Gaia House Online

Yes – unless specified in the retreat description, most of our online group retreats are recommended for beginners as well as for more experienced practitioners.

If one is currently experiencing acute emotional distress, such as clinical depression, or post-traumatic stress disorder, attending a silent retreat could be difficult. When negative thinking patterns are very intrusive or persistent, sometimes it could be easier to practice in a setting where there are more possibilities for active engagement (such as mindfulness-based stress reduction or mindfulness-based cognitive therapy programmes taught by an appropriately trained and competent instructor). Once the acute phase of emotional distress has eased, Insight Meditation retreats can then offer invaluable opportunities for developing practice further.

Clicking on the title of a retreat within our Programme will provide a description of the retreat and a brief biography of the teacher(s), along with details of dates and registration rates. From here you can book a place via our online booking system.

We suggest that you have in mind your plan for the days of our retreat. For example, will you be:

• Maintaining silence?
• Continuing with/doing additional sitting and walking meditation?
• Cultivating an attitude of retreat throughout?

If so, be sure to set up conditions that support you, including discussing with those you share your space at home with.

It would be helpful to plan in advance, using the guidelines below, to simplify as much as you can and set boundaries around what you will and will not engage with. These are skillful ways of creating continuity and settling more deeply into practice and quiet.

• Find a quiet and comfortable space to practice and make it as pleasant and welcoming as you can.
• If you like, you can arrange a small altar with candles, flowers, or altar objects near you.
• You may like to keep a small candle burning throughout the day as this helps to remind us that we are practising on retreat.
• We want to create a space that feels like we are with each other as much as possible. Even though we are not together physically, arriving on time is still important. Settle in and prepare your space and yourself before each session begins.
• Whilst we are online together, don’t multitask. Turn off your other devices and any other programs you have been using. Engage with the session and teachings offered just as you would on a retreat you attend in a retreat centre. Give yourself this time to be present and awake.
• Consider how you are going to use the time between our online sessions and try to keep life as simple and free from distractions as possible.

• We encourage sensitivity towards all living beings and a non-harming relationship to all life and suggest you may want to follow these five ethical guidelines whilst participating in a retreat.

The Five Precepts

The core ethical principles of Buddhism are known as the ‘Five Precepts’, which we ask all people who live, work and practice at Gaia House to observe whilst within the house and grounds, in order to support a retreat environment of safety, peace, sensitivity and respect, you may want to bring this to your home whilst you engage on a retreat online. The precepts are not rules or commandments, but ‘principles of training’, which are undertaken freely.

1. Refrain from harming or taking the life of any being.
2. Refrain from taking or misusing anything that does not belong to you or has not been clearly offered.
3. Refrain from harmful expressions of sexuality.
4. Refrain from harmful expressions of speech.
5. Refrain from the use of intoxicants and substances which cloud the mind.

• Arrange your computer or device so you can see and hear well.
• Make sure you have easy access to the schedule and Zoom links and arrive on time for all the sessions you can attend.
• If you have to miss any sessions, please check the noticeboard to access recordings of the missed sessions.
• Think about where you might go to practice any walking meditation.
• Shop before the retreat if you can so that you don’t have to do this during the retreat. Planning meals in advance may also be helpful.
• Think about disengaging from unnecessary conversations and interactions: explain to any other people in your household what you will be doing and discuss how they can support you.

The teachers provide guidance through meditation instruction, talks, and sometimes small group meetings. The talks aim to clarify the nature of meditation practice, to explore its application in daily life, or to explore the nature of human experience in the light of spiritual teachings. There will be opportunities to discuss your experience and meditation practice with the teacher(s), in the form of question and answer periods. More about Gaia House teachers.

• It is helpful for us all if we all approach the session as if we are entering a meditation hall: This means we don’t drink or eat or walk in and out during the session. It also supports us all to maintain an engaged presence during the sessions, rather than treating them like a programme we are watching passively. Although we are online, the presence we each bring will support us.
• Please keep your microphone muted (we will help with that), unless we invite you to unmute it. This helps eliminate background noise that will be heard by everyone.
• It is supportive for your fellow participants and teachers if you leave your camera on when you are sitting in front of your computer. This gives a sense of sitting together, instead of simply viewing names on a screen. But if you have need to turn it off due to distractions in your camera view, are meditating away from your screen, or simply do not want to turn it on, that is also ok.
• Please don’t move the computer around with the video on. If you need to move rooms or step away from the screen, please turn off the video. It is less distracting and allows us collectively to have a more settled feel.
• Likewise, if you find you are interrupted by another being (person or pet), please turn off your video to avoid being a distraction. And turn it back on when things have settled again.