This site will be re-done in the coming months, and new arrangements will be posted for the continuance of Cloud Refuge. Sadly, Joyce died on January 1, 2025 – from the cancer she had fended off for the last eight years. I am considering how to best to continue Joyce’s teaching legacy. Certainly, the weekly program will generously be presented by members of the group.
This transition may take a couple of months. I’ll post updates here when some new arrangements materialise.
Note that we will continue the ‘A Year to Live‘ program. It will be guided by Susan Armstrong and myself, Christopher. We will go back to working from the book ‘A Year to Live’ by Stephen Levine. It’s not compulsory reading, but it is a very helpful practice to read the whole of Stephens book during the year – even before we begin. There’s a condensed version on audible.com.
We will explore each of the monthly contemplations which he details in the back of the book.
Lastly, I leave the welcome up for now, beneath this intro, just as Joyce wrote it, so that you can get the sense of the style which we will do our best to honour in Cloud Refuge’s new incarnation.
– Christopher Ash, Joyce’s husband.
Who We Are
Cloud Refuge is a Buddhist community in the Western Insight tradition located
in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales, Australia. The teacher is Joyce Kornblatt.
How We Practice
We meditate for 40 minutes.
Then we have a shared inquiry facilitated by Joyce.
On the second Thursday each month, Joyce facilitates Year to Live practice, based on the book of that name by the late teacher, Stephen Levine: What wants our attention and surrender, if we had a year to live?
Other weekly gatherings will include contemplative writing practice, Council passing the virtual stone practice, and other ways of deepening into the teachings of the Buddhadharma.
All our inquiries engage deep listening to our own bodies and to one another.
Each time we speak, we are practicing mindful speech.
The Teacher
Joyce Kornblatt is a teacher in the Western Insight tradition, a Hakomi-trained psychotherapist, and a novelist/essayist/writing teacher (see joycekornblatt.com). She is particularly interested in the integration of Buddhist teachings with Western psychotherapy and creativity practice.