Our human heart holds both our suffering and our joy. And our hearts are also universal, boundless and full of love.

On this retreat we will be invited to open to our hearts qualities and learn to sit with self-blessing, strengthening our capacity to open and meet ourselves and the world. We will focus on embodied meditations that will lead us into the hidden depths and treasures that lie in our hearts; and explore the heart opening potential of living for a week in spiritual community with like-minded people. The approach to teaching will be practical and direct, with meditation, poetry, simple ritual, movement and time in nature. We will have plenty of time to reflect and just to be, free from all the pressures and demands of our ordinary lives.

This retreat is suitable for complete beginners as well as being an ideal refresher for those who already have some experience.

For more information, read the retreat information sheet.

This is an intensive retreat following the popular total immersion format. Two weeks of silence and meditation – a chance to take a deep dive into your experience, to savour it and explore its true nature. 

Paramananda says: “My approach to meditation is increasingly based in trying to break down the separation we feel between our ‘heads’ and our ‘bodies’, our thoughts and our feelings. I believe that as meditators we need to relax in a profound sense. Relax into our experience of being embodied and in relationship with one another and the world. I want people to have a deeper experience of ‘being’, being themselves and being in the world. So we will be emphasising our direct experience of sitting together in the world. My hope is that we will create together a sense of ‘sangha’ where we feel mutually supported by one another and at ‘home’ in the world.”

This retreat is open to people who have been on retreat before and have a regular meditation practice. These retreat will be conducted mostly in silence, and will normally have between 5 and 7 hours a day of sitting meditation.

For more information read the retreat information sheet. 

On this retreat we will explore how our connection with nature, landscape, and the elements can support a deepening of awareness and a more embodied and harmonious approach to life. We will weave together Buddhist teachings, meditation practice, and an appreciative and playful investigation of the natural world around us to create an experience of depth and connection.

The retreat will include led walks, outdoor activities, an introduction to Buddhist meditation, Buddhist ethics, and basic Buddhist teachings looked at from a practical perspective. But perhaps more importantly than all of this is the opportunity to experience ourselves away from the trappings of our everyday lives and to relax into the freedom and spontaneity of our basic relationship with natural world around us. For it is this relaxation that supports a deeper understanding of ourselves and stronger appreciation of the connection with those around us.

These retreats are suitable for complete beginners to meditation, and those who already have some experience.

For more information read the retreat information sheet.

This retreat will take a playful approach to reconnecting with the body through the elemental experience of water and through movement. Each day we will have the opportunity to swim in the local lochs and rivers as well as other explorations of water and wet places. We will also be using movement to support embodiment and connection. There will also be introductory meditation teaching, daily collective meditation practice, and a practical contemporary look at some traditional Buddhist teachings.

Swim activities will include lifeguard supported bank-based activates, swim trips (for more experienced swimmers) and the opportunity for unsupported personal swimming. There may also be the opportunity to explore local burns and waterfalls.

For more information read the retreat information sheet.

These retreats are an excellent short introduction to Buddhism and Meditation. We will cover an introduction to two traditional Buddhist meditations: the mindfulness of breathing and the development of loving kindness (metta bhavana). We will also introduce some key elements of the Buddhist tradition. As well as giving a grounding in the basic principles of Buddhism and meditation, these retreats are an ideal reflective situation in which to take a fresh look at ourselves.

These retreats are suitable for complete beginners to meditation as well as being an ideal refresher for those who already have some experience.

For more information read the retreat information sheet.

‘Simply being’ points to the aliveness and awakeness that we can recognise at any moment. It’s an openness to full presence, our full being - in body, senses and awareness. It points to being what we really are, beyond conceptual fabrication. In recognising and opening to the steady and spacious aspects of experience here and now, we may glimpse a timeless awareness-emptiness that is inseparable from loving, compassionate energy.

We’ll explore all this through sitting meditation, experiential ‘lookings’ and by discovering our own direct experience as awareness, simplicity, intimacy and aliveness. These qualities are gateways to the five ‘undivided knowings’ (jnanas) which are the essence of the mandala of the five Buddhas. This offers a very practical ‘map’ of our immediate experience, pointing to what has been here all along, unnoticed - simply being.

For more information read the retreat information sheet.

These retreats combine introductory meditation teaching with a blend of traditional yoga and contemporary approaches to embodied movement.  This playful synthesis of body based approaches to wellbeing (through meditation and movement) in the peaceful and beautiful environment of the retreat can help restore physical and mental vitality and balance in our lives.

We will cover an introduction to two traditional Buddhist meditations as well as give a solid introduction to the principles of meditation.  We will also be exploring some traditional Buddhist teachings to get a flavour of how these might be relevant to our modern lives.  

No previous experience of meditation, yoga or embodied movement is assumed so these retreats are suitable for complete beginners, but they are also a good refresher for those who already have some experience.

For more information read the retreat information sheet.