One Day Meditation Retreat Guidelines - Karunamayi
One Day Meditation Retreat Guidelines Sri Karunamayi’s 2016 Tour
2 Introduction Amma’s Silent Meditation Retreats provide a precious opportunity for those who want to deepen their spiritual practice in the presence of the Divine Mother. The silent retreat atmosphere allows one to be spiritually nourished with Amma’s love and blessings through meditations and divine discourses. General Retreat Information Amma will once again be offering One-Day Silent Meditation Retreats in many cities during Her Holiness’s upcoming 2016 Tour. It is strongly recommended to use facilities other than hotels to minimize the catering and meal costs that these facilities charge. An organizational checklist has been provided in Appendix A of this booklet as a tool for organizing the Meditation Retreats. Please plan on garlanding Amma at the beginning of the retreat when she arrives and doing aarati to Amma at the conclusion of the retreat. Note that only husband and wife together Facility Contract Negotiation 1. Utilize the Retreat Facility Inspection Criteria on page 4 of this booklet to locate an appropriate venue for Amma’s One Day Silent Meditation Retreat. 2. Discuss the terms and conditions of the preferred facility contract with a facility representative. The venue should be secured from 6:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. so that there is enough time for set up in the morning and packing in the evening. 3. Once the terms and conditions of the contractual agreement have been agreed upon, an officer of SMVA Trust will sign the necessary paperwork. Only an officer of SMVA Trust can sign any agreement with the retreat facility. This will be handled by Radhika Pathy. 4. Retreat organizers should contact Rahul Gangu with any site/facility questions. All retreat facility contracts must be approved in advance prior to making final arrangements. Once contract negotiations are complete the Local Retreat Organizer will be the designated contact person for all further questions about the retreat. However, if any questions arise, please contact Rahul Gangu with issues regarding the facilities and menu, and Radhika Pathy for issues regarding contracts and liability insurance.
3 Retreat Facility Inspection Criteria ! The atmosphere and ambience of Amma’s Silent Meditation Retreats are very important and should definitely provide peace, silence, tranquility and be smoke free. Please inform the facility staff that this will be a silent meditation retreat. ! It is best to have exclusive use of the retreat facility, but if this is not possible and you are booking at a larger facility, please be sure to inquire if other functions will be scheduled during the retreat. Since Amma’s meditation retreats are silent, it is important that the atmosphere be conducive to this purpose. ! The national tour crew must have access to the hall on the morning of the retreat no later than 6:00 AM (7:00 AM if the same hall was used the night before) so that Amma’s stage, the bookstore and the PA system can be set up. Please rent the hall until 11:00 PM so that there will be enough time for the national tour crew to break down, pack and load the national tour vans. ! The hall must have a suitable stage or risers upon which Amma’s dais will be placed. The venue should neither be too wide nor too long so that Amma can easily see everyone on the sides and at the back of the hall. The ideal dimensions for Amma’s stage are: o Approximately 12-22 inches high o Approximately 15 feet wide o Approximately 10 feet deep ! The facility should accommodate 75-250 people. ! It is best if halls for retreats do not have fixed seating. There needs to be adequate floor space for people to do yoga asanas. ! Please ensure that there is adequate air conditioning and proper ventilation. ! Lunch for retreat participants should be strictly vegetarian, which includes no eggs, and no onions and no garlic. The food should be simple and sattvic. Please email your proposed lunch menu including cost information to Rahul Gangu at rahulgangu@yahoo.com for approval. In many locations AMMA Herself has personally come to serve the lunch. Please provide sufficient food for the retreat participants. ! If the retreat is going to have a catered lunch, please make sure that lunch arrives no later than 12:30pm so that it can be set up in time for the scheduled lunch break. This should be discussed in detail with the caterer well in advance of the retreat. If the lunch arrives late, the retreat schedule is disrupted. Please coordinate this with Michael onsite. ! Amma will often gather retreat participants around the meal for a blessing before serving lunch. It is easiest to do this when meals are served buffet style. ! The private room for Amma and Akkayya should be located away from the retreat participant’s general area. It should have an attached bathroom or have easy access to a restroom that has been reserved just for their use. ! Arrangements must be made for the preparation and delivery of Amma and Akkayya’s meals to the retreat facility. It is desirable that there be access to a kitchenette to warm Amma’s meal. This should not be the same kitchen used by the staff for the preparation of the food for retreat participants.
