If we’re able to recognize that everything is always changing, recognize that there’s no solidity to anything, including most importantly ourselves, then we can be free from ideas we hold very tightly about ourselves as permanent. Small children build a sandcastle, and if the wave comes and wipes it out, some kids can get really upset. It’s devastating! But now as adults, we know that’s actually one of the cool things about sand castles: their ephemeral nature. The fact that they’re going to fall apart makes them all the more beautiful and amazing. Aligning ourselves with this can give us a greater appreciation, reverence, and presence in our lives.
Anushka Fernandopulle
Residential Retreat Teacher
Anushka Fernandopulle is a Spirit Rock Core Teacher who has trained for over 35 years in the Theravada Buddhist tradition. Anushka studied Buddhism at Harvard College and then spent four years in full-time Dharma and meditation training in monasteries and retreat centers in the US, India and Sri Lanka. Anushka was invited to teach Dharma in 1998 and later graduated from a four year retreat teacher training program with Jack Kornfield, Joseph Goldstein, Sharon Salzberg, Carol Wilson and other leading Western Buddhist meditation teachers from IMS and Spirit Rock.
Anushka teaches retreats and workshops around the world, including in South America, Scandinavia and the United Kingdom. Her teaching is informed by nature, creative arts, political engagement and modern urban life. Anushka has taught Spirit Rock's monthlong retreat, Metta retreat and in multiyear study programs like Dedicated Practitioner's Program and Advanced Practitioner's Program.
Anushka lives in San Francisco and also works as a leadership coach and management consultant, influenced by a BA from Harvard, an MBA from Yale and certification in professional Coaching. She has served on many nonprofit boards as well as serving as a mayoral appointee on a San Francisco City Commission. She has been engaged with movements for social justice and civil rights throughout her life. Her writing has been featured in publications like Tricycle, Lion’s Roar, Turning Wheel, Inquiring Mind, and the Huffington Post.
Anushka Fernandopulle's Upcoming Programs
Retreat | On-Land
May 26 - May 30, 2024 | Sunday - Thursday | 4 nights
The Body as Nature, Nature in the Body: Dharma and Our Connection to the Earth
Our body can be a vehicle for liberation in this life, containing all we need to wake up. Yet we may not know how to relate to the body in the ways that can support this kind of freedom. Throughout this retreat, we will practice connecting to our body with loving awareness while recognizing ourselves as an essential part of nature. Together, we will engage in noble silence as we are nurtured and supported by the land at Spirit Rock.
Retreat | On-Land
July 29 - August 4, 2024 | Monday - Sunday | 6 nights
The Spirit of Insight, Dharma & Awakening
The essence of Buddhist practice is embodying the Dharma experientially. In this retreat we will use mindfulness meditation to study our experiential reality within all our activities, including meditation, movement, eating, resting, and listening. When we are present and investigate our experiential reality moment by moment, insight arises, and the Dharma reveals itself within our body, heart, and mind. As the living, embodied truth unfolds, we awaken to the Buddha within and discover the depth and breadth of our own human potential.
Retreat | On-Land
August 18 - August 27, 2024 | Sunday - Tuesday | 9 nights
Summer Lovingkindness Retreat
The Buddha’s teachings on the four divine sanctuaries include meditations on universal friendliness, compassion, altruistic joy, and equanimity. Focusing on purification and concentration, these divine sanctuaries aid our ability to find inner peace and powerfully engage with the world. This retreat deepens our understanding of selfless love and how it ends suffering. Experienced retreatants are encouraged to combine this retreat with the previous Elements retreat to further develop concentration, purify the heart, and learn to integrate these two forms of meditation.
Retreat | On-Land
September 26 - September 30, 2024 | Thursday - Monday | 4 nights
What the Buddha Taught
Held in noble silence and open to all levels of experience, this retreat explores ancient Buddhist practices, stories, and insights while considering the relevance of these 2500-year-old teachings to our contemporary lives. Together we will weave mindfulness into our practices of sitting, walking, eating, and basic daily activities. The renunciation of technology, books, entertainment, and other aspects of regular life will facilitate the development of insight that will benefit our everyday practice as we return to our modern lives.
Dharma Library
Can't join us live online or on the land? Study and practice at your convenience with Anushka Fernandopulle through our new library of recordings, articles, and self-paced online courses.