Find meaningful solitude on a Self-Retreat.  One can do as much (or as little) reading, walking, meditation or resting as one chooses. Enjoy walks and bird watching in 300 acres of beautiful rolling hills and indigenous forests. Savour our delicious vegetarian food prepared with love by our wonderful cooks; or browse our well-stocked library. Visit the stupa and the raked Zen sand gardens and walk the labyrinth. Massage treatments, guided walks, qigong and meditation are offered by resident staff, Krishia and William mid week. Self-Retreats are an ideal opportunity to be in a gentle, sympathetic space where one can be still and get in touch with oneself.

For as long as there have been people on this earth, there have been stories. As human beings attempted to make sense of natural phenomena, the interpreted mysteries and feelings that led them to creating and inventing cultural norms that would endure for centuries. As the sun set at the end of each day, the evening star heralded a time to take a well deserved rest. Around the fire they enjoyed delicious meals and conversations and as a thanks giving, they composed new songs to embrace each other, young and old. The operative word in Gcina's work is sharing. Just like in those olden days, storytellers are language lovers, we cannot share our stories without a language we are comfortable in, to gift our narratives with one another. In the fast world we now live in, now more than ever before, we need to hear ourselves and each other, in calm, serene spaces. Ukuthula kube nani. “May peace be with you” some bird calls sing to us in the early morning hour. Gcina truly believes that every living person has a story to tell. That is why she is humbled in the knowledge that each time she tells a story, she wakes up stories in other people. Together we will not only embrace the natural beauty of the environment, the colours surrounding us, the undulating hills and valleys, the blue skies above and the fresh air we breathe - we will delve deep into our memory banks. Like the unyielding timeless rhythm of the ocean – so too shall we continue to enjoy the gift of our African Story Magic. In the most quiet hour, we will be reminded of a gentle sound of the cowhide drum honouring our individual and unique heartbeats. May the Spirit of Light, walk ahead of you! 

Many men are experiencing a crisis of identity and meaning in their lives right now. Relationship and careers are in transition, and the heart is yearning for a more meaningful and soul-centred vision in life. What is required is a fundamental shift in how we see ourselves, our roles, and our purpose in the world. This Men’s Retreat will facilitate huge shifts in the quality and experience of one’s life. This powerful intervention will assist participants to reduce stress, shift limiting perceptions and attitudes, gain self-knowledge, self-worth  and emotional balance and inculcate mental and emotional resilience in coping with this rapidly changing world.

The body begins the ageing process around the age of thirty. It is hardly perceptible in the beginning and speeds up the older we get. How we age is dependent on lifestyle, life experiences, mental health and attitudes, and our genes. Qigong and yoga give us tools to keep the body healthy by mobilizing the joints, strengthening muscles and keeping us flexible. The postures and sequences can be adapted to all conditions and abilities. Yoga gives us pranayama, breathing techniques which strengthen and calm the nervous system as well as infusing our body with prana (life force energy). Meditation quietens the mind and has been shown to alter structures in the brain causing us to become more peaceful and less reactive. Yoga is an inward journey, getting to know ourselves, becoming aware of our habits and finding that place of stillness and joy that is in each of us. Ayurveda offers many ways in which we can nurture the body and manage the effects of menopause, ageing and living in a stressful world.

On this retreat we will slow down and explore the offerings and take away what resonates and fits into our life.

Are you ready for a life shift? John Homewood and Michelle McClunan bring their combined forty years of facilitating experience to this two-part retreat, providing you with a gentle, yet powerful process that will shift, awaken and nourish your whole being. You will leave this retreat greatly refreshed with a new and awakened perspective in life, taking with you practical tools to apply in shifting all areas of your life.

The retreat will integrate transformational, yet practical spiritual teachings of Presence, Awakening and Creative Art Processes. This integration will help you clear blockages that may have prevented you from living a healthy, peaceful and abundant life. All creative experiences are process-driven, as opposed to being outcome-based, so no artistic experience or skill is required. You will leave with a deeper sense of peace; a more focused sense of life purpose and rekindled joy and with greater emotional and spiritual intelligence to navigate life’s challenges.
Should you only be able to attend the weekend, Part 1, you will still gain much. However, investing in the whole 4 days will provide you the space to integrate and apply this Shift even deeper and more fully into your awareness.

For more info on their work see www.journeysofawakening.com

Are you ready for a life shift? John Homewood and Michelle McClunan bring their combined forty years of facilitating experience to this two-part retreat, providing you with a gentle, yet powerful process that will shift, awaken and nourish your whole being. You will leave this retreat greatly refreshed with a new and awakened perspective in life, taking with you practical tools to apply in shifting all areas of your life.
The retreat will integrate transformational, yet practical spiritual teachings of Presence, Awakening and Creative Art Processes. This integration will help you clear blockages that may have prevented you from living a healthy, peaceful and abundant life. All creative experiences are process-driven, as opposed to being outcome-based, so no artistic experience or skill is required.