4 ! If possible, please reserve some private space for the crew members to rest and eat during breaks. ! There should be at least 13 (thirteen), 6-8 foot long tables available for the retreat: 6 for the bookstore, 2 for P.A. system, 1 local information table, 1 donation box table, 2 registration tables and 1 for stage . ‘Rounds’ or circular tables are not acceptable. In venues where there no staging or dais for AMMA this number increases to 19 tables. ! The Retreat Dining Hall must be separate from the meditation hall and large enough to accommodate the projected number of participants. Mealtimes: 7:00 am - 8:30 am 10:00 am - 10:30 am 12:45 pm - 2:00 pm 3:00 pm - 3:15 pm Registration - Light Breakfast (ex: fruit & granola) and beverage Morning Break (beverages, etc.) Lunch - vegetarian meal Afternoon Break (beverages, etc.) If the facility is not able to comply with mealtimes, please contact Rahul Gangu as soon as possible. Retreat Advertising ! SMVA Trust must approve all advertising material for the One Day Meditation Retreats, prior to its publication. Please send copies of your advertising to Rahul Gangu at rahulgangu@yahoo.com for this purpose. ! Please do not include any other material in the promotional mailings for the retreat that is not directly related to Amma’s programs and has not been pre-approved. Retreat Fees ! To simplify the retreat fee schedule, the registration fee for all retreats will be 100 for early registration and 120 for late registration. ! To allow more people to attend the retreat, Amma wants us to also offer the option of attending the retreat for half days. The registration fee for this option will be 60 for early registration and 75 for late registration. ! The early registration fee will remain in effect until 10 days before the retreat. At that time, all course participants will pay the 75 or 120 late registration fee. In past years, some of the organizers have requested that the early/late registration dates be changed. To make it fair for all retreat applicants, we will no longer be able to accommodate this request to change the dates. ! The retreat fee for half days will include lunch. The morning session will conclude after lunch, and the afternoon session will begin with lunch. ! If someone registers for the morning session and decides to stay for the afternoon session, please collect the retreat fee for the balance of the day. To make it simple, we will charge those extending a flat rate of an additional 50. ! There will no longer be a discount for senior citizens or students. ! It is advisable to have information about nearby hotels to provide to course participants who may be visiting from out of town. Please send this information to Rahul Gangu so he can post it on the webp
5 Scholarships and Special Discounts SMVA Trust is offering special scholarships and incentives for Amma’s One Day Silent Meditation Retreats in an effort to make these events accessible to as many people as possible. ! Scholarships: A maximum of three (3) scholarships per retreat may be awarded to local course participants. The retreat organizer should work with the City Organizer to decide who should receive these scholarships based on seva provided for Amma's programs locally and devotees who are also dealing with illness or other challenges which makes it difficult for them to pay the full amount of the retreat fee. Scholarship recipients should still fill out a retreat application form and should pay a reduced fee for the retreat based on the actual cost. In order words, if the retreat cost per participant is 25, then the scholarship recipient should pay that amount. Please comment in the Notes column of the 2016 Retreat Participant Checklist who is receiving the scholarship and a brief explanation why. Retreat Brochure and Name Badges ! For the 2016 Tour, a retreat brochure will be given to all One Day Meditation Retreat Participants. The brochure master copy is posted on the organizer’s webpage. The brochure contains general information about the retreat and includes Sanskrit slokas that Amma will refer to during the retreat. The retreat organizer will be responsible for making sufficient copies of the retreat brochure for all participants. No modification to the One Day Retreat Brochure is allowed. ! Please purchase blank name badges and have them ready with indelible ink markers on the day of registration for the retreat. In order to distinguish full and half day participants, it is advisable to have different colored badges, or different colored stickers to put on the badges. ! During registration, each course participant should be given a retreat brochure and their name badge. The badges should be filled out with the name of each participant before the start of the retreat. Please use indelible ink and clear handwriting for the badges. Retreat Expenses ! Additional expenses beyond facility rental and catering charges must be pre-approved by SMVA Trust. Upon approval, SMVA Trust will reimburse 100% of these expenses. Please include these in the expense account to claim a reimbursement from SMVA Trust. For questions about the expense report form please contact Radhika Pathy at finance@karunamayi.org ! Retreat organizers will need to submit to SMVA Trust a detailed expense account for ALL retreat expenses, along with original receipts, after the conclusion of the retreat. This accounting is required by SMVA Trust for audit purposes and to comply with IRS regulations. ! The net proceeds from each meditation retreat will be donated to Amma’s charitable project
