Cultivating a Boundless Heart

Half Day Insight Retreat Dwelling in the Divine Abodes of Lovingkindness, Compassion, Joy and Equanimity with Kitty Costello and David Onek This daylong meditation retreat explores the cultivation of the four brahmavihāras, or “divine abodes”: lovingkindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity. Through periods of meditation, reflection, and inquiry, we will explore these qualities not simply as practices we undertake, but as natural capacities of the heart that can be cultivated and strengthened. We will consider how they open us beyond the limitations of self-concern and help us meet ourselves, others, and the changing circumstances of our lives with greater warmth, care, joy, and balance. The day will include guided and silent meditation, teachings, mindful movement and inquiry. All are welcome to join, regardless of meditation experience! About the teachers: Kitty Costello has been teaching meditative and movement practices for more than forty years. She found her Dharma home in Insight Meditation practice in 2000 and since graduated from Spirit Rock’s Community Dharma Leaders Program, Dedicated Practitioners Program, and Buddhist Psychology Program. She teaches at various local sanghas, is a writer, an editor, a poet, and a retiring psychotherapist. David Onek is a graduate of Spirit Rock Meditation Center’s two-year Dedicated Practitioners Program, a graduate of Phillip Moffitt’s two-year Life Balance Institute training, and a current participant in Spirit Rock’s two-year Community Dharma Leaders program. He is the CEO of a social impact nonprofit and lives in Bernal Heights in San Francisco.