Bodhi House Retreat (Value for Value)

Description

The purpose of this retreat kit is to allow you to create the experience of a structured retreat, lasting anywhere from a few hours to a few days and to not have to watch the clock or think about what is coming up next during the retreat itself.

This is designed for personal retreats and for small groups wishing to put on their own retreats without a designated leader. In addition to the materials in this kit you can add recorded talks and meditations that are freely available on the internet or that you may have purchased for your personal use.

The kit can be used by people of any or no spiritual tradition.  You simply use the components that work best for your needs.

The kits are made up of distinct sound files that you can assemble in any order to create the retreat experience that best meets your needs.  There are tracks that announce activities like silent or moving meditation, tracks that announce the length of the upcoming session and even tracks to announce breaks and meal periods.

Some instances where these kits may be helpful include:

• You are going on vacation and would like to dedicate anywhere from a couple hours to a couple days to silent contemplation.
• You want to spend a day at home in meditation, but find it hard to stay focused without some guidance.
• You have a small group that would like to hold a retreat but no one is comfortable leading the retreat.
• You really need a retreat NOW, but there is nothing close by, affordable, or that meets your schedule.

There are three main components in this package.

1. The Basic Retreat Kit. This kit has fewer options and is simpler to organize.  This is perfect for a personal retreat.  Since there are fewer options to choose from it will allow you to create a retreat quickly with minimal effort. This kit contains 18 audio tracks.
2. The Advanced Retreat Kit.  This kit has more options but requires you to plan out and arrange, in detail, every aspect of the retreat.  This kit offers you maximum flexibility to build a retreat that meets your exact needs and preferences.  It is very important for the person creating the playlist to double and triple check the order of events to ensure they make sense and will flow smoothly for the participants.  This kit contains 64 audio tracks.
3. Singing Bowl Meditation Timers. These can be used for personal meditation and in conjunction with the retreat kits.  Each of these timers begins with fifteen seconds of silence, then three chimes of a singing bowl, followed by silence and ending with three more singing bowl chimes. These are perfect for your daily meditation practice.  There are tracks for 5, 10, 15, 20, 30, 45 and 60 minute meditations.  These meditation timers may be downloaded separately for free here.

IMPORTANT NOTICE: PLEASE READ BEFORE ORDERING:

The use of the kit is completely dependent on the ability to create playlists.  If you are unable to do this the kit will be of little use to you. If you know how to create playlists all is good.

This kit is provided as a downloadable ZIP file.  Upon completion of your order you will be provided a link from which you can download this ZIP file.  The file can also be downloaded from the link provided in your confirmation email.

This kit is not meant to completely replicate the experience of a teacher-led daylong or residential retreat experience.  If you have never been on a retreat before we strongly suggest you attend a retreat led by a qualified leader before using this kit.  This will give you a better feel for the flow and dynamics of the retreat experience.

Basic Hints

• New to retreats? This kit is not meant to completely replicate the experience of a teacher-led daylong or residential retreat experience. If you have never been on a retreat before we suggest you attend a day retreat led by a qualified leader before using this kit. This will give you a better feel for the flow and dynamics of the retreat experience.
• Put your cellphone on airplane mode. If you are using your cellphone to playback your playlist, put it on airplane mode to prevent calls or texts from interrupting your retreat.  If you are not using your cellphone to play the playlist, turn it off.  If you really must check it wait until meals or breaks.
• Printing the manual. The manual is designed to be printed as a folded booklet on standard 8.5×11 paper.  To print the manual open the PDF file in Adobe Reader.  Go to File > Print. Select the following settings.
  • Pages to Print: All
  • Page Size and Handling: Booklet
  • Booklet Subset: Both Sides
  • Binding: Left
  • Orientation: Portrait
• Creating playlists. The use of the kit is completely dependent on the ability to create playlists.  If you are unable to do this the kit will be of little use to you. If you know how to create playlists all is good.  If you have never created a playlist before please visit this page to practice creating a playlist before you order and download this kit.
• Create smaller playlists.  If you need more flexibility in timing, say you have a large group or meals may be some distance from the retreat location you could create a morning and afternoon playlist.
• Test your playlist. Once you have created the list, load it onto the device you intend to play it on and play through it, you can skip the longer silences and talks once you hear them start.  This will let you know if it all makes sense or not before you start the retreat.  It is much easier to fix it at home than in the middle of a retreat.
• Check your audio levels:  When you get set up play the test audio track to see if the sound levels are acceptable for the room.  You may need external speakers if you have a larger room or group.  If your recorded talks and meditations are different from the Retreat Kit you may need to have the volume control within reach so that you can adjust the volume as needed.  Our tracks are mastered to peak at -.3db.  You can use a free program like Audacity to adjust the levels on your prerecorded talks to match if they are recorded at significantly lower levels.