Inner Peace and Fierce Compassion: A Dana Retreat

Teachers

YANAI POSTELNIK first encountered the teachings of the Buddha while travelling in Asia in 1989, and has been teaching Insight Meditation and Buddhist practice internationally for 30 years. Yanai is much inspired by the forest tradition of Thailand, and the transformative power of the natural world. He is a member of the Gaia House Teacher Council, and a Core Faculty member of Insight Meditation Society, Massachusetts. Since 2018 Yanai has devoted a significant amount of his time to activism and nonviolent civil disobedience, calling for an appropriate response by government, to the climate, ecological and social justice crises of our time. Having grown up in New Zealand, with parents of European and Asian heritage, Yanai lives with his wife Catherine McGee in Devon, England.

Listen to one of Yanai Postelnik's Talks given at Gaia House on 02.09.2013: The Art of Unknowing (Duration 61:05)

RIVER WOLTON attended her first Insight Meditation retreat in 2000, and subsequently helped to establish Sheffield Insight Meditation. She is a Community Dharma Leader authorised by Gaia House Teacher Council, and has completed Dharma Teacher Training with Bodhi College. A former Derbyshire Poet Laureate, she has led writing and arts projects for many years, and is an activist in the LGBTQI+ community. For further information please visit her website.

Listen to one of River's talks on Dharma Seed: The Story of Ptolemy the Tortoise and Mettā (Duration 46:24)

What is a dana retreat?

Rooted in the beautiful qualities of generosity and giving, this retreat honours the profound interdependence woven into every strand of our existence.

Gaia House has always offered an annual dana retreat which entailed the payment of a non-refundable deposit to secure a place. In our culture, commitment is often expressed and manifested by an upfront payment. This year Gaia House is relying entirely on your wholehearted commitment to attend the retreat when registering, so please only book if you know you can come.

To make the retreat accessible to as many people as possible, if for any unforeseen circumstances you find that you cannot follow through on your commitment, we ask you to let us know as soon as possible so we can offer your place to another practitioner. Please also consider offering Dana to Gaia House in support of the administrative costs involved with cancellations.

We are offering this retreat in this way because of the generosity of those who have supported Gaia House in the past.  Offering a retreat to people freely in the future needs people who can afford to support this model to give freely also. At the end of the retreat participants will be invited to offer Dana in accordance with their means, in the form of financial donations to Gaia House to support this model going forward. 

At the end of the retreat participants will be invited to offer Dana in accordance with their means, in the form of financial donations to Gaia House and the teacher to support this kind of event in the future.

We also invite donations to the residential service community, who receive only a stipend, food and lodgings and to the teacher(s): Teachers offering retreats in Gaia House do not receive any fee for their teachings, whilst giving enormously of their time and energy. Dharma teachings are considered priceless and therefore teachers offer their understanding freely. The livelihood of most Insight Meditation teachers depends wholly, or to a large extent, on voluntary contributions from retreatants who value their guidance and wish to support the ongoing teachings of the Dharma.  Your generosity to the teachers is greatly appreciated.

Click here to read more about the practice of dana.

Before booking

In support of your retreat, two weeks before you arrive, we will send a list of questions about your physical, mental health and dietary needs. This will help us to support you during your retreat. If you are unsure whether or not to book due to needing specialist support due to significant physical or mental health needs, including checking availability of our only ground floor bedroom (also wheelchair-accessible), please email retreatmanager@gaiahouse.co.uk.

For more information on our retreats please check our frequently asked questions page.

Well-being and silent retreats

This is a silent retreat: apart from during individual or group meetings with the teachers you will be invited into silence for the duration of the event. 

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.

• If you are currently under the care of a mental health professional, please discuss your attendance with them. You should be in a relatively stable period of mental well-being and have adequate psychological resilience.
• If you have any questions about this, please contact Laura using the email address, retreatmanager@gaiahouse.co.uk

Join the Waiting List

To register your interest go through the booking process and complete the checkout process. No payment is required for joining the list. We will then contact you if a place becomes available.

To find out more about how we operate our waiting lists please click here.