The Method in Madness Institute
Writing Practice & Mindfulness Events
A Study of the Mind
FALL 2024
Zen & Rereading
The Method in Madness Institute (MiMi) monthly Sit Walk Write Retreats alternate between meditating and writing around a literary theme (summer and winter seasons) and a Zen theme (spring and Fall seasons), so it's time for a renewed focus on "writing practice and mindfulness"!
Rereading (of Natalie Goldberg-style writing practice or a text designed for publication) invites us to look for what is meaningful inside a first draft. Sometimes, it can spark our creative juices and be a source of joy. Often, however, we dread it, postpone it, and feel resistance against it.
The MiMi Fall 2024 Retreat Season takes a closer look at what makes it so difficult and how to work with that resistance. The three Fall Retreats will approach the problem from different angles.
What You Will Discover
The importance of studying the Zen view to find what is meaningful when rereading and rewriting a writing practice
The difference between being caught up in a small sense of self and rereading with a "big mind" that activates our innate compassion
The beauty of recognizing our "buddha nature" and having concrete tools to see it inside the most difficult experiences - past or present
Retreat Schedule
- Opening Meditation
- Introduction
- Writing Practice
- Breakout Rooms
- Text Study
- Break
- Walking Meditation
- Writing Practice
- Breakout Rooms
- Discussion and Q&A
- Closing Meditation
Registration is Now Open!
Only $119 for all 3 events if you sign up before Sunday October 20 at midnight PT
WHAT IS A "SIT WALK WRITE RETREAT"?
When stripped of its cultural expression, Buddhism is often presented as a "science of the mind." Traditionally, it proposes different ways of studying the mind and working with the causes of all suffering, including through sitting and walking meditation.
"Writing practice" is what Natalie Goldberg called the writing method described in Writing Down the Bones, a method that is simultaneously an authentic Zen practice.
MiMi Sit Walk Write Retreats combine guided meditations, writing practice, breakout rooms, and the study of texts explaining the Buddhist view on how the mind works and how to make it work for us rather than being tossed around by it.
Not Sure?
Sign Up for a Single Event
A limited number of scholarships are available for those who may need them. To apply for a scholarship, click HERE.
Zen & Rereading
Rereading as a Study of the Mind
Half-Day Sit Walk Write Retreat
Sunday October 20
The first event, Rereading as a Study of the Mind, takes place on SUNDAY, OCTOBER 20. It will kick off the season with an exploration of what Goldberg's Writing Down the Bones proposes on this topic, combined with passages from Suzuki Roshi's Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind (one of the main sources of inspiration for Goldberg's book).
In this way, we'll discover that "rereading as a Zen practice" consists of reading previous writing from a specific perspective or view (the Zen view). It's understanding this view that leads to what Zen calls "right understanding" of our mind and life - including our writing. How to use rereading to obtain this "right understanding" of the mind? That's what we'll see in October.
- To sign up for the entire Fall Program, click HERE.
- To sign up for this event only, click HERE.
- To apply for a scholarship, click HERE.
Zen & Rereading
Compassionate Rereading
Half-Day Sit Walk Write Retreat
Sunday November 17
The second event, Compassionate Rereading, on SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 17, will build on the first one, moving our attention to the key Zen concepts that Goldberg proposes in the "Rereading and Rewriting" chapter touching upon the main attitude that Zen and Mayahana Buddhism in general invite us to cultivate until it becomes "immeasurable": compassion.
From a Zen view, we all have innate compassion already. Through study and practice, we can learn to make it boundless, both for ourselves and others. That allows us to use any experience, including our past memories and the (self-)judgment that may come up during rereading, as mental "nourishment" (as Suzuki Roshi calls it) that gives access to our "big mind." What do these concepts mean, and how can they be applied concretely? That's what we'll see in November.
- To sign up for the entire Fall Program, click HERE.
- To sign up for this event only, click HERE.
- To apply for a scholarship, click HERE.