Part 2  will provide you the space to integrate and apply this Shift more deeply and more fully into your awareness. You will leave with a deeper sense of peace; a more focused sense of life purpose and rekindled joy and with greater emotional and spiritual intelligence to navigate life’s challenges.

For more info on their work see www.journeysofawakening.com

This Easter long-weekend Open the Heart and Still the Mind Compassion Retreat with clinical psychologist Sue Cooper, is held in Noble Silence and is offered either as a 4 night Easter Weekend retreat or as an extended 7 night retreat. Inspired by the wisdom teachings of the Dharma and of Buddhist and western psychology, we will cultivate mindfulness and compassion practices which calm the nervous system and help integrate body, heart and mind. As we learn to listen and connect more compassionately with ourselves, drawing silent support from the sangha (like-minded practitioners finding solace in the shared silence), we will discover that the containment of ennobling silence allows us to find the courage to honour and embody our authentic, heartfelt presence with greater confidence, clarity and joy.

As we embrace the joys and the sorrows of life with a greater understanding of impermanence, we move beyond fear, shame and crippling self-doubt. After establishing some stillness and calm in the mind and the heart, we will explore the Brahma viharas (the four divine abodes/ immeasurables) to cultivate greater kindness, courage and compassion for ourselves and others. These compassion practices bring more appreciative joy, equanimity and wisdom into our lives, strengthening our capacity for more open-hearted presence and healthier boundaries in our relationships. This silent retreat includes teachings, guided meditations, daily qigong, time to walk, rest and replenish, as well as short, individual sessions with Sue to deepen our insight and sense of well-being. There will be relaxing massages and mindful movement offered as optional extras (the cost of which to be confirmed), to support our embodied experience.

CPD accreditation for psychologists and other HPCSA (or equivalent) registered professionals will be confirmed, with an annual admin fee tbc.

Please note: There is a teacher's fee for this retreat, which is offered on a sliding scale, with reductions and payment plans on request. Please contact Sue on for her pre-retreat questionnaire and to discuss a pre-retreat session if needed. More details can be found here: https://stillmindretreats.com/event/retreat-the-joy-of-courageous-heartfelt-presence/

We all have inner guidance and knowledge, but we don't always know how to access it and use it as the incredible gift it is. We are constantly trying to keep up with the ever-increasing pace and demands of our lives which leaves us with high stress levels and exhausted. On this retreat we will fortify our spirit, embrace our personal power, and allow our light to shine brightly again, the way the universe intended. Through talks, meditation, group work, transformational exercises, relaxation and conversation, we will journey back to our centre - to our most natural and balanced state of being. Deepening our connection with our inner self allows us to stand strong in our own personal power in the here and now. We will learn to listen less to the limiting, fear-based voices of our mind, and start aligning with our intuition, to our core that already knows that we are born as an unstoppable and magnificent force.

It is important for us to take time out from the incessant demands and fast pace of daily life. The BRC gives us a space to step off the wheel and the time to come home to the quiet, strong refuge which lies at our centre. Cultivating the natural state of peace and ease that lies there reveals our true nature - which enables us to not only help ourselves, but to help the world of which we are part. Then daily living becomes meaningful. This 3-day mid-week retreat will bring out our Beginner’s Mind through the practice of meditation. The time will be silent, quiet, and slow. There will be meditation instruction and guidance, formal sitting, and time for walking, writing, or staring into the distance. The retreat is suitable for those with or without meditation experience and will be held in an atmosphere of introspection.

Hope does not sit on the threadbare couch clutching a lotto ticket, passively waiting for good luck. Hope wields an axe, actively breaking down the door in a crisis. We can’t escape that Earth is in crisis. It’s also ever-more evident that we feel this crisis within ourselves as personal crisis. There is creeping hopelessness, fatalism, anxiety, denial, and numbness - a disengagement from the natural world which sustains us. The inner crisis even has a name now: eco-anxiety. To hear the daily news is to hear the myriad ways in which humanity is sensing and expressing the eco-anxiety.

How to respond to these crises?  Within a framing of Active Hope, the weekend will be spent in group and solo practices from The Work That Reconnects, moving through the spiral of gratefulness, grief, and transformation that will unlock your unexpected resilience and creative power. Hope is waking up to the beauty of life, on whose behalf we can act. As Joanna Macy always says: I am so grateful to be alive at this time of great upheaval, because we are made precisely for these times! Mostly we will practise in silence and as much as possible  outdoors, in contact with nature. The retreat will be held in an atmosphere of silence and introspection.