Category Archives: Retreats and Events

Spring Renewal Residential Retreat

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Thursday Evening, April 19 to Sunday Noon, April 22; Extended Option to April 26
Bethany Hills Retreat Center, Kingston Springs
Led by Lisa Ernst

Retreat full, email onedharmaretreat@gmail.com to join waitlist

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“Enlightenment is Intimacy With All Things” – Dogen

Each spring the earth awakens from its winter slumber as the days grow warmer and longer. Surrounded by newly leafed trees and rolling hills, we will renew our minds and hearts in the simple yet profound practice of sitting and walking meditation. Gradually this practice will lead us to intimacy with all of life as we touch the present moment with a kind and open heart.

This silent retreat will include sitting and walking meditation, instruction, dharma talks and private meetings with the teacher. Retreat cost is $240 if paid by March 21; $265 after. The seven night option is $495 if paid by March 21; $525 after. A $100 deposit holds your spot. Please indicate if you will be attending the three or seven night option. Fee covers lodging and all meals. There will be a separate opportunity at the retreat to make a dana offering (donation) to the teacher. A scholarship spot is available if you need financial assistance. Paypal is available here. If paying by check, instructions are at this link. Please include your email address. For questions or to join the waitlist, email onedharmaretreat@gmail.com

Lisa Ernst is a meditation teacher in the Thai Forest lineage of Ajahn Chah, Jack Kornfield and Trudy Goodman. She leads classes and retreats nationally and teaches meditation internationally. She is a visiting teacher at Spirit Rock meditation Center in Woodacre, CA.

*Dana: According to the Buddha, generosity, or sharing what we have, is one of the central pillars of a spiritual life. In the act of giving we develop our ability to let go, cultivate a spirit of caring, and acknowledge the inter-connectedness that we all share.

Mindfulness Meditation Workshop for ADHD and Anxiety

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Saturday, February 3, 2018, 9 a.m. – Noon
Nashville Friends House

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Lisa Ernst, meditation teacher and founder of One Dharma Nashville, and Terry Huff, LCSW, psychotherapist and author of Living Well with ADHD, will offer a workshop on meditation for adults with ADHD and/or anxiety. The workshop will include lecture, practice, and discussion and will address the following:

1. Why meditate for ADHD and anxiety?
2. Basics of practice
3. Different practices for
a. selective attention (focusing)
b. open awareness (expanding)
c. compassion (for self and other)

Research shows that mindfulness practice improves concentration, attention regulation, self-observation (of mental activity), working memory, and emotion regulation.

The workshop will be held at The Nashville Friends House, 530 26th Ave N. Cost is $60 and is due by the January 30 registration deadline; after $70. A reduced fee is available if you can’t afford the full fee.

Payment can be made by check or paypal. For Paypal go here. Instructions for paying by check are at the same link. Please include your email address.

Contact ernst.lisa@gmail.com or tmhuff@comcast.net to inquire. Terry’s book is available at terrymhuff.com.

Winter/Spring 2018 Classes, Retreats and Workshops

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2018 Winter/Spring Retreats and Workshops with Lisa Ernst

New Years Half Day Retreat – The Power of Intention: Clarifying Your Path for the New Year, January 1, 2018, 9 a.m. – Noon, Nashville Friends Meeting. Info here.

Advanced Dedicated Practitioner – A Spirit Rock based study program focusing on Dependent Origination and Emptiness. Beginning late January. For experienced meditators. Email ernst.lisa@gmail.com for more information.

Meditation Workshop for ADHD and Anxiety, Lisa Ernst and Terry Huff, Saturday, February 3, 2018, 9 a.m. – Noon. More information TBA

Daylong Workshop – The dharma approach to working with political and emotional unease in the age of outrage. March 2018. More info TBA

Spring Renewal Residential Meditation Retreat, 3 or 7 night option – April 19 – 22 with extended option through 4/26. Bethany Hills Retreat Center, Kingston Springs, TN. Registration opens in January

More 2018 retreats, classes and workshops will be added soon.

New Year’s Half Day Intention Setting Retreat

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The Power of Intention: Clarifying Your Path for the New Year
Monday, January 1 2018, 9 a.m. – Noon
Nashville Friends Meeting
Led by Lisa Ernst

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“One of the Buddha’s most penetrating discoveries is that our intentions are the main factors shaping our lives and that they can be mastered as a skill.” – Thanissaro Bhikkhu

Start your New Year on the cushion by joining us for a half day intention setting retreat. At the beginning of a New Year, it is customary to take stock of our lives and the world we live in, to review the previous year and set our intentions for the upcoming twelve months and beyond. Bringing this evaluation onto the cushion, to look with fresh eyes and an open heart, can help us refine and clarify our direction and to live from the truest part of ourselves.