Zen & Rereading
Egoless Rereading
Half-Day Sit Walk Write Retreat
Sunday December 15
Finally, the END OF FALL Retreat, Egoless Rereading (SUNDAY DECEMBER 15), will leave Writing Down the Bones and Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind behind and study what is sometimes called "great compassion," the compassion built on the wisdom offered by a Buddhist view and having the power to not only make our writing but also our entire life meaningful: bodhicitta or the compassion generated by "the awakened mind."
We'll read passages from one of Suzuki Roshi's successors, Zen teacher Norman Fischer, who wrote a Zen commentary on a Tibetan Buddhist genre called "lojong" ("mind training") in his book entitled Training in Compassion - Zen Teachings on the Practice of Lojong.
Lojong teachings offer a "complete path to enlightenment" and basically consist of two types of understanding and practice: on the one hand, absolute and relative bodhicitta, and on the other hand, 59 "slogans" that summarize the concrete steps we can take to bring bodhicitta into our daily lives - including during rereading.
- To sign up for the entire Fall Program, click HERE.
- To sign up for this event only, click HERE.
- To apply for a scholarship, click HERE.
About The Teacher
Anja Van Rompaey is a published author, philosopher, and certified Trauma-Sensitive meditation teacher (trained in teaching Jon Kabat-Zinn's MBSR, Mark William's Mindfulness, and Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach's Awareness meditation programs).
She led the Natalie Goldberg- style writing practice community EU Writing Down the Bones for more than four years and founded The Method in Madness Institute, a MindX SRL division dedicated to allowing everyone to learn how to meditate, read the classics in world literature, philosophize, and use writing practice as an authentic Zen "study of the mind" - or to deepen their practice.
Anja teaches The Compassionate Writing Year program (including monthly Hemingway "Reading Down the Bones" retreats) as well as a weekly seminar on Suzuki Roshi's classic Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind. Passionate about writing, reading, mindfulness, and sharing her knowledge and expertise wherever possible, she has organized more than fifty Half-day and Full-day online Sit Walk Write retreats. She's currently a student of Mingyur Rinpoche.
Sign Up for the Entire Season
Or Try Out a Single Event First
Combine all three events for the most transformational effect,
or feel free to sign up for only one or two.
If you are a writer or meditator, however, learning how to use rereading and rewriting to (1) first study the mind, (2) add the dimension of compassion, and (3) finally train the mind to fully awaken to the "big self" and apply this view to every past and present experience can be highly beneficial—not just in our daily lives but also to make rereading a truly meaningful experience.
Therefore, we strongly encourage you to seize this opportunity and enroll in the entire season.
100% Money-Back Guaranteed
We guarantee a full refund until 24 hours before the day of the event.
Early Bird tickets for the entire program are refundable until 24 hours before the first event.
Will there be breakout rooms to read my writing aloud?
Will the event be recorded?
What is the difference with Natalie Goldberg Sit Walk Write retreats, if any?
Are scholarships available?
Rereading as a Zen Practice
Two Wings of a Bird
Natalie Goldberg, author of Writing Down the Bones, learned Zen from a Japanese Zen teacher Katagiri Roshi. He arrived in the US in the 1960s and was an assistant of Suzuki Roshi (see picture) at the San Francisco Zen Center founded by the latter. Thirty years later, Norman Fischer would become the co-abbot of the same Zen Center.
The Soto Zen school, to which all four belong, is part of Mahayana Buddhism and is particularly close to the Tibetan (or Vajrayana) approach in that a key idea consists of understanding and then recognizing, in practice, that we are all a buddha already.
Both Zen and Tibetan Buddhism accentuate the importance of text study to learn a new way of viewing ourselves and the world, combined with meditation as "skillful means" to put that view into practice, applying it to our experience, moment by moment.
The Method in Madness Institute is built on these two "wings of a bird," the two aspects of Buddhism required to make us "fly" and discover for ourselves where real happiness and the end of all suffering lie.
Support Us
Writing, literature, and meditation should be available to all, regardless of background or financial circumstances.
We're deeply grateful for any donation to the MiMi Scholarship Fund (one-time or recurring)
helping those who may need it to benefit from our educational services and community too.
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