Half-Day Virtual Retreat
Exploration +
The Pursuit of Meaning
An Attachment Approach to Play, Discovery, Problem-Solving and Doing What You Love
Learn . Practice Meditation . Integrate . Q&A
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 3RD
9AM-1PM PT / 12PM-4PM ET
Creativity is the lifeblood of a meaningful life.
The meaningfulness of life comes from doing the things that you derive meaning or purpose from.
And, believe it or not, this is a creative endeavor.
The questions we’ll explore are:
What’s your relationship with exploration?
Were you encouraged to explore what you authentically found meaningful in early development, or was that under-developed for you? What’s the impact of this on your adult life today?
And how can you support your exploration now, on your path of attachment repair?
In this half-day retreat, you’ll walk away with…
⚫️ Understand the process of exploration (and how early childhood impacts this).
Attachment conditioning affects your capacity to explore. At this retreat, we will identify the particular attachment strategies complications that come up for each attachment strategy (anxious preoccupied, dismissive avoidant, disorganized) and determine what to do about it, so that you can more effectively explore without stalling out.
⚫️ How Exploration Looks for Secure Functioning People
The attachment system and the exploration system are reciprocally coupled: when the attachment system activates, the exploration system deactivates, and vice versa. If your attachment system is chronically on, you aren't free to explore or even to solve many problems.
In secure functioning there's a rhythm: proximity seeking, quick settling, return to play - visible even in infant research (the child checks in with the caregiver, gets reassurance, and goes back to exploring).
⚫️ How IPF supports your exploration muscle
Exploration is the fifth of the five dimensions of secure functioning: safety, attunement, emotional regulation, delight, and support for exploration. We’ll look at how IPF (Ideal Parent Figure Protocol) helps you activate exploration and nurture primary exploration for yourself (rather than secondary).
⚫️ The difference between primary and secondary exploration
Pursuing meaning and pursuing resources in life (like prestige, money, power, etc) are different kinds of exploration. Depending on your attachment strategy, you may have capacity for one of those more than the other. We’ll talk about what it takes to occupy the primary exploration more, so that you can engage things that sincerely connect to your authenticity.
⚫️ Practice real-time meditation guided by George Haas, Founding Teacher of Mettagroup
We’ll practice meditation techniques designed to establish the inner safety, encouragement and emotional regulation needed for sustainable exploration. These are techniques that you can bring into your daily life well beyond the retreat.
This Half-Day Retreat Is For You If
You want to explore the things you authentically like
but you don’t know how to (it’s totally foreign to you)
You’re great at secondary exploration (i.e. gathering resources, money, prestige, power)
but not so great at primary exploration (pursuing meaning and supporting your authenticity).
You want to feel more fulfilled
but you don’t know how to make space for what you authentically find meaningful.
You’re ready to explore
but you want to know how to do it sustainably. What do you need in place to support yourself?
You’ve take Level One, Level Two, or have done private 1.1 mentorship,
and you’ve done attachment repair work. You’re now ready for exploration.
George’s Journey
From New York to Los Angeles
George moved to Los Angeles from New York to work in film and photography in 1992, when he started practicing Vipassana at Ordinary Dharma in Venice, and studying Buddhist texts extensively.
From Meditation Student to Teacher
In 1998 he began study with Shinzen Young, at Vipassana Support International, who encouraged him as he did with all his senior students to begin teaching.
He began teaching meditation in 2000, founded Mettagroup in 2003, and became an empowered teacher through Against the Stream Buddhist Meditation Society, where he taught from 2007 to 2016.
In 2017, he met Dan Brown, who became his meditation teacher and also mentored him in integrating the Ideal Parent Figure Protocol into his Meditation x Attachment program.
Along with his full schedule of one-on-one students, he continues to teach weekly classes and intensives in Los Angeles and online, and offer day-long, weekend and extended retreats around the world.
Artist
George Haas is an artist with works in the permanent collections of the Hammer Museum, the Library of Congress, MoMA and the American Irish Historical Society. George Haas studied film, photography, and sculpture at Columbia College and The Art Institute of Chicago before moving to New York.
His photographs have appeared in numerous exhibitions, including The School of Art Institute of Chicago, The Bergman Gallery, The Soho Photo Gallery, Club 57, The Couturier Gallery, The Finley Gallery, and the MoMA.
His photographic and written work has appeared in numerous publications, including The New York Times, The LA Times Magazine, The Village Voice, Seventeen, Detour, NME, and Spy Magazine. His stage work has been performed in New York, Boston and Chicago, including No Entiendes and Doris and Inez Speak the Truth.
He wrote and directed the feature film Friends and Lovers, starring Robert Downey, Jr., Stephen Baldwin and Claudia Schiffer, distributed by Lion's Gate Films. His independent films from his New York days have been collected by MoMA. Photographs from this series have been added to the permanent collection of American Photographers at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C and to The Grunwald Center for the Graphic Arts at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles.
“I'm better than I've ever been.”
“I just want to share, that it's been six years, a big journey, a big journey. But guess what? I've earned secure. Today I found out that I've earned secure. I know a lot of you won't know what that means, but some of you might. I got my attachment assessment inventory back today and I'm secure. I'm better than I've ever been.”
-Sia, Pop Star
FAQs
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Yes! If you can make it out live, we’d love to see you there. If you want to catch the replay, we’ll send it to you within 48 hours after the virtual retreat, via email.
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Commonly referred to as "mindfulness," Vipassanā meditation is focused on living more peacefully, compassionately and wisely. Derived from the Theravada school of Buddhism, the techniques are widely acknowledged as effective ways to manage pain, stress, compulsiveness and are often used in conjunction with psychotherapy.
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No. We cannot tell you what your attachment strategy is without an Adult Attachment Interview.
This retreat is designed to address different attachment strategies and support people with their exploration (and moving beyond any blocks or complications that have held them back in the past).
If you're interested in learning more about your attachment strategy, please reached out to us here.
