We begin this retreat at the time of the Winter Solstice. Folk have been marking this special time since the deep past. For us, the coming of the light signifies faith in awareness prevailing over ignorance, humanity prevailing over inhumanity. This retreat is an opportunity to gather and re-affirm that faith through ritual, shared communication and restorative meditations.

This retreat has a rich history of being a men-only space. We are open to bookings from a wider range of gender identities, in keeping with the tradition of this men-centred retreat. If you are unsure if this retreat is a good fit for you please get in touch.

For more information read the retreat information sheet.

On this retreat we will be exploring some of the core principles of Buddhism and meditation. In particular, how the Buddha’s clarity on the human condition can bring more meaning, richness and purpose to our lives. The teaching will seek to keep things simple and direct, so practical and relevant to the challenges of modern life in the west. 

Often what is taught on secular mindfulness courses derives from Buddhism, but without Buddhist ethical and wisdom teachings. This retreat restores mindfulness practice to its original Buddhist setting - alongside a course in mindfulness, the Buddhist path to freedom will also be outlined. A path that requires appreciative mindfulness and also ethical considerations, meditations and the contemplation of conditionality - how our lives are interconnected with all life, with everything. 

Over the course of the retreat you will learn two main meditation practices - the mindfulness of breathing and the metta bhavana (loving kindness). These practices help us develop calm, positive and alert states of mind. We also teach practical ways to help you cope with states of anxiety and reduce distraction. 

Central to the Buddha’s teachings is the importance of developing body awareness. During the retreat, we will be practising ways of becoming more embodied, both on the meditation cushion and in our everyday lives. Each day we will engage in some light body work or movement activity. 

Time on retreat gives an ideal space to experience ourselves differently and bring new fresh perspectives to our lives. 

For more information, read the retreat information sheet. 

Seeing the dangers confronting humankind these days, we can feel depressed, demoralised and helpless to avert disaster - or even to talk about such feelings. This retreat provides a space to talk about and to explore an extraordinary sequence of reflections and communal practices that can rekindle an ‘active hope’ and vision for humanity. 

The retreat takes its title from a book called Active Hope co-authored by Joanna Macy and Chris Johnston. Having studied Buddhism, Joanna went on to develop this sequence of exercises and reflections to help us move from despair to hope. Such hope is far more than something vague and passive, it's creating a vision for humanity, a future which we can contribute to and actively help bring about.

The retreat will be focused around Joanna Macy's workshop exercises 'the spiral of the work that reconnects'. Each day will include meditation and movement to help us assimilate and process what is stirred by the workshops. There will also be periods of silence overnight. No prior experience will be assumed and all necessary tuition will be provided. 

For more information, including detail of the workshops and daily programme, see the retreat information sheet. You can also watch Smritiratna's short video about the retreat here. 

This meditation retreat explores the mandala of Buddhist heart practices, the four Brahma Viharas - metta, karuna, mudita and upekkha. Each of these has a meditation practice, and after a weekend grounding ourselves with mindfulness, we will spend a day with each of these practices and qualities.  

Mettā bhāvanā is for loving kindness, karunā bhāvanā is for compassion, muditā bhāvanā is for sympathetic joy. Finally upekkhā bhāvanā is for serenity, that all-embracing insightful love. Along the way, we learn to distinguish between selfish love and pure metta, between sentimental pity and true compassion, between sympathetic joy and mere merriment, between cold indifference and the spacious loving serenity of upekkhā bhāvanā. 

Practicing these meditations can help us to work skillfully with our emotional states, to move beyond fear into courage, beyond hatred into compassion, beyond habitual old views into insightful new perspectives.

The retreat is suitable for 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. 

We begin this retreat at the time of the Winter Solstice. Folk have been marking this special time since the deep past. For us, the coming of the light signifies faith in awareness prevailing over ignorance, humanity prevailing over inhumanity. This retreat is an opportunity to gather and re-affirm that faith through ritual, shared communication and restorative meditations.

This year we’ll be exploring the four Buddhist love meditations to warm our hearts at the dark of the year. These are mettā bhāvanā, karunā bhāvanā, muditā bhāvanā, upekkhā bhāvanā — love, compassion, rejoicing and serenity.

This retreat has a rich history of being a men-only space. We are open to bookings from a wider range of gender identities, in keeping with the tradition of this men-centred retreat. If you are unsure if this retreat is a good fit for you please get in touch.

For more information read the retreat information sheet.

On this retreat we will be exploring some of the core principles of Buddhism and meditation. In particular, how the Buddha’s clarity on the human condition can bring more meaning, richness and purpose to our lives. The teaching will seek to keep things simple and direct, so practical and relevant to the challenges of modern life in the west.

Over the course of the retreat you will learn two main meditation practices – the mindfulness of breathing and the metta bhavana (loving kindness). These practices help us develop calm, positive and alert states of mind. You will also learn some practical tools, to help cope with states of anxiety, fear and stress.

Central to the Buddha’s teachings is the importance of developing body awareness. During the retreat, we will be practising ways of becoming more embodied, both on the meditation cushion and in our everyday lives.

Time on retreat gives an ideal space to experience ourselves differently and bring new fresh perspectives to our lives. With more awareness of our bodies, we can be more aware of our inner and outer experience. From this basis we will look at one or two famous teachings from the Buddhist tradition – and practice them - feeling what they are pointing towards in our own direct experience.

For more information read the retreat information sheet.