6 Registration ! Please use the 2016 One Day Retreat Registration form for registering all retreat participants. After receiving the venue information, we will create your city specific retreat registration form and send to you. ! Online Registration: This year we are continuing with on-line retreat registration. Please encourage devotees to take advantage of this option. Following are some details related to online registration which is being handled by Suresh Pandav. If you have any questions, his email is britspan@sbcglobal.net o When the attendee registers online, the payment will be processed as part of the online registration. The attendee is also required to check off on a 'waive liability to SMVA' box to proceed with registration. This can be done ahead of time, or have a waiver available at registration. These forms are posted on the organizer’s webpage. o The attendee is also asked to state what part of day they are attending if half day (although this is not showing on the confirmation email, so it is best organizer calls/emails attendee to verify). o When registration is completed successfully, a confirmation email will be sent to city organizer at the 'city@karunamayi.org' address. The attendee will also receive a confirmation email. If someone else is handling the retreat registrations, please have the person receiving the emails forward to the retreat coordinator. o When the early registration ends (7- 10 days before event date) Suresh will increase the fee and also prepare and send an online attendee spreadsheet so that the city organizer can compare confirmation emails received to this spreadsheet. o Online registration ends at 6pm the day before the event date. At this point Suresh will send an updated spreadsheet to include the late registrants. ! Copies of the approved retreat registration form should be made available at satsangs, and sent to the city mailing list along with program information. It will also be posted on the webpage so people can download and complete. ! Please number each form in the upper right corner, sequentially in the order received. This number will correspond to the number on the Retreat Participant Contact Information spreadsheet. Each applicant should have their own registration form. ! When you receive information about people who have registered on-line, please sequence them into this numbered list to keep an accurate total of the number of attendees. ! Advance registration will be required in order to plan appropriately for the retreat. However, registration on the day of the retreat will be accommodated on a space-available basis. ! All applicants must sign their registration form before they can attend the retreat. There can be no exception to this rule. Unsigned registration forms can place SMVA Trust at risk. Retreat applicants who phone in their registration must fill out and sign a copy of the form as soon as possible. The retreat organizer should make every effort to email or fax the form to the applicant as soon as possible in such cases, and also follow up so that the completed and signed form is filed before the retreat begins. If this is not possible, please have some blank forms available to be signed by retreat participants on the day of the retreat. (There is a half page signature/liability form available on the organizers webpage.) Since people will
7 also be registering online and would not have signed the waiver ahead of time, please note in the appropriate column of the Retreat Participant Checklist that they need to sign when they register. This will make it easier for the volunteer handling registration to see who needs to sign the waiver. ! When people register, they will be given a name badge. Please have some way to designate who is attending for a full day and a half day. One way to do this is to have different colored name badges, or different colored stickers on the name badges. Be sure to have some extra badges available in case someone misplaces their badge. ! Please make a copy of each registration form for your registration process. Send the original retreat registration forms to SMVA Trust along with the payments. Please send the forms and payments to Radhika Pathy, at: 1608 Terri Circle, Naperville, IL 60563, as soon as possible so that payments can be processed quickly, and bounced checks or declined credit cards are detected before the retreat starts. ! Some applicants will pay by personal check. Please write the retreat name and the number assigned to the applicant’s form in the memo section of each check before sending to SMVA. An example of this would be “Atlanta retreat #25”. This will help in tracking the checks once they reach SMVA. ! Please do not send any cash payments for the meditation retreats to SMVA Trust. A personal check, cashiers check or money order drawn in favor of SMVA Trust should be utilized in place of sending cash. Please write “cash payments” on the memo line of this check or money order. Retreat Confirmation Letter ! After processing the retreat registration form, retreat participants must be sent a confirmation letter. The confirmation letter contains additional information about your retreat such as directions and scheduling information. A template has already been created for your convenience and is available to download from the organizers webpage. Please download this document and customize it with your retreat information. (See Appendix B for directions on how to download documents from the organizer webpage.) ! After completing the confirmation letter, please send to Rahul Gangu for final approval. Please print a copy for each retreat participant and include the participant’s name and payment details in the receipt portion at the bottom of page 1. This letter should then be emailed or mailed to the participant. ! Applicants who register late may not receive the confirmation letter in time if it is mailed. In such cases please email the pdf instructions to the applicants and provide them with a hard copy of the receipt page at the time of registration. Please do not email the receipt page to the applicants as it will not reach them prior to registration. ! Please be sure to also send retreat confirmation letters to those who register on-line. Retreat Record Keeping ! Each retreat organizer must complete the Retreat Participant Checklist form which is available to download from the city organizers download page. This form will serve as a means to track each course participant through each step of the registration and payment process. At the end of the retreat, email a copy of this completed form to Radhika Pathy. This list will be utilized by SMVA Trust to ensure payment has been received from all attendees.
