7 Day Online “IAM” Retreat
New Date Announced!
Next live retreat (June 9th-15th, 2024)
Our first ever live online IAM retreat on Dec. 27, 2023 was a huge success! You can now get access to all of the materials and recordings from this retreat to create a retreat in your own home any time.
The online “IAM” retreat has been designed to create the conditions of no escape for the egoic mind, so that its illusions and the veil of the false self drops away. We can’t make awakening happen using the conditioned mind, but through deep surrender, continuous presence and a willingness to enter into a “don’t know mind”, we make awakening more likely. The ATW team has put together the insights and integration tools essential for the deep rewiring and purification of the self structure of samskaras so that Samadhi becomes a permanent stage of development.
Create your own retreat in your home any time using the complete playlist and recordings from the Dec. 27th online retreat*
* Please note that if you are using the pre-recorded retreat you will have to find your own dyad partner to do the evening self inquiry dyads sessions. You can connect with a dyad partner here.
The 7 Day Online”IAM” Retreat
This is a retreat for those who are called to awaken to their true nature. The perennial wisdom is learning to die before you die by letting go of the preferences of the ego and entering into a “don’t know mind”. After 15 years of doing meditation retreats and experimentation we have put together the best tools we have available for awakening and the realization of Samadhi as an evolutionary stage in human development.
This retreat requires a total commitment to engage in continuous practice for 7 days, and a single pointed intention for that period of time. It is not something to fit in around your daily life, but an invitation to put aside everything in order to find out the truth of who you are.
A natural part of awakening involves freeing oneself of samskaras (conditioned patterns) which can be understood as energetic knots that bind identification with the false sense of “I”. The repressed emotions, traumas and incomplete experiences that are hidden in the unconscious will naturally come to the surface to be “purified” or experienced in equanimity so they can be cleared. It is important that participants are willing to move beyond their patterns of seeking comfort and avoidance of pain to allow this process to unfold. The pointers and practices used during the retreat are not intended to add any more doing to the conditioned mind, to achieve anything or to create some experience, but as part of a revealing and stripping away of illusion so that we awaken to the primordial awareness that is always already ever-present.
• Cost: Recommended donation: $200.00
Pay it forward (cover another person’s retreat cost): $400.00
Financial Difficulty: $100.00
• Scholarships: In the spirit of the ancient traditions, in order to preserve the purity of the dharma, The Samadhi Center does not operate to make a profit. We endeavor to make the dharma available and accessible to all and will never turn away someone who sincerely wants to realize their true nature. If you feel a genuine call to this retreat but have no money for an exchange, we have full scholarship options available (in addition to the ‘financial difficulty’ price above for those who can’t afford the whole cost). Please email contact@samadhi.ca for details.
• Time Zone: The live retreat begins at 1PM EST (Eastern Standard Time, or New York Time) UTC -5. If you wish to attend live from another time zone you will have to adjust your schedule accordingly.
Replay videos will be posted as quickly as possible on the main schedule page which you will receive via email before the retreat starts. Generally within an hour or two of any livestreamed event a video link will appear in the schedule area. This will allow people in different times zones to time shift the retreat for their time zone. On the schedule page we also have various videos and teachings from a retreat at the Samadhi Center earlier this year. If for some reason you miss one of the teachings or events, you can listen to the pre-recorded teaching so that you don’t miss anything.
Please do not email us with questions about your time zone, but instead find out the time difference here.
• Replay the Retreat Any Time:
After the retreat we will be making the recordings available in a playlist so that people in other time zones can create their own retreat at a later time (or any time).
• Refund policy: Once the retreat has begun we are unable to provide a refund. We are happy to provide a full refund any time before the retreat has started.
• Languages: The Zoom meeting system that we are using offers live translated captions which enables users to have the live English teachings and questions and answers in the group process automatically translated in real-time to captions in another language. For example, if a meeting participant is speaking in English, other participants can view captions in German, Italian, Japanese, etc. Click here for the instructions on how to enable captions for your language. We are gradually translating the recorded videos into many languages.
Supported languages for translation currently include:
Arabic, Chinese (Traditional), Chinese (Simplified), Czech, Dutch, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Russian, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese.
Supported languages for translation from English only (you will not be able to ask questions or converse, but you will be able to see translation from English) currently include: Bengali, Hebrew, Hindi, Norwegian, Romanian, Swedish, Tamil
• Replays (recordings): After a live retreat we will be putting together all of the recordings into a playlist so that you can re-create the retreat any time on your own. You will have access to the recordings indefinitely and without restriction.
• Recordings and Privacy: Please note that the Q&A sessions and question periods during self inquiry will be recorded and video replays will be available. These videos will not be made public, but will be posted for other participants in the retreat to benefit from. Zoom will automatically announce any session that is being recorded. If you have concerns about being in a video, then please connect with us privately, or turn off your video and/or change your name during the recorded sessions.
• Important Considerations: Although meditation/ self inquiry is of great benefit for most people, it can bring up previous trauma from the past and is not a substitute for medical or psychiatric treatment. If you have unresolved trauma, depression, anxiety, loss (either a significant death, job, home, income…) or are on any mind-affecting drugs we recommend that you address those things before embarking on the “IAM” retreat. Most importantly, if you have been diagnosed with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, borderline or narcissistic personality disorder or similar diagnoses, or you are on antipsychotic, neuroleptic or psychotropic drugs, we do not have the capability to support you at this online retreat. In general the psyche should be relatively healthy and stable before engaging in deep sadhana. If you are unsure whether a meditation retreat is right for you please contact us at contact@samadhi.ca.
“One must seek awakening like one with their hair on fire seeks a pond to jump into.”
~ Ramakrishna
Some elements in the schedule include:
- Continuous inquiry: For seven days we enter into continuous, unbroken practice no matter what we are doing during the day. Even between meditation periods, while you are resting or eating lunch there is an intention to directly experience your true nature.
- Noble Silence: The container of silence is a time tested way to orient towards the inner worlds and to avoid activating the conditioned thinking mind.
- Group Process: There is much value in sharing and learning what others are experiencing on the path, and there is a specific time in the retreat where you will be able to receive clarification and guidance in any areas.
- Meditation: Every day we have five hours of meditation. This is the foundational practice for realizing your true nature. Meditation and self inquiry are eventually realized to be a singular process of stripping away of illusion.
- Self inquiry Dyads: This self inquiry method creates true conditions of no escape for the ego structure. Participants alternate roles in dyads (groups of two), where one person is a witness and the other engages in deep inner investigation to realize their true nature. More about dyads. Please note that if you are using the pre-recorded retreat you will have to find your own dyad partner to do the evening self inquiry dyads sessions. You can connect with a dyad partner here.
- Sound healing: Receive healing vibrations during a period of lying down meditation. Headphones or a high quality sound source is recommended.
- Yoga Nidra: Sleeping yoga or meditation to take you into the sleep cycle.
- Breath Work: Consciously working with the breath to release deep samskaras.
Retreat Schedule
Get access to the recordings
* Please note that if you are using the pre-recorded retreat you will have to find your own dyad partner to do the evening self inquiry dyads sessions. You can connect with a dyad partner here.
