Being Mindful of Awareness
An In-Person 1-day Retreat with Allen Atkins
Saturday, November 14, 2026
9:00 am to 4 pm (AZ time)
at Beacon Unitarian Universalist
Please arrive around 8:30 am or so to settle in.
We will break for lunch, but please bring your own food and drinks.
The purpose of this retreat: In Theravada Buddhism one of the key meditation practices is being Mindful of the present moment. In stillness we train ourselves to be mindful of our breath, bodily sensations, thoughts, and emotions. During this day we will build on this base and explore mindfulness of the awareness that is behind all that we are mindful of. Is it possible to be mindful of the knowing quality that can be present in each moment of mindfulness?
During the day there will be some introduction to this process followed by periods of guided meditation, silent meditation and brief periods of walking meditation. The entire day will be held in “Noble Silence.” This will include a silent lunch period where participants will be encouraged to be mindful during the eating process. There will also be a period for some group questions and answers.
Please register by Saturday, November 7, 2026
Registrations received after Nov 7th will be considered on a case by case basis.
TEACHER BIO:
Allen Atkins moved to Flagstaff in 1998 to work at Northern Arizona University (NAU) as a professor of Finance. He has been interested in meditation since first learning Transcendental Meditation (TM) in college. After college, in 1978, he was introduced to Vipassana and it has been his main practice ever since. He sits a retreat of at least a week or so almost every year. He sat the Insight Meditation Society (IMS) three month retreat three times and in 2000-2001 took a leave of absence from work to spend the year practicing at IMS and in Burma, Thailand and India. Allen taught yoga and meditation in Texas from 1979-1983. He has been teaching a six-week beginning Vipassana course each semester at NAU since 1999. The course is currently being taught with Cathy Small. His other main hobbies include music, singing and cycling.
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