Matters of the Heart • March 5-7

Braiding our Stories with Meditation, Writing, and Hula

So much is pulling and pushing at us, from everywhere. Sometimes it is hard to feel our feet, we lose our bearings, and it is difficult to listen, both to ourselves and to others. For some of us, our stories have been secreted away, for one reason or another, or maybe they’ve been erased from our view, replaced by other stories that never sounded true to our lived experiences.

Or perhaps we have access to our stories, yet we don’t quite know what to make of them, how to articulate and relate to them. Sometimes some of us think or are made to think that our stories don’t matter and are not worth telling.

 In this three-day retreat (online and in-person) we will weave together the practices of meditation, writing, and hula to re-acquaint ourselves with our stories, to see them anew. As we meet our breath in meditation, the mind in writing practice, and our physical body in hula, we hope to get to the heart of the matter, to the stories that live in our bodies, in our lower back, our bellies, the small spaces in our joints.

 No prior meditation, writing, or hula experience required. We will all show up as beginners. Please bring notebooks and pens. Wear loose, comfortable clothing. Have water with you.

Facilitators:

Dorotea Mendoza is a writer, community organizer, and Zen practitioner. Though she mostly writes fiction, and loves the flash form, she has also written essays on Socially Engaged Buddhism. She has worked with women’s organizations in the US and in the Philippines around issues such as militarism, sex trafficking, domestic and gender-based violence. Her co-authored play Export Quality: Monologues Drawn from True Stories of Mail-Order Brides from the Philippines, inspired by what she and her co-authors bore witness to, premiered in NYC in 2023. 

She currently organizes with Black Breath Sits, the Buddhist Action Coalition, Sari-Sari Women of Color Arts Coup, and a loose group of NYC-based Buddhists devoted to embodying their bodhisattva vows in the streets.  Among other spaces, she has taught writing practice at Upaya Zen Center (Inside Out: Sitting, Writing, and Being Fully in this World, 2022; The Way of Haiku, 2023) and with Natalie Goldberg in various sit-walk-write retreats and workshops since 2010. 

 Dorotea was born in the Philippines and grew up in New York City. She now lives in Brooklyn with her partner Matthew and 53 house plants. You can find her at www.doroteamendoza.com.

 Roshi June Kaililani Ryushin Tanoue, co-founder of Zen Life & Meditation Center with her husband, Roshi Robert Joshin Althouse, has been practicing Zen since 1993. She is a fully empowered Zen Teacher (Roshi) and a Zen Buddhist Priest. 

Born in Laupahoehoe, Hawaii June is a Kumu Hula (Master Teacher of Hula). She founded her hula school called Halau I Ka Pono, the Hula School of Chicago in September 2009.  Movement, stories, and values in this cultural dance tradition are taught to ages 5 - 90. The School’s most recent concert was titled “Hula as Resistance.”   She has published an article called  The Hula Sutra in Lion’s Roar.  

June has a Bachelor of Science in Biology from University of Redlands and a Master's in Public Health Nutrition from the University of Hawaii at Manoa.  She spent nearly 25 years in food banking in Portland, Oregon; Hawaii Island; and with Feeding America in Chicago. 

She and her husband worked with Bernie Glassman and Eve Marko with the Peacemaker Community and went on bearing witness retreats to Jerusalem, Auschwitz, and the Black Hills.

Schedule:

·      11 – 11:30 am CST           Meditation

·      12 – 3 pm                          Class

·      5 – 6 pm                           Writing with Dorotea

·      7:30 – 8 pm                    Evening Meditation

Hybrid (online and in-person in Oak Park, IL)

Early Bird Special (before Jan. 26): $169; Regular Price: $199