Building Buddha Body - A Meditation and Movement Intensive

Stowel Lake Farm

June 16-22nd, 2022

6 night retreat

with Melissa Berry Appleton and Jill Bodak

Join Melissa and Jill this June for an annual retreat on Salt Spring Island. Stowel Lake Farm is a thriving organic farm, retreat center, and community, located on 100 acres of mixed forests, fields, rocky outcrops and rolling hills. The food, the facilities and the land are an exceptional venue for 'Building Buddha Body.' Our time together will include a blend of sitting and silent practices with the study of movement, breath and sound. The research will be done in our own bodies!

Jill and Melissa met through their connection with Michael Stone sitting long meditation retreats at Chapin Mills Zen Centre.  They both have a love for practice and the ways it shows up in our lives and our bodies. 

Jill is an Osteopath from Toronto, a soon-to-be parent, a dog lover and a writer. She has a passion for sharing her understanding of human anatomy in a way that helps soothe an ache we all share... "How do I live in this body?"

Melissa is a Buddhist Chaplain, yoga teacher, mother of baby birds who have mostly flown the nest and a current graduate school student with a long history of teaching and guiding retreats. She is a master student of the domestic monastery and the body as the wisest resource.

Together we will explore what it means to 'Build Buddha Body.' Through the study of a Buddhist text on 'intimate attention to breath' as well as the mechanics of breathing as they show up in structural anatomy, movement, stillness and sound. We will sit a little, move a little and listen a lot. We will do the hard work to come home to this Buddha Body, which is our own true nature and is right here already, alive and available. 

The first four days of retreat offer an immersive daily schedule of sitting, chanting, movement, farm work, rest and good food. The fifth day of retreat offers a lighter schedule with wide open free time to explore the island and connect with new and old friends.

This retreat welcomes diversity in gender, race and form.  There will be four bursaries offered to people of the BIPOC and LGBTGQ+ community as a means to remove financial barriers to participation for those whose lived experience is perpetually laced with institutional bias and discrimination.  We are grateful for the generosity of former retreat guests who make this possible.  An application for bursary is available here: (link) and completed forms can be sent to our retreat coordinator,  Naomi Moses (@.....). Individuals representing marginalized people who are actively engaged in outreach or social justice initiatives are highly encouraged to apply, in the hopes that these teachings may ripple out to the communities in which you serve.

For more information on Melissa's work and teaching visit www.melissaberryappleton.com
For more information on Jill's work and teaching visit Anatomy on Purpose OR IG:@anatomyonpurpose

We would love to share this time with you. 
May it benefit all beings. 

Bowing,
Melissa and Jill

Nourished by the Farm

Our incredibly talented kitchen team provides a seasonally inspired farm to table experience, featuring our own fresh organic produce. In direct collaboration with our farmers, retreat meals are prepared simply and beautifully to feature the natural flavourful vitality of fresh whole food ingredients. Meals are served buffet style including options for dairy free, gluten free and vegan. This is one of the many things that keeps people returning to retreat year after year.

Rooms

Our charming & cozy accommodations are all located close to the main facilities. Well built, beautifully crafted, and maintained. Guests will enjoy clean, comfortable bedding with duvets and towels. The yurts have heat and power. 

Getting To Stowel Lake Farm

Stowel Lake Farm on Salt Spring Island is just beautiful.  Check it out here ~

https://www.stowellakefarm.com/aboutus

You are probably travelling by ferry my friends - possibly by bike, foot or car.  If in the event you leave your car behind, we can pick you up and drop you off at the ferry.  We will arrange pick up times one month prior to retreat.

What to Bring

- Bring layered clothes for varying temperatures inside and outside - last June was hot!

- Swim suit for ocean dips.

- Flashlight

- Journal and pen.

- Hat, sun screen.

- Loose, comfortable and modest clothing.

- Outdoor wear for helping on the farm.

- Darker shades of clothing without logos and print for meditation (black, navy, grey, brown).

Cancellations

A deposit of 500 dollars is refundable up until April 1st, 2022.  There will be no refunds on all payments past April 16th 2022.  If there is a waitlist for retreat, or someone to take your place, you will receive a refund minus a 100 dollar administration fee.  If you can't attend retreat for a serious medical condition, you will be refunded 80 percent of your payment with the presentation of a formal medical doctor's note.  This would include things like Covid, broken bones and surgery dates.

I am a Buddhist Chaplain trained at Upaya Zen Centre, student of Roshi Joan Halifax and lay-ordained in the Soto Zen Prajna Mountain Order.  Chaplaincy guides me to consider how I might come along side the ways people suffer, while supporting the restoration of goodness in their body, heart/mind, and world.  I have 20 years of Yoga training as a teacher.  My classical training in Iyengar and Ashtanga has morphed like a jazz musician through time into a creative practice to meet our 21st century bodies.  I gather the resources of my life, the generosity of my teachers and 2500 years of wisdom through lineage to consider what might serve.  

My current work explores The Domestic Monastery, community life, ritual/ceremony, cultural anxiety, trauma, addiction, consumption of information technology, time, and the greater impact on the future of our world.  How does self-care and spiritual formation serve as a collective 'we care' ultimately unfolding our greatest aspirations for parenting, partnership, intimacy, ecological connection, social justice, meaningful work, and influence on generations moving forward.
I teach a weekly class and bi-annual meditation practice periods at MODO Kelowna and specialize in workshops and retreats in Canada and Internationally.  I am a Chaplain in Residence with Third Space Charity and Counselling to support University graduate Interns from the Masters of Social Work, Psychology and Clinical Counselling Programs.  I am also a graduate student in the Masters of Clinical Counselling and Social Justice Program.  

As you might have guessed, I love the art of collaboration and have the honour of working with amazing community leaders, Buddhist Practitioners, Clinical Counsellors, Yoga & Movement Specialists, and Wilderness Guides.

I am married, have three teens (two off to University), a big black lab and a home tucked into the woods with chores that are never complete.  I used to work as a Music & Recreation Therapist, Addiction Counsellor, and Director of a charity,  but then everything changed.  Everything is still shifting and moving today.
www.melissaberryappleton.com