider how those you live with might help you by cooking meals or taking care of housework.
- If you have children, decide when you’ll spend time with them. Consider sharing with them some of what you’re learning each day.
- Buy and prepare food in advance so that you don’t have to go shopping during our retreat.
- Have a Bell, Vajra and Damaru in your space if you have them (you can also purchase them in our Dakini Store).
- If a Tsog (Tantric Feast) is scheduled for the last day of this retreat, you’ll want a variety of food items: sweet, salty, sour, bitter, astringent, meat and alcohol. Make sure you have these in advance. Ideally, these are unopened packages of food / drink. You’ll need 4 small plates worth of food.