Five Invitations Retreat

with Frank Ostaseski, Norman Fischer, Rachel Naomi-Remen, M.D., Kim Rosen, Irene Smith, and friends
Thursday October 1 - Sunday October 4, 2020
Santa Sabina Center, San Rafael, California
Presented by the Metta Institute

(Waitlist only)

Tens of thousands of people have been captivated, inspired and transformed by reading The Five Invitations: Discovering What Death Can Teach Us About Living Fully. Now, we are offering an in-depth training retreat focused on the material developed in the book. This year's program includes new subject matter, tools for being an advocate for ill family and friends, experiential learning and an deeper integration of western psychology and eastern spiritual wisdom.

Why This Retreat

The Five Invitations are mutually supportive principles, permeated with love, that are reliable guides for living a life of integrity, meaning and purpose. They have proven invaluable for anyone navigating a life transition, coping with loss or serious illness or simply wanting to understand the wisdom that death reveals about what matters most. The invitations are a synthesis of Frank’s 30 years of accompanying more than 1000 people and their families through the process of dying.

"Death is not waiting for us at the end of a long road. Death is always with us, in the marrow of every passing moment.
She helps us to discover what matters most."

Retreat Description

The Five Invitations Residential Retreat will be a powerful, inspiring and interactive exploration of the essential wisdom dying has to teach about waking up fully to our lives. The retreat offers a deep immersion into The Five Invitations and their application in our lives. It’s an opportunity to turn inward, to cultivate self-awareness, to connect with others in mutual discovery and to develop the necessary skills to engage and sustain compassionate action

What You Will Learn

Using the Five Invitations as our structure, participants will have the opportunity to learn about:

Play Sample Audio Clip:
Frank Ostaseski
Welcome Everything Push Away Nothing

Don’t Wait: A pathway to fulfillment and an antidote to regret.

• Cultivate open-hearted, moment-to-moment, non-judgmental awareness.
• Understand that mature hope requires a clear intention and a simultaneous letting go.
• How forgiveness goes to the heart of the matter.
• How to advocate for ill friends and family in the healthcare system.

Frank Ostaseski Founder Metta Institute Author: The Five Invitations

Welcome Everything, Push Away Nothing: To welcome everything is an act of love.

• Increase individual capacity to remain present for suffering.
• Learning to listen and communicate from three levels - body, heart and mind.
• Ability to care profoundly, without becoming overwhelmed.

Bring Your Whole Self to the Experience: Wholeness doesn’t mean perfection. It means no part left out.

• Develop practices that contribute to acceptance, resilience, receptivity and responsiveness.
• Unpack the challenges of caregiver roles and self-identity.
• Cultivating universal and everyday compassion.

Find a Place of Rest in the Middle of Things: Rest that is not dependent on managing conditions.

• Cultivating three levels of courageous presence.
• Unique approaches to mindful and compassionate care.
• Shaking the addiction to busyness, multi-tasking and productivity to the point of exhaustion.

Cultivate Don’t Know Mind: An invitation to empty our minds and open our hearts.

• Explore the relationship between Acceptance, Surrender, Chaos, and Transformation.
• Embracing uncertainty. Letting go of fixed expectations and being open to outcome.
• Opening to the Mystery inherent in life and death.

Who should attend

We encourage previous participants to attend again in order to deepen their experience and understanding of the Five Invitations. The retreat may be of particular interests to healthcare clinicians, hospice volunteers, or family caregivers. However, the retreat may be equally appealing to individuals wanting to explore their personal relationship to death and its wisdom for living fully. All are welcome. No previous experience is required.

Continuing Education Credits

Information coming soon

Costs:

Price includes Tuition, Single/Double Occupancy or Commuter Day Use and 8 Meals for 4 days and 3 nights.

Tuition & Single Occupancy -$890

Tuition, Double Occupancy - $790

Tuition, Commuter Day Use and Meals -$690

Refund Policy


• Cancellation notice received more than 45 days before the retreat start date: Full refund less a $50 processing fee.
  
• Cancellation notice received less than 45 days before the retreat start date: No refund.
  

Metta Institute

This training retreat is a program of the Metta Institute. All net proceeds will be directed to support the on-going operations of the Metta Institute.

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