Description
Before travel and lodging became so costly, many spiritual teachers of various traditions held weekend or week-long meditation retreats at various retreat centers around the country. One well known-teacher, Adyashanti, created silent retreats with six or seven 40-minute meditation periods in a single day, for five to seven days in a row. The affect of meditating in a group is to deepen the meditation a great deal, while also making it easier.
Because these long retreats are too costly in terms of time and/or money for most people now, I offer a quarterly retreat on a Saturday. People are able to travel a short distance, sit comfortably, meditate together for short or long periods of time (depending on experience) and also ask questions to help them on their own spiritual paths. There is an option to join for a half-day (about 4 hours) or a full day (about 7 hours, because of a break for lunch).
Practicing in a group is an experience that, almost everyone agrees, is helpful to their ongoing, individual meditation practice. Recently on 10/8/22, four people came together to meditate for a day or half-day. Those who meditated for the day did 4 hours and 40 minutes of meditation in that 8 hour period, getting over their fear of long meditations, and discovering the benefits of them. We also created a nice day of community, learning about one another and satisfying the need for company on the spiritual path. You can look for the dates of upcoming meditation retreats on my website SimplyAwake (dot com)/Retreats.
Group Therapist
Jonathan Labman is a Licensed Professional Counselor in Holicong, Pennsylvania (eastern Pennsylvania near Doylestown, PA) who has been practicing for 22 years. His clientele is an eclectic group of people interested in coping with and healing anxiety, depression, trauma, men's issues, and some interested in exploring spirituality.
His specialty is men's struggles with identifying, expressing and making good use of their feelings. He helps men to determine if the thoughts they're using to make decisions are based in truth or in false assumptions. He also teaches men how to face and identify their feelings and trace where they come from, to determine if they're coming from truthful sources and are therefore useful for insight and action.
Jonathan's clients are often educated professionals, some of international origin, ages 21 to 87. He works with everyone from people who've never had therapy before, to people who've explored psychological healing but who don't feel complete or whole yet. For those who are interested in going beyond ego integration, Jonathan offers mentoring into spiritual awakening.
Jonathan has extensive training and exploration in many psychological methods, trauma treatment, healing modalities, and spirituality. He applies 50 years of personal exploration in all aspects of human life, and brings that to his very interactive sessions with clients. He likes to 'mirror' clients to themselves, and to reduce what seem like 'complex issues' to the very simple habit patterns (of thought, action, feeling, spirituality, and creativity) that are actually in the way of progress.
Jonathan is available in his consulting office in Holicong, Pennsylvania (near New Hope, Yardley, Newtown and Doylestown) and by videoconference through an encrypted and HIPAA-compliant platform for clients in Pennsylvania. He accepts 7 major insurances and has a sliding scale for those with no insurance or out-of-network insurance.
