Yes, 100%!  There will be a review so that everyone feels confident about the process. 

In the intervening 3 years, I have spent a lot of time ruminating on how get anyone back on track, regardless of how they feel they're doing.  I feel that it's the teacher's responsibility that the student "gets it".

In other words, if you've learned to meditate in the past 3 or 4 years, and you've stopped meditating, don't worry one bit.

By tinkering with my teaching process back then—yes, I do this often—I made a misstep with your training:  I had introduced a slight effort into your practice.  So sorry for that.  Even subtle effort will make meditation feel like work, which we don't want.  No, not at all!

For instance, I will not have you "imagine you can 'see' space", as that was putting the cart before the horse and creating a subtle degree of strain.  Instead, it's sufficient to simply drop the phrase in your mind, as if dropping it into a well, and letting all the tension in your body fall away with it.

This tweak will bring it all back, making it effortless and deeply relaxing—as it should be. 

I understand.  I've been where you are and I can say with certainty that you're not cursed and that there is nothing wrong with you.

It is safe to put hope into this because ultimately, I'm just giving you a structure for you to return to your home, your soul's larger self.

When your awareness rests here, rather than in thoughts or emotions, you will remember the natural joy, lightness, and peace your Infinite self... and struggle to remember your depression. 

Ask your heart if this feels true.

The idea is to get you to experience what it's like to shift "consciousness envelopes" into the larger soul self or Infinite consciousness.  Right now, most people are in a "thinking consciousness".  That doesn't feel good.  We want to shift to "unity consciousness".

Sounds fancy, but don't worry, it's actually simple, as you have the tools, and you've done this before during your course.

After all, the Infinite is who you are, it's not some exotic destination. 

As it turns out, the only obstacles to experiencing Infinite consciousness are the accumulated stress in the nervous system, and the thinking habit.  The latter likes to throw up the "why am I doing this?" thoughts, and the former is heal-able.

As with a real, in-person retreat, we will be meditating for longer-than-normal periods to boost the process along.

I understand that mindfulness, etc. are endorsed by many popular spiritual teachers.  These techniques are easier to learn, and they have a stark simplicity to them, which has a certain minimalist appeal—yet they are night-and-day different from our "automatic self-transcending" form of meditation by every metric. 

Specifically, mindfulness/body scanning/breath-based/energy meditation practices keep awareness superficial, as awareness is limited to a finite thing—the breath, the body, or sounds in the environment.  So you wind up with "breath consciousness" or "body consciousness" or "environment consciousness" or "energy consciousness".  Yes, these are relaxing, but relative in terms of depth of what one could experience.  In these forms of meditation, it is only by laziness or accident that awareness is allowed to expand toward the Infinite, and is also why meditation is perceived to be monotonous, "hard", or take forever to have breakthroughs.  Which isn't to blame the process—it's just not designed to take one to the Infinite.  With plant medicine, the benefits are unpredictable, the body acclimatizes to the chemical triggers, and they have unwanted side-effects.

As a contrast, our "automatic self-transcending meditation" practice, with its customized, thought-based "star phrases" work differently.  They have no negative side-effects, and act as a disposable "vehicle" that takes awareness past the body and thought stream and into the stillness of the Infinite—your soul self.

The "vehicle" has an extra payload that also heals the nervous system, allowing one to rest for longer periods in this expanded state of consciousness and carry it through one's day.

Furthermore, this expansive process is gentle yet "mechanical", requiring no belief for it to work.  All that is required is some time and a little faith to give it a chance to do its job.  More time results in a greater opportunity to notice the benefits as the stress takes time to burn off.

To summarize, sorry, these other forms of meditation will not work to bring about a shift into unity consciousness in the reduced time frames that we will be working within.  If I felt that mindfulness, etc., would be effective and time efficient, I would be teaching them.  So I cannot in good conscience facilitate an event where mindfulness, etc. is encouraged.

I understand the desire to want to share this with others, even if they have another meditation practice, but ultimately the event wouldn't serve the person and would make more more work for me as the teacher.

Sorry, but not this time.

Mmm, cookies.  Yes please.