Bringing Body, Speech, and Mind to the Path of Practice

Residential Retreat

Friday, 15 December – Tuesday, 19 December 2023 (4 nights)

With Laura Bridgman and Jenny Wilks

 

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This retreat is full

Join the Waiting List

Please scroll down to the bottom of the page to register your interest 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.

Teachers

LAURA BRIDGMAN was a Buddhist nun in the Theravada tradition from 1995 to 2015. Her main teachers within this school have been Ajahn Sumedho, Ajahn Sucitto and Sayadaw U Tejaniya. She has been offering retreats since 2007, most recently mainly at Gaia House where she is also the staff support teacher. Her practice orientation is the Buddha’s teaching of the Five Spiritual Faculties (trust, balanced effort, mindfulness, composure and wisdom). Alongside her Vipassana (Insight) practice she is a student of the Diamond Approach (Ridhwan).

 

 

JENNY WILKS has practised in various Buddhist traditions since the late 1980s and has an MA in Indian religions. She has taught at Gaia House since 2008, as well as at the Barn Retreat in Devon, and for the Mindfulness Network. She trained in clinical psychology and has taught mindfulness-based approaches in healthcare settings. In recent years her practice has included exploration of deep ecology and nature-based approaches to psychosocial and spiritual well-being.

Listen to one of Jenny Wilks' Talks at Gaia House on 31.12.2016: The Five Recollections (Duration 52:50)

 

Experience required

This retreat is suitable for all levels of experience.

Retreat description

In the silence of meditation we become more deeply aware of how the mind tends to run ahead of our present-moment experience and form standpoints and interpretations about what we are encountering. This impacts on our hearts and is often expressed in our speech, a challenging aspect of practice in everyday life. Rather than being carried away by the currents of these inner narratives , we can find a flow and unfoldment that supports more compassionate self-talk and more harmonious communication with other people.

To this end, this retreat will include opportunities to engage in contemplative inquiry in pairs, supported by embodied awareness within the container of the silent retreat schedule.

Rates

Please consider paying at the highest rate that you are able to. Your generosity is vital in supporting Gaia House to sustain its Dharma offerings for the benefit of all.

We are committed to ensuring that our programme is available to everyone who wishes to participate. If our rates are too high for you, we invite you to apply for support from our Financial Assistance and Bursaries Fund (FAB Fund).

Extend your retreat

If you have previously been on a residential retreat of a weekend or longer at Gaia House, you are welcome to join us a day earlier than the retreat start date.  All retreatants are welcome to stay an extra night at the end of the retreat.  There is an additional cost of £68 per night.

Please note, retreat conditions will still apply from arrival:

• Observe silence
• Follow the daily schedule
• Practise meditation

Dana/generosity

None of your registration fee goes to the teacher. Gaia House teachers rely on the generosity of students for their livelihood. At the end of the retreat, there is an opportunity to make a dana offering to your teacher(s), the residential community team and Gaia House. We are deeply grateful for your generosity.

Click here to read more about the practice of dana.

Gaia House and covid-19

We hope to make everyone's retreat at Gaia House as supportive as possible. Please click here for further information on how we are creating as supportive and safe a retreat environment.

Arrival and departure times

• Arrive for registration between 2.00pm-4.45pm on the opening day.
• Depart after 12.30pm on the final day (or 1.30pm if staying for lunch).

Please note:

• We will need everyone to commit to the full duration of their retreat.

Cancellation terms & conditions

We have now updated our Booking Terms and Conditions which includes cancellation information, please click here. Please take time to review these before you book.

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