Nayaka came to Dhanakosa in 1996 after learning to meditate with the Newcastle Buddhist Centre. Drawn by the mountains, he quickly felt at home here and became increasingly involved in the running of the centre. He became part of the management team in 1999, was ordained into the Western Buddhist Order in 2001 and became Centre Director in 2006. He has a background in earth and life sciences, a long standing interest in natural history and a love of the wilderness. He lives at Dhanakosa with Dharmavasini and their 2 children.

Siddhimala became involved with the Triratna Buddhist Community in 1992 and moved into a community in London before going to live and work at Taraloka retreat Centre in 1994 for 3.5yrs and at Dhanakosa in 2014 for 4 years. She was ordained in 2002 and is inspired by the Bodhisattva ideal - a life in the service of a higher purpose.

She trained to teach Tibetan Yoga (Kum Nye) from 2008-11, which she finds a very helpful addition to the practice of mindfulness and meditation. She enjoys sharing her passions of Meditation, Dharma, walking, kayaking, music and the dance of countryside and wildlife.

An ideal first regulars retreat. These retreats take themes from our introductory programme and introduce a stronger Buddhist context through meditation, teachings, up to 3 days of silence, ritual and chanting.

Open to anyone who has done an introductory retreat or has been attending a local Buddhist centre, is familiar with Buddhist practice and is looking to take it a bit deeper.