A Gaia House online retreat with Ajahn Amaro and Laura Bridgman
Monday, 5 April, 4pm – 7pm
This retreat is open to all, including beginners and those with experience. Please join us.
Teachers:
AJAHN AMARO is abbot at Amaravati Buddhist Monastery in Hertfordshire, UK. Having studied Psychology and Physiology at the University of London, spiritual searching led him to Thailand, where he went to Wat Pah Nanachat, a Forest Tradition monastery established for Western disciples of Thai meditation master Ajahn Chah, who ordained him as a bhikkhu in 1979. During the 80s and 90s he resided at Chithurst Monastery and Amaravati, before moving to California in 1996 to establish Abhayagiri Monastery, where he was co-Abbot with Ajahn Pasanno until 2010, when he returned to Amaravati. He has written a number of books, including an account of an 830-mile trek from Chithurst to Harnham Monastery, called Tudong – The Long Road North, republished in the expanded book Silent Rain. His other publications include Small Boat, Great Mountain (2003), Rain on the Nile (2009) and The Island – An Anthology of the Buddha's Teachings on Nibbana (2009) co-written with Ajahn Pasanno, and a guide to meditation called Finding the Missing Peace.
Retreat description
In this retreat we will reflect on the value of sangha; how spiritual friendship can illuminate our awareness, and how our practice can support the good things in our communities, and help us to respond wisely and compassionately to the areas that need rebuilding.
Schedule
All times shown are in British Summer Time (BST)
4.00pm — Introduction, reflections and practice instructions
4.45pm — Sitting meditation
5.00pm — Dhamma reflections
5.50pm — Comfort break
6.00pm — Q&A
6.45pm — Final guided meditation
Using Zoom
This online retreat will use the Zoom platform. For support with learning how to use Zoom, please click here to read the guidance we’ve put together on our website. Please read the first section, ‘Using Zoom’, before registering.
Enquiries
If you have any questions regarding the retreat, you can send an email to info@gaiahouse.co.uk We will respond as quickly as possible, but we have a reduced team during this time so we apologise if you have to wait longer than usual.
Dana/generosity
Click here to read more about the practice of dana.
Ajahn Amaro and Laura Bridgman are kindly offering their dana for this event to support Gaia House during this time of financial vulnerability.
Dana can be offered to Gaia House via the website: https://gaiahouse.co.uk/support-us/. Please click on: General Fund
Dana can also be offered to Gaia House’s residential service team via our website. Whilst our retreat centre remains closed, this team is taking care of Gaia House on the ground, as well as offering tech support for online retreats and responding to email and telephone enquiries.
With deep appreciation for your generosity.
Well-being guidelines - please click here to read before booking Before you book, please read these guidelines about mental well-being and silent retreats: Meditation retreats can be very nourishing; however, as they require sustained meditation practice, they also need some stability of psychological health. If you have recently (within the past year or so) experienced significant trauma or psychiatric illness, or if you are currently experiencing acute emotional distress such as serious depression or anxiety, it may not be the best time for you to participate in a retreat. The teachers might not be able to give you the kind of individual psychological care you need at this time. A setting with more opportunities for interpersonal engagement may be more appropriate.
Registration
Registration for this retreat has now closed.