Retreats

This is your invitation to experience deep presence,  to reconnect with the wisdom of your body, and rediscover the healing power of belonging. 

This retreat is more than just an opportunity to try various practices of Body, Speech & Mind. It is an opportunity to co-create a loving community, and directly experience how cultivating togetherness deeply nourishes us. We will embark on a journey of integrating practices that deepen our capacity to meet life's challenges with compassionate presence, so that we can befriend ourselves and also be of support to our loved ones.

In a world that has become increasingly fragmented, this retreat will be an opportunity to reconnect with our innate wholeness. We will be building a safe container for personal or spiritual inquiry to blossom, as we deepen our awareness of our body, mind and spirit. The practices invite the possibility for spontaneous connection and courageous authenticity to emerge, offering each other an experience of feeling seen, heard and understood.

Inspired by Thich Nhat Hanh’s Plum Village tradition, mindfulness will be interwoven through every part of our day, and it will form the ground from which we move, breathe, eat, speak and simply be together. The intention is that we can dissolve the separation that often forms between “spiritual practice” and “life.”. So while we will begin our practice listening to the sound of the bell on our first evening together, I hope we will come to see that it does not have to end with the final bell. Our practice is our life! So let us learn and support each other to awaken fully to each precious moment. 

Practices of the Body

We know that we must feed the body with nourishing and healthy food, but often forget to offer ourselves an embodied diet that wisely balances both movement and stillness. 

The practice isn't just designed to feel better, but to get better at feeling! The morning sessions of mindful movement are not seen as separate to our meditation practice, but a continued exploration of cultivating presence, clarity and non-judgemental awareness.

The physical movement practice helps to nourish the physical body and prepare it for sitting meditation, and will blend elements of Yoga, Tai Chi and various other movement forms that are characterized by:

• A dive into body-based mindfulness, cultivating awareness of both the physical, and subtle body of feeling/sensation.

• A deep connection with the breath as a bridge linking body and mind

• Experiencing joint-nourishing movements with a gentle yet dynamic approach

Every day we will come home to the body with practices that support embodied inquiry. We will rest in the view that our body holds an innate wisdom, that when tapped into can be a deep source of healing and nourishment. We will explore our relationship with our own bodies and deepen our awareness of how we can feel, sense and act in the world with more ease. Embodied workshops will also serve as a mirror that may highlight personal patterns of how we relate with ourselves and one another.

Practices of Speech

“Words have the power to both destroy and heal. When words are both true and kind, they can change our world” Buddha.

These teachings from the Buddha will guide us to speak from our heart, and learn to only speak if our words can pass through these three gates; Is it true? Is it kind? Is it necessary?

The quality of our relationships have an immense impact on our sense of fulfillment in life. So what contributes to healthy relationships? Few will disagree that communication is at the heart of relating well, and it is something we will practice! 

“Dharma Sharing Circles” are a practice where we create a sacred circle in which all voices have the space to be heard. It is an opportunity to practice mindful speech where we can step into the courageous authenticity to be seen, heard and understood. But most importantly we will learn to practice deep listening to our fellow brothers and sisters. It is through offering our compassionate presence that we support each other to welcome everything that arises in our experience; our joy, our sorrow, our love and our loss. This practice of sharing can be vulnerable, but it offers us a healing experience that allows us to give a voice to that which our being desperately yearns to express. Anything shared remains strictly within the circle as we co-create the safety required to open our hearts with one another. 

There will also be the possibility to explore some other sharing and connection practices, with the intention to develop our capacity to express ourselves truthfully and communicate more harmoniously with one another. We will go gently into the art of relating well in the process of the retreat.

We will also follow in the footsteps of our ancestors who discovered the power of how singing and chanting deeply connects us with one another as we bear witness to the unfolding mystery of life. 

Practices of Mind

All actions of the body, and every word spoken begins in the mind. It is our mental state that determines how we perceive and engage with the world around us, so we must learn to work with our minds! 

Harvard psychologists recently shared research that showed “A wandering mind is an unhappy mind”, and so we will learn to remain in touch with the aliveness of the present moment through practicing Samatha, also known as calm abiding meditation. Mindfulness of breathing will be our primary anchor, however we will also open our awareness to explore the field of sensations in the body. Instruction will be given in posture, and there will be both guided meditations as well as silent practice.

Ram Dass invites us with such beautiful simplicity to “quiet the mind, open the heart” and so we will also explore “Metta” practices of cultivating “loving kindness” to connect us with our innately compassionate nature. 

Meditation practice is a process of becoming familiar with our inner landscape. It is  through that familiarity that we connect with the wisdom to choose what mind seeds we wish to water and see blossom as kind actions and loving words.

The practice of Noble Silence in the mornings will support the deepening of our practice until around lunchtime each day, and will begin after our evening session. 

Practices of Connection and Integration

The retreat will include singing and elements of physical contact in movement and somatic explorations. However, all practices are optional. The workshops are skilfully facilitated with clear instructions to ensure boundaries are respected, and that participants maintain agency in choosing to engage at a level that feels comfortable for them. 

If you love to sing and dance - let your voice be heard and show us your moves! But if that is not your jam, you can always participate with your presence and at a level that feels good for you!

More importantly...what's the impact? 

Develop a deeper awareness of your body 

Learn meditation techniques grounded in the Buddhist tradition 

Experience a deep sense of safety and belonging in a group 

Develop communication skills, learning to speak authentically and to listen deeply in a way that gives people a sense of feeling seen, heard and understood.

Be welcomed as you are, in your joy and your sorrow. 

Accommodation is shared occupancy, male & female dorms, and some semi-private curtained sleeping pods around the central circle.

Provisional Schedule

Friday

Arrival 3 pm

Opening Circle 4 pm

Dinner & Freetime 6pm - 8 pm 

Evening Workshop 8pm - 9:30 pm

Saturday 

Morning Practice 8am - 9:30 am

Breakfast 9:30 am - 11am 

Morning Workshop 11am - 1:30pm 

Lunch & Free-time 1:30pm - 4pm 

Afternoon Hike 4pm - 6pm 

Dinner & Free-time 6pm - 8 pm 

Evening Workshop 8pm - 10pm

Sunday

Morning Practice 8am - 9:30 am

Breakfast 9:30 am - 11am 

Morning Workshop 11am - 1pm 

Lunch & Free-time 1pm - 4pm 

Afternoon Workshop 4 pm - 6 pm

Dinner & Free-time 6pm - 8 pm 

Evening Workshop 8pm - 10pm

Monday

Morning Practice 8am - 9 am

Breakfast 9 am - 10:30 am 

Closing Ceremony 10:30 am - 12 pm 

Lunch 12:30 pm

Departure 2 pm

Schedule is provisional and will be attuned to the needs of the group.