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Retreat at Thornfield Conference Center to feature international meditation expert Sept. 27 to 29

Jose Reissig, a molecular biologist-turned meditation expert, will lead a three-day meditation retreat at Thornfield Conference Center on Cazenovia Lake Sept. 27 to 29. The retreat, titled "The Mind: Friend or Foe," is sponsored by the Center for Health and Meditation of SUNY Upstate Medical University.

Registration for the three-day program, including two-night accommodation is $162 for double occupancy; $228 for single occupancy or $92 for commuters. All meals are included. The retreat is suitable for both experienced meditators and as an introduction for those without prior experience.

The conference begins Friday, Sept. 27 at 4 p.m. and ends Sunday, Sept. 29 at 3 p.m. During the weekend, participants will experience the effectiveness of meditation and demonstrate how meditation can provide peace and stillness no matter how hectic one's life may be.

After earning a Ph.D. from Caltech in 1952, the Argentinean-born Reissig did research in Europe and Argentina prior to becoming a professor at the University of Long Island in 1967. Fifteen years later, Reissig traveled to India on a year long sabbatical. "There I discovered this wonderful thing called meditation," he said.

Reissig studied meditation throughout the 1980s under the internationally renowned meditation teacher Christopher Titmuss. Reissig has taught meditation since 1990, first in England at Gaia house, and subsequently throughout the United States and in other countries. He teaches regularly at the Insight Meditation Center in Barre, Mass.

During the retreat, participants will learn the about Insight Meditation. "The practice of Insight Meditation leads to an ability to fully enjoy and appreciate life, as well as coping better with the inevitable difficulties and hard times we all experience," said retreat organizer Lisa Kaufmann, M.D., director of the Center for Health and Meditation at University Hospital. "We are fortunate to have Jose Reissig here for the weekend to offer us meditation instruction. His calm and generous personality and extraordinary kindness along with his varied life experiences make him one of the most sought after meditation instructors around."

To register of for more information, contact Eve Nanno at nannoe@upstate.edu or via phone at (315)-464-6052.

The retreat will be at Thornfield Conference Center, a 40-acre setting on Cazenovia Lake. The center is located at 4668 West Lake Road in Cazenovia.

Insight meditation does not have the formal structure of Zen or Tibetan meditation, Its purpose of it is to open our minds to discovering that which we don@t know, that which is. Being open to whatever is there, not judging. This is an insight and an awareness practice, not a practice of concentration.

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