Mindfulness on the Mountain

“Nailed to Your Own Predicament”

“I liked those singers who would just lay out their predicament
and tell their story, and I thought I could be one of those guys.”
— songwriter Leonard Cohen

In this weekend retreat we’ll explore the experience of predicament: both the universal “human predicament,” and our more particular and personal experiences of being nailed to our own predicaments.

We’ll begin our days using two simple and easy contemplative practices: guided meditation and the gentle mindful movements of Qigong. Together these practices serve to quiet the discursive analytical mind and open the heart to the embodied “felt sense” of the present moment and what it’s like to be “nailed” to one predicament or another. This will be a contemplative teaching retreat: alternating quiet contemplative space and sharing.

Gordon will share his experiences of being with persons nailed to their own predicaments, as well as what he’s found that has been life-saving for himself when nailed to his own predicaments and heart-brokenness. The text for the retreat will be Gordon’s new book, for which a galley proof can be found here:

http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/invited/8061723/b081e4492c8a90a603848e6be1a8b77dbf98f772

Although the subject matter of the retreat  has a certain gravity, it’s Gordon’s hope that participants can also access what’s on “the other side” of predicament and heart-brokenness: a kind of quiet wisdom and open-hearted compassion for what we human creatures experience in this embodied life.

The Rev. Gordon Peerman, DMin, is an Episcopal priest and leader of One River Wisdom School Nashville, a mindfulness meditation group in Nashville. He has been engaged with contemplative practices, including Centering Prayer, mindfulness meditation, yoga, and chi gong since 1975. He has taught Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction at Vanderbilt and St. Thomas Health Services, as well as classes in Buddhist Christian Dialogue at Vanderbilt Divinity School. He is the author of Blessed Relief: What Christians Can Learn from Buddhists about Suffering. He lives in Nashville.