8 ! Each retreat organizer must also complete a Retreat Participant Contact Information Spreadsheet. This spreadsheet has already been created and is available to download from the city organizers download page. This spreadsheet will contain the names and contact information for all course participants at your retreat. As soon as possible after registration, please send an electronic version of this file should be forwarded to Rahul Gangu and Radhika. A copy of this form entitled “Retreat Participants Contact Info Spreadsheet” is available to download from the user website. Please contact Rahul Gangu with any questions regarding the Retreat Participant Contact Spreadsheet or Retreat Participant Checklist. Please – no handwritten documents. ! To make it easier during registration, it is suggested that the names on this list are in alphabetical order. Sample Retreat Schedule ! The schedule below is the approximate times for the 2016 One Day Silent Meditation Retreats. If your facility is unable to comply with mealtimes please contact Rahul Gangu as soon as possible so the schedule for your retreat may be modified before the retreat booklet is printed. 07:00 – 08:30 a.m. Registration & Breakfast 09:00 – 10:00 a.m. Yoga Instruction Instruction 10:00 – 10:30 a.m. Break 10:30 – 12:00 p.m. Pranayama and Meditation 12:00 – 12:15 p.m. Break 12:15 – 01:30 p.m. Amma’s Divine Discourse 01:30 – 02:30 p.m. Lunch 02:30 – 04:00 p.m. Amma’s Divine Discourse 04:00 – 04:30 p.m. Afternoon Break 04:30 – 05:45 p.m. Meditation 05:45 – 06:00 p.m. Closing and Aarathi. ! Please be sure that at breaks during the retreats, the attendees do not line up and approach Amma to talk and ask questions. A time will be allocated to the participants to ask questions. Any personal questions should be asked during Individual Blessings and not at the retreat. Amma does not grant personal interviews during the retreats. ! The tentative schedule will include Amma giving instruction in yoga in the morning, plus meditation, and Amma speaking on a variety of subjects (e.g. Ayurveda) in the afternoon, plus meditation. General Notes ! Silence will begin immediately following registration and continue until the conclusion of the retreat. ! Retreats are for adults only, no children under 17 years of age are allowed without special permission from SMVA Trust. ! Please plan on garlanding Amma at the beginning of the retreat when she arrives. Only a woman or a husband and wife together can place a garland on AMMA. A mam alone may offer a bouquet of flowers to AMMA. ! Please plan on doing Aarati to Amma at the conclusion of the retreat
9 Appendix A Retreat Checklist VOLUNTEER LIST FOR ONE DAY MEDITATION RETREATS Category Facility Selection Task Needed Contact Prospective Facilities Evaluate and select Retreat Facility according to guidelines Discuss contractual terms and conditions with Rahul Gangu Food and Beverage Contact Prospective Caterers Select caterer and agree upon terms and conditions of service Finalize Menu and forward the menu to Rahul Gangu Including cost information Arrange for snacks and beverages for: 1. Registration 2. Breaks Contract Negotiations Review contracts from Prospective Facilities Refer questions to Radhika or Rahul Gangu Have contract signed by Radhika Pathy Download and Customize forms Download and Customize retreat registration form Download and customize confirmation letter Receive approval for registration form and confirmation letter from SMVA Trust Name Phone Email
10 Distribute Retreat Registration Forms Copy Retreat Brochure and distribute at registration Publicity Receive approval for advertising from SMVA Trust Advertise and promote retreat at satsangs and spiritual publications Registration Assign staff and prepare registration area. Registration begins at 7:00 AM Doors open at 8:30 AM. Assign someone to watch door until crew finishes set–up Post Retreat Verify accuracy of all Facility charges Send the retreat participant checklist report to SMVA Trust Send the Expense report to SMVA Trust Following registration email MS-EXCEL spreadsheet to Rahul Gangu Retreat Logistics & Miscellaneous Garlanding Amma at the beginning of the retreat Arrange for lunch to be delivered to Amma and Akkaya Aarati at the conclusion of the retreat Assign volunteer to work with crew to answer questions about lights, room temperature etc. Volunteers to help crew pack vans Volunteers to clean hall according to contractual obligations Other Other
11 Appendix B How to use the organizer webpage For downloading documents to your computer 1. Visith 2. www.karunamayi.org/members Sign in with the password: srim 3. Scroll down to where the heading “2016 Retreat Documents” Directory and the list of downloadable retreat documents appears. Download and use as needed. Jai Karunamayi!
For the 2016 Tour, a retreat brochure will be given to all One Day Meditation Retreat Participants. The brochure master copy is posted on the organizer's webpage. The brochure contains general information about the retreat and includes Sanskrit slokas that Amma will refer to during the retreat.
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