I’m excited to be offering our third annual on-line retreat, running in the post-Christmas lull and seeing in the New Year together.
This online retreat is for anyone who has previously participated in a week or more of retreat with me. It will be led by myself with support from Vajrapriya.
The retreat will run for six full days from Wednesday 28th December to Monday 2nd January. There will be input, led meditations, and the opportunity to ask questions and talk about your practice. In the evenings there will be integrated ritual elements, including a longer evening to mark the New Year.
The invitation is to really give yourself the time and space to be on retreat, letting awareness gain some momentum that can support the growth of understanding and wisdom. However, the practice also lends itself to being taken into any activities or responsibilities that you need to attend to.
Freedom from Clinging
The focus of the retreat will be on investigating the nature of the mind that clings or grasps. The retreat will initially refresh the central principles of awareness and right view, and explore the difference between concepts and awareness. After that we’ll focus on using our direct experience to notice how the mind clings, what it clings to, and how we can release from clinging and therefore from suffering.
We will be looking to access a quality of awareness imbued with spaciousness and loving-kindness, helping depth and understanding to pervade the practice.
The retreat is offered on a dana (donation) basis. I’ll say more about this during the retreat. All I need to say now is, please don’t let a lack of money stop you from coming: whatever you can give is fine.
Programme
The programme each day will be:
| Session | GMT / UTC | |
| 0 | 07.30 – 08.15 | Unled meditation (not day 1) |
| 1 | 10.30 – 12.30 | Main input and led meditation |
| 2 | 17.00 – 18.00 | Light input and led meditation |
| 3 | 20.00 – 21.00 | Meditation and ritual |
There will be optional un-led groups at 16.00 on the first and last days to check-in about your practice and to connect with some others on the retreat.
Recordings will be made of Sessions 1 & 2 (maybe parts of Session 3) and posted up within one hour of the end of the session. We are expecting people to be joining from a wide range of time zones, so we hope the recordings will help some people to catch up with sessions they may miss.
The retreat will start with Session 1 on 28th December, and end with Session 3 on 2nd Jan.
You need to book to receive the joining instructions. I really hope to see you on the retreat.
Uncontrived Mindfulness 