Led by meditation teacher Lisa Ernst, the retreat will include periods of sitting and walking meditation, dharma talk and discussion. Cost is $50 is due by Thursday, December 28. A reduced fee option is available for those who need financial support. Paypal is available here.  Instructions for paying by check are at this link. Be sure to include your email address For questions, email onedharmaretreat@gmail.com.

The Heart’s True Refuge Residential Retreat

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December 7 – 10, with extended option to December 12
Penuel Ridge Retreat Center, Ashland City TN
Led by Lisa Ernst

Retreat full, email onedharmaretreat@gmail.com to join waitlist

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Please join us for a weekend of meditation at a beautiful, wooded retreat site near Nashville. As winter approaches and daylight wanes, there is a natural inclination to slow down and turn inward. Yet, in the busyness of the holiday season we may forget that true refuge is right where we are. This silent retreat will focus on accessing our steady minds and open hearts. We will cultivate a quality of compassionate presence that embraces our experience with equanimity and insight. Through these practices we begin to dissolve the illusion separateness and taste the joy of the heart’s true refuge.

Led by meditation teacher Lisa Ernst, this silent retreat is suitable for newer as well as experienced meditators. It will include sitting and walking meditation, instructions, dharma talks and q&a. Lodging is shared and tenting spots are available. Retreat fee includes lodging and all meals

The three night option is $240 if paid in full by 10/19; after $265. The five night option is $395 if paid by 10/19; after $425. A $100 deposit will reserve your spot. Please indicate if you will be attending the three or five night option. A reduced fee, scholarship spot is available in the case of financial need. There will be a separate opportunity to make a dana (generosity) offering to the teacher at the retreat. Payments can be made by paypal here. If paying by check, instructions are here. Be sure to include your email address.

Lisa Ernst is a Buddhist Meditation teacher in the Thai Forest lineage of Ajahn Chah, Jack Kornfield and Trudy Goodman. She leads classes, workshops and residential meditation retreats nationally.

For questions email onedharmaretreat@gmail.com.

Making Friends with Fear: Awakening The Courageous Heart in Difficult Times

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Saturday, September 23, 9:00 a.m. – Noon
Nashville Friends Meeting
Led by Lisa Ernst

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Do you often hear messages that fear is bad or wrong and should be eliminated through positive thinking, mindfulness or other methods? In these difficult and challenging times, fear may even overwhelm.

What if we instead began to understand that fear is not wrong, that it is part of our human make up, and that facing it, even embracing it, is a vital part of fostering gratitude, compassion and freedom from suffering. In this workshop we will learn to lean in and make friends with fear by cultivating a courageous heart that embraces all of life without turning away. Through this process we can more readily help ourselves and others; we begin to relax and respond to life through a kind and awakened heart.

The workshop will include discourse on cultivating a courageous heart, experiential instructions in opening to fear, meditation and dharma talk. Cost is $50. A reduced fee option is available in the case of financial needs. Paypal is available here. Please use the “donate” button. If paying by check, instructions are at the same link. Be sure to include your email address. For questions, email onedharmaretreat@gmail.com.

Fall Residential Retreat in The North Georgia Mountains

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Take the Backward Step: Relaxing into Open Awareness
Four Night Residential Retreat, Wednesday, 10/4 through Sunday 10/8
Sautee Lodge, Sautee Georgia, Sponsored by Red Clay Sangha
Led by Lisa Ernst

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“Take the backward step that turns the light and shines it inward.”
– Dogen

How we pay attention, both on and off the cushion, determines our experience. When we take the backward step, letting go of grasping and chasing after experience, the body and mind relax and the heart responds with compassion and clarity. We release the limiting stories of who we are and reconnect with our boundless, empty nature. We rest in the vastness and silence of awareness itself.

This residential 4 night retreat, held mostly in silence is recommended for both beginning and experienced meditators. Format will be Vipassana style sitting and walking segments and will include daily instructions, dharma talks and discussions. For additional details and registration, go here.

