Detailed List of Retreats

Why must we undertake Vipassana meditation retreats? Because we search for happiness and want to liberate our mind from suffering. We go on a retreat to cleanse and disentangle our troubled lives and minds. This experience frees our mind - Ajahn Tong

The retreat starts with an introduction on Monday evening and follows the original Stages of Insight for ten full days of meditation. The aim of insight meditation is to understand reality, to see things as they really are. The main tool of insight meditation is mindfulness: mindfulness of body, feelings and mind. Ajahn Tong states that “attending a meditation retreat is training in the power of mindfulness. With intensive practice the wandering, struggling and chaotic mind can become composed, peaceful, refreshed and purified of negative hindrances.” Retreatants are required to practise approximately ten hours per day (between 5 am and 10 pm), follow the Buddhist precepts and maintain respectful silence throughout the retreat. The BRC staff and teachers will provide their whole-hearted support, including daily reporting, loving-kindness meditation (Metta) and Dhamma talks. Maximum 12 students. This retreat will overlap with the weekend retreat (19-21) and the 4 day retreat (21-25). 

Thoughts come and go. Feelings come and go. Find out what it is that remains - Ramana Maharshi

The retreat will be limited to 12 participants.

You may find that the cell is an ideal place to learn to know yourself, to search realistically and regularly the processes of your own mind and feelings ... it gives you the opportunity to look daily into your entire conduct to overcome the bad and develop whatever is good in you. Never forget that a saint is a sinner who keeps on trying - Nelson Mandela - Mandela The Authorised Biography by Anthony Sampson

Vipassana (Insight) meditation uses mindfulness to search for the mental and emotional patterns that cause suffering. The aim is not merely to overcome suffering but to learn how to wake up and be fully alive in the present moment. This four-day retreat is an opportunity to deepen meditation practice using the traditional Buddhist method of Ajahn Tong. Meditators are encouraged to stay for the entire course but may also stay for a shorter time and beginners are welcome to learn how to start Vipassana meditation. Mindfulness is developed by regular walking and sitting practice (both in the meditation hall and outside in the forest), by maintaining awareness during normal activities such as eating, showering, dressing and supported by daily interviews with a teacher. The retreat will be held in silence.

What is looking is what you are looking for - St. Francis of Assisi