The Path of Meditation and Embodiment

The Path of Meditation and Embodiment is a four-night meditation retreat at Drala Mountain Center in Red Feather Lakes, Colorado. It combines seated meditation with embodiment practice, tai chi, chi gung and yoga, and it welcomes both beginners and dedicated meditators. The retreat is led by Susan Aposhyan and Larry Welsh, who have both taught meditation since the 1980s.

What to Expect

The premise is that meditation and embodiment both arise from the present moment, and that using them together gives you more than one way into it. The days are built around kindness and ease: being with breath, body, emotions, mind and one another, and finding a flow that is yours rather than a form to match.

Practice draws on tai chi, chi gung, yoga, Core Flow and Embodiment Practice. In Embodiment Practice you feel the sensations in your body and let them move, breathe, sound or rest. Sitting meditation includes postural support, embodied meditation and breath techniques, with attention given to breathing into the haras, hearts and bellies. Tai chi sensing hands offers a way to practice with other people. You move between indoors and outdoors, and between sitting, standing, lying and walking, with periods of mindful inquiry and silence. Silence is brought in as the teaching calls for it, so this is not a fully silent meditation retreat. There is also support for personal issues and inquiry when it would help, which suits anyone arriving in a difficult season.

The daily rhythm is steady:

- Breakfast, 7:00 to 9:00am
- Morning teaching, 9:30am to 12:30pm
- Lunch, 12:30 to 2:00pm
- Afternoon teaching, 2:30 to 5:30pm
- Dinner, 5:30 to 7:00pm

Check-in is on the first afternoon between 2:00 and 5:00pm, and the retreat ends with departure by 12:30pm on the last day.

About Susan Aposhyan

Susan Aposhyan is the founder and director of Body-Mind Psychotherapy and trains helping professionals internationally in that approach. She was the founding director of the somatic psychotherapy program at Naropa University until 1999, and she is a Body-Mind Centering teacher. She has published three books. The most recent, Heart Open, Body Awake: 4 Steps to Embodied Spirituality (Shambhala Press), describes her approach to embodied meditation, Core Flow and Embodiment Practice.

About Larry Welsh

Larry Welsh has taught tai chi at Naropa University since 1985. He is an acupuncturist whose practice also incorporates herbs and nutrition. He and Susan are married, and both have been teaching meditation since the 1980s.

The Setting

Drala Mountain Center sits in Red Feather Lakes, and the retreat makes use of the natural setting, with practice moving outdoors as well as in. Meals and drinks are included, and lodging is chosen and billed separately from tuition. Extra nights can be added at a 50 percent discount.

Lodging options include:

- Off campus, commuting from your own home, a short-term rental or nearby camping in Red Feather
- Car camping in primitive spots in the Rigden lot, in a fully self-contained vehicle with no tents or other gear set up outside it
- Single or double platform tents near the main campus or in the more remote Maitri Village, each near a bathhouse
- Dormitories, gender-segregated, with beds for up to seven and shared bathrooms with showers down the hall
- Monk rooms, private and simple, with a bed, bedding, closet, desk and large window, and a shared bathroom
- Single and double rooms, each with a dresser, closet and attached three-quarter bath
- Lodge junior suites, with a queen bed, sitting area and private bath with a tub

Before You Go

No prior experience is needed, and the retreat is equally meant for people with an established practice. It is taught in English. Tuition covers the teaching sessions, and meals and drinks are provided. Platform tents come without bedding, so bring twin sheets, a blanket or sleeping bag, and a pillow. Travel to Drala Mountain Center is your own to arrange.