Mind Like Sky: An Open Awareness Daylong Retreat

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Saturday, August 26, 2017
Nashville Friends Meeting, 9:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.
Led by Lisa Ernst

All of our thoughts and feelings arise in a field of awareness that is naturally spacious and open. In this retreat we will explore how open awareness practice creates a wider container to meet all of our thoughts and emotions with kindness and compassion. As we deepen into this practice the boundary between inside and outside dissolves and we experience intimacy and interconnection with all things.

This retreat will include periods of sitting and walking meditation, instructions and dharma talk. We will explore the way focused and open attention in meditation support each other. We will learn how open attention can invigorate and sustain, not only our formal practice, but awareness of our daily activities. The retreat is appropriate for newer and more experience meditators.

Cost is $50. A reduced fee spot is available in the case of financial need. There will be a separate opportunity to practice dana (generosity) toward the teacher to support her time and efforts.

Payment can be made by Paypal here, or by check. Instructions for paying by check are at this link.  Please include your email address. Additional retreat information will be provided prior to the retreat. For questions, email onedharmaretreat@gmail.com

Mindfulness Meditation Workshop for ADHD and/or Anxiety

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Saturday, July 29, 2017, 9 a.m. – Noon
Nashville Friends House

Lisa Ernst, meditation teacher and founder of One Dharma Nashville, and Terry Huff, LCSW, psychotherapist and author specializing in adults with ADHD and author of Living Well with ADHD, will offer a workshop on meditation and ADHD and/or anxiety. The workshop will include lecture, practice, and discussion and will address the following:

1. Why meditate for ADHD and/or anxiety?
2. Basics of practice
3. Different practices for
a. selective attention (focusing)
b. open awareness (expanding)
c. compassion (for self and other)

Research shows that mindfulness practice improves concentration, attention regulation, self-observation (of mental activity), working memory, and emotion regulation.

The workshop will be held at The Nashville Friends House, 530 26th Ave N. Cost is $60 and is due by the July 21 registration deadline; after $70. A reduced fee is available to anyone who can’t afford the full fee.

Payment can be made by check or paypal. For paypal, go here and enter the amount due in the “price per item” box. To pay by by check, instructions are at this link. Please include your email address.

Contact ernst.lisa@gmail.com or tmhuff@comcast.net to inquire. Terry’s book is available at terrymhuff.com.

An In Depth Look at November’s Buddhist Tour of India

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For those interested in joining our tour to India in November, here is a closer look at some of the main places we will be visiting.

Bodh Gaya

Bodh Gaya[1]

After touching down and catching our breath for a day in Delhi, our first stop will be Bodh Gaya, where the Buddha attained nirvana sitting under a Bodhi tree. A descendant of that same tree marks the supposed exact spot, and next to it sits the magnificent Mahabodhi “Great Awakening Temple.” It is a very powerful place for meditation and contemplation.

Bodh Gaya is the holiest site in Buddhism and Bodh Gaya has been the most important pilgrimage place for Buddhists for thousands of years. Most Buddhist nations have built a temple here in their own style, and it is also the site for the Dalai Lama’s annual Kalachakra “Wheel of time” tantric initiations.

Varanasi

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From the peace and quiet of Bodh Gaya we will head to the world’s oldest continuously inhabited city, on the banks for the holy river Ganges.

Here we will wander the alleyways of the ancient city, take a boat ride on the Ganges, and witness the aarti prayer ceremonies, where flowers and floating candles are released onto the river.

Varanasi is also the site of the deer park where the Buddha delivered his first sermon, the First Turning of the Wheel of Dharma at Sarnath. Today it is still an important place for Buddhists and a well maintained park centered around the ancient brick stupa, with an excellent museum exhibiting millennia of Buddhist history.

Sikkim

Sikkim[1]

From Varanasi we have a train journey and a drive up to the mountain region of Sikkim in the Himalayan foothills, sandwiched between Tibet, Nepal, and the Buddhist kingdom of Bhutan. Buddhism continues to thrive in the Himalayas, and this is where we will spend the final leg of this tour, to experience life in a living Buddhist culture.

We will be staying with families in village homestays, meeting the monks, and meditating in the local monastery temple. There will also be time for contemplation in the peace of the region, as well as visiting nearby temples and ruins with stunning Himalayan scenery.

Full details and registration can be seen on the website here, and please get in touch with either Lisa at ernst.lisa@gmail.com or Soul of India at nathan@soulofindia.com if you have any questions.