During Home Retreats, we take a specific period of time (days or weeks) when we bring an out-of-the-ordinary attention into our everyday activities coupled with an increase of formal meditation practice. By increasing the frequency and the total amount of time we practice vipassanā and/or samatha (concentration meditation), we anchor the retreat. What ties the practice together is the cultivation of sampajañña in our everyday activities. On Home Retreat sampajañña becomes the yogi’s primary meditation tool when not doing formal meditation.

      Tip: This particular Pāli term is pointed out and used because it is generally not understood and frequently often overlooked during formal retreat practice. In the footnotes there are very good definitions and references where you can study and become more familiar with how important this practice is. This is especially important for householders and the successful Home Retreat. In a nutshell, should you not choose to look it up and become familiar with what the term means in our everyday lives, sampajañña is a mental process where the yogi considers every speech and action through the filters of virtue and the Three Characteristics. (ti-lakkhana). Without this conscious intention our practices become dry and silently separate us from the intentions that move us to practice.