Saturday, the 4th and Sunday, the 5th of October

friends during walking meditation, in the CDI with always-young Adela on the right!

Just like in Chile, the organizers of all our events in Ecuador have worked so harmoniously and generously and the weekend retreat is very successful. Because a discount is granted to the participants under 35 years old, 30 of them have been able to register and we can form 2 Wake Up groups, added to 5 regular Dharma families. We propose a program similar to the retreat in Chile; and this time Sr Boi Nghiem (Sr Pearl) and Br Stream explain the basic practices of mindfulness on the first morning, while Br Phap Lieu (Br Healing) and Sr Su Nghiem offer the teaching the next day. They help us to understand clearly the way our mind and deeper consciousness work and how we can develop Right Diligence to give rise to wholesome states of mind. The retreatants laugh with Br Phap Lieu’s honest report of how a monk is challenged by images in the streets of female models lightly dressed; then they are moved to tears as they listen to the story of Sr Su Nghiem’s love letter to her father for his 60^th birthday, which listed 60 (or more) of his qualities... She was happy to write it, to send it, and to receive the reply “I have been waiting for this my whole life.” This love letter was sent to only one person in France but now it touches the heart and inspires many on the other side of the globe! After deep relaxation, Dharma sharing and taking photos of the whole community in the garden, after selling all the books of our teacher and the meditation bells that were left in our traveling store, we sit in the dojo for a light dinner and be-in to celebrate the happiness and transformation brought about by these 2 days of practice as a Sangha. A Brother from the Tibetan tradition shares his joy to experience this kind of Zen retreat. All the couples and families are invited to practice hugging meditation with one another. As in each event held so far, we propose that a local Sangha can be formed to continue the practice after the monastics have left and we close the circle by singing a beautiful “Sin venir, sin partir.”

Friday, the 3th of October

We spend a whole day of mindfulness with 150 people -mostly educators and students, at Politecnica, a very prestigious university. We introduce mindful breathing by picking up a rose as an example : "We, just like the rose, need fresh air to be nourished, to grow and to offer our freshness to the world." After the guided sitting meditation, Sister Su Nghiem teaches about the use of the bell in our tradition : "We train ourselves to wake up at every breath. We wake up to the present moment, we wake up to life. The bell is a tool that helps us to do so." Then we share about the practice of flower watering : "We have the tendency to be over-critical towards ourselves and others. If we learn how to recognize and talk about others' good qualities, we can help them grow more confident as a young man or woman." We then stand up and visualize ourselves as trees, first in peaceful weather, then meeting wind, our head and arms swaying and finally amidst the storm, our upper body getting more and more agitated. 

visualizing ourselves as trees as a way to teach about dealing with strong emotions

In this exercise, the wind represents a strong emotion, where we tend to stay "up-in-our-head" and get easily disturbed. We are therefore invited to practice conscious belly breathing, with our feet well rooted in the earth, so as to take refuge in the zone of stability and solidity within. 

ater walking meditation, we sing songs before listening to brother Joaquin sharing about mindful eating

During Dharma sharing, almost everyone shares his or her happiness for having the chance to meet with simple but at the same time deep methods to improve one's quality of life. To conclude the day together, Brother Phap Luu explains how to build communities of educators and young people. As a parting gift, the choir from the University offers all participants four wonderful songs conveying the great poetry of Ecuadorian culture as well as its warm, swinging rythms.

Thursday, the 2nd of October

A sunny, lazy morning in Adela's house at Tumbaco, before we go to the Centro de Desarollo Integral for an interview with a journalist meditator from Vistazo. a widely read bi-monthly magazine. This lady is very understanding of us and asks only questions relating to the practice of mindfulness and our community...In fact, she is also going to join our week-end retreat with her husband. 

For lunch, we are invited to eat at Tinku, a lovely permaculture centre in this city of Quito. Marcos welcomes us and introduces the garden, the eco-construction workshops and the design of the centre which takes into account all elements like wind, rain, sunshine, shade, soil, plants, animals and humans. Chari and Elisa are ready to serve us another delicious, vegan Ecuadorian meal including memorable empanadas filled with spinach, raisins and garlic. Again we feel so much gratitude for the openness and the trust manifested towards us: Marcos says that if we want, a Quito Sangha can hold their practice sessions here at Tinku.

There isn’t yet time to discuss this offer as we need to head to the Simon Bolivar University for our first evening of mindfulness with the title “Liberate your mind, change your world.” 

educators and students meet to learn about mindfulness

About 120 people come to attend, among them students and teachers. Among the nice moments that evening, we’ll remember the cellular phone mirror exercise:  holding your mobile in fromt of you while it’s still turned off, smiling at your reflection, then making an angry face and smiling again. We can say to ourself “I love you” before making a call to a loved one. How can we change the world if we don’t have compassion for ourself? If we want to liberate our mind, to love and be loved, we need a spiritual dimension in all activities of our daily life. We also need to look deeply into our consumption of the four kinds of nutriments, taking in healthy edible foods, sense impressions, aspiration and thoughts. After a peaceful walking meditation at dusk, it seems that the community has released worries with each step; the faces are brightening up and the smiles blooming. We begin eating meditation and realize that here in Ecuador, most people are still very fortunate to gather as a family for every meal. Lastly we take questions from the participants, one of them being asked by a representative of the Ministry of Well-being (Ministerio del Buen-Vivir, yes, the government of Ecuador has such a department) on the issue of increasing violence in teenage boys. The Brothers and Sisters suggest that we respond to these young people with understanding of the difficult circumstances that have brought them to such behaviors, and that we do all we can to give them love and attention rather than punishment. Also we strongly encourage the adults to teach mindfulness and compassion to children from the youngest age and to build safe, loving environments where the seed of violence is no longer watered.

senior educators singing mindfully

Tuesday, the 30th of September

the publicity found in the Quito international airport

"All you need is Ecuador". This is the publicity of the Ministry of Tourism, and one must say it is very hard not to be amazed by the great beauty and richness of this small country. From the Andes mountains, the Amazon forest to the world-renowned Galapagos islands, Ecuador is the home of beautiful and kind people, a wide variety of fruits and vegetables throughout the year and almost every species one can think of. Did I say 'almost'? Yes! Because this morning marks the introduction of...Plum Village monks and nuns!

We are welcomed at the airport by smiling friends wearing the 'vivir despiertos' t-shirt. What is most surprising is that the great majority of them have never actually been to Plum Village. They have discovered the path of mindfulness through Thay's books and on-line Dharma talks and have spontaneously come together to make this week possible.