Teachers

YAHEL AVIGUR is a devoted meditator and Dharma teacher. In 2013, after practicing in Theravada and Insight Meditation traditions, he met the Dharma teacher Rob Burbea and became his student. He was encouraged by Rob to teach the complete path of Emptiness as he articulated it, as well as his particular approach to Jhana practice and to train in teaching Soulmaking Dharma. Yahel is also trained in the Hakomi approach of assisted self-study.

 

SARI MARKKANEN started to practise Insight meditation in 2005 after years of other meditative practices. Sari has practised meditation on long retreats at Gaia House, in Finland and in monasteries in Thailand. She completed an Insight Meditation teacher training in 2020 guided by her close teachers Rob Burbea, Martine Batchelor and Caroline Jones. Sari has been sharing Dharma for many years in Nirodha, the Finnish Insight Meditation community, earlier as a Community Dharma Leader trainee and graduate. Previously, Sari taught secular mindfulness (MBSR) and Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC) and she was a pioneer in teaching mindfulness in schools in Finland. She has written two books about mindfulness, kindness and compassion practices for children. Nowadays she is committed to serving Dharma.

Assisted online by

MONICA ANTUNES has been practicing Buddhist meditation in Burma and the West since 2008 and has been invited to teach in 2017 under the guidance of Guy Armstrong and Rob Burbea. She also teaches mindfulness in the context of humanitarian interventions for child protection, works as a Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy trainer at OTIUM Cancer Centre in Geneva, Switzerland and supports medical research.

Format

This retreat allows us to join with those on retreat at Gaia House as we join the Meditation Hall to practice together.  As online participants we will have a window into Gaia House and be viewing and listening to the teachers at the front of the Meditation Hall.

• The retreat can be attended, if your circumstances allow, as fully as if in the house, the teachers encourage attendance, as a minimum, for the three main teaching sessions each day — although these will be recorded if you need to miss one or to enable you to join from a different time zone
• Small group meetings with Monica will be offered for those online
• Recordings of the main sessions and any resources will be shared on an online retreat noticeboard
• Questions can be asked by using a form on the noticeboard or, if time allows, during the livestreamed session

Although all efforts have been made to ensure that live-streaming is possible from Gaia House, we are in a rural location and at times there can be a loss of connectivity.

Recordings of the essential sessions from the house will be made available at a later time and we will endeavour to provide short recordings for participants to practice with for the duration of any time whilst the connectivity is down.

Schedule

All times shown are in British Summer Time (BST)

The schedule will follow that of the house and full details will be made available nearer the time.  The daily schedule runs from around 6.25 am – 9.15 pm and you are welcome to join all or any of the sessions during the day (please stay for the whole session).

We would encourage your intention to commit to attending the three essential sessions of the day preferably live, but if your situation does not allow this it would be beneficial to listen to the recording at a later time.  The times of these sessions will be circa:

9.30 am — Morning instructions
2.30 pm — Guided meditation
7.00 pm — Evening Dharma talk

The retreat will start at approxiumately 7pm on Monday 20th and finish at approximately 12 pm on Monday 27th May.

Well-being and online retreats

Before you book, please read these guidelines about mental well-being and silent online 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

Preparing for the retreat

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 skilful ways of creating continuity and settling more deeply into practice and quiet.

Creating a retreat environment

Practicalities