Befriending Our Lives

Financial aid may be available. If you are seeking funds to participate in this program, click to review and complete our Financial Assistance Application and a Pendle Hill staff member will follow-up with you shortly (please do NOT register online). Thank you for your interest.

How can we meet all the varied and often difficult experiences of our lives open heartedly, with ease and friendliness?  The simple technique of mindfulness, taught by the Buddha, teaches us to do just that.  This silent retreat will have periods of sitting and walking meditation, opportunities to talk with a teacher, and formal presentations.  It is suitable for both beginners and experienced students.

Leader(s)

Mary Grace Orr is a senior teacher at Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Marin County (CA) and the founding teacher of Insight Santa Cruz. A beloved teacher at Pendle Hill, Mary Grace has led retreats here since 1997. She now lives in Hawaii and teaches retreats both there and throughout the United States.

Anne Briggs is a lifelong Quaker who also leads the Insight Meditation Community of Chestertown (MD). She completed the Community Dharma Leader Training (CDLT) at Spirit Rock Meditation Center and has assisted Mary Grace for many years.

Larissa Kitenko, a longtime practitioner of Insight Meditation, studies and practices Buddhism in the Theravadan tradition. She completed the CDLT at Spirit Rock Meditation Center with Mary Grace as mentor, and the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MSBR) Program teacher training with Jon Kabat-Zinn. A volunteer hospice and hospital chaplain, Larissa teaches MSBR, leads the Easton Meditation Group, and leads classes and retreats in Eastern Maryland.

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