Winter Solstice Retreat and Celebration

December 20th (2020)

Date details +
  • By donation and fundraising

Join the community in a daylong on-line retreat and celebration. Feel free to participate for all day or whatever part of the event you are able. The first part of the day will be a quiet time to meditate together and touch the peace and stillness within. Then, in late afternoon, gather your families and we will join the Touching the Earth Collective and The Shambhala Office of Families and Children for a live streamed children’s event.
9:00 AM- 2:30 PM    Sit-a-thon
3:00 PM -4:00 PM    Live streamed Shambhala Children’s Day Celebration
4:00 PM-4:30 PM     Closing

Please register for the event to receive the Zoom Link for the day

In honouring and supporting our Shambhala community, we will view the day as our major winter fundraiser.

From 9AM to 2:30PM, please join our Sit-A-Thon. You are welcome to join for all or part of the day. All funds raised from the day will directly support Ottawa Shambhala Centre.
We will have umzes (meditation leaders) all day to guide and inspire you. There will also be some movement including walking meditation and Shamata yoga, some surprise teachings and inspirations throughout the day.

Be creative in your fundraising. 

  • Offer a donation for the day…..whatever you can afford.
  • Do you have a friend who doubts that you can sit still for 5 hours at a time and is willing to put money on it? (spoiler alert: you CAN do it). Has an acquaintance been bugging you about starting or reviving a regular meditation practice? (a day retreat is a great way to kick start a daily practice) Could you raise pledges for each hour you sit or an amount for the whole day?
  • Could you offer a pledge for the day yourself?  Challenge yourself to sit for the whole day….or the whole morning.
  • Do you have a challenge for others? Challenge the community by email or in the Zoom chat on the day of the event.
    • I will kick off the challenge with one of my own. We have been on some form of lockdown or isolation since March. How has this affected your coffee habit? Did you stop at Bridgehead or Tim’s everyday on your way to work before all this? I challenge everyone to donate some of their coffee savings. Saving 10$ a week on take out coffee would add up to about 320$ to date. Can you offer some or all of this to support our centre?

Please take the time to register for the event today. Pledges and donations will be thankfully received on our donation page throughout December .
I look forward to seeing you on December 20. 

Register now

Programs without a price are free. For those programs with a price listed, please do not let price be an obstacle. Visit our generosity policy page.

When available as an option, your generosity in offering the patron price helps cover the costs for others who are not able to pay the full price. Any amount offered above the Program Price is considered a charitable donation to the centre, and will be included in a tax receipt issued by email in February of the following year.

For programs that have a register button, it is helpful for us if you can indicate your intention to attend by registering ahead of time. In order to prevent duplicate entries in the Shambhala Database, all registrations are reviewed before you will receive a confirmation email.

Our Refund Policy:  For convenience you can pay online using a credit card via PayPal. If we cancel the program for any reason, we will give you a full refund. We understand that sometimes after you have pre-paid, you might be unable to attend.  We will be happy to refund your payment if you request it at least 24 hours before the program starts.  Due to the difference in PayPal charges for purchases and refunds, we charge a nominal amount of $5 for a refund.