March 16-17, 2024

11:00 am - 6:30 pm EST

About the Training

Awakened heart comes from being willing to face your state of mind. 

The sitting practice of meditation is a means to awaken this within you.

 —Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche

Deepen your meditation practice, and continue along the path of the Shambhala teachings on warriorship, in this weekend retreat.

Awakened Heart: Shambhala Training Level IV builds on the presentation of basic goodness in Shambhala Level I,  the teachings on “cocoon” in Shambhala Level II, and the exploration of fearlessness in Level III. With trust in basic goodness and daring to experience the sharp edge of reality, we move forward with gentleness, increased awareness, and inquisitiveness about the world, as it is. We can extend ourselves to others fully and with kindness.

We will expand our meditation practice further, building on the mindfulness-awareness techniques learned in Shambhala Training Levels I, II, and III, and exploring real techniques for how to be even more present for both ourselves and others with more care and curiosity.

Included in the Retreat

• Guided meditation instruction
• Sitting and walking meditation
• Talks by an experienced teacher 
• Silent periods
• Question & answer periods
• Group discussions
• Individual meetings with a trained Meditation Instructor 
• Connecting with people interested in meditation and discovering the brilliance of the world around them!

Prerequisite

Shambhala Training Level III. Awakened Heart is the fourth retreat in a progressive series of weekend retreats, meaning each weekend is a requirement for the following weekend.

About Shambhala Training

Shambhala Training is designed to help us develop fearlessness, confidence, openness and gentleness towards ourselves and our world. These qualities arise out of meditation practice and the study of Shambhala warriorship principles. 

Developed by Chögyam Trungpa in 1976, Shambhala Training offers teachings based on the vision that every human being has a natural source of innate wakefulness that we can discover, cultivate and express in our life.

This path is open to anyone seeking to develop gentleness and strength through meditation. Shambhala Training is a series of contemplative workshops suited for both beginning and experienced meditators. The simple and profound technique of mindfulness-awareness meditation can benefit people of any spiritual tradition and way of life.

Meditation practice helps us to examine our states of mind without trying to change them. This practice encourages openness to oneself and what’s around us, and transforms the way we habitually see our life and our world. Our old habits and patterns become more transparent, leaving room for a more direct appreciation of situations.

The “Heart of Warriorship” curriculum consists of five weekend retreats that include meditation training and practice, talks by senior teachers, personal interviews, and group discussions. These retreats provide a strong foundation in mindfulness-awareness meditation practice, emphasizing the development of genuineness, confidence, humor, and dignity within the complexity of daily life.

About the Teachers

David Sable was trained and appointed as a meditation teacher in 1975 in New York by Chögyam Trungpa. He became the first Ambassador (Director/Senior Teacher) of the Dharmadhatu/Shambhala Center in Washington, DC in 1978, after several years in charge of organic garbage and retreats at Karmê Chöling in Vermont. He and his family moved to Halifax in 1988 where David continued to teach all levels of Buddhism and Shambhala Training. He served as Shastri (Senior teacher) and teacher trainer from 2010-2013, and an engaged but bewildered grandparent from 2017 to the present. 

David has been teaching courses in Buddhism and Spirituality and Work at Saint Mary’s University continuously since 2000 and earned his doctorate studying the impacts of contemplative practices in the classroom in 2012. His work has been published in scholarly journals and most recently in the edited collection Engaging with Meditative Inquiry in Teaching Learning, and Research (Kumar, 2022) published by Routledge. He is currently working on his own book Mindfulness and Contemplative Interaction for Transformative Learning in Higher Education to be published by Routledge in 2024/2025, depending on Schrödinger's cat.

Trudy Sable, PhD., has been teaching, leading, and participating in courses, programs, and retreats in the Tibetan Buddhist and Shambhala traditions since the mid-1970s. She has been deeply involved with contemplative/embodied practices including Dharma Art, and was the co-editor of the Journal of Contemplative Education with her husband, David Sable, for five years. She has worked cross-culturally both locally and internationally through the University of the Arctic, facilitating community based programs and research with and within Indigenous communities. She is currently an Adjunct Professor in Anthropology at Saint Mary’s University in Kjipuktuk/Halifax, Nova Scotia, as well as the Community Engaged Research Facilitator for the Office of the V.P. Academic and Research as part of Canadian universities’ response to the national Truth and Reconciliation Commission. She has published widely, and is the co-author with Dr. Bernie Francis, of the book The Language of this Land, Mi’kma’ki and co-producer of two documentaries, Nakatuenta: Respect and Wikulpaltimk: Feast of Forgiveness. She especially loves learning and teaching with others to explore the richness of our energies and how we co-create enlightened presences.