Meditation Retreat 2010
This retreat will be suitable for beginners as well as more experienced meditation practitioners of any discipline.
All participants will receive instructions on a variety of means to achieve tranquillity or quiescence: samatha. This state of meditative composure is fundamental to achieving the deeper states of insight meditation [vipassana].
Specific instructions will be given on the following topics:
Ananpana sati - mindfulness of the breath as a means of developing concentration. The four elements as perceived directly on the breath and in the body. Kyagatasati - mindfulness of the body part by part.
the person whose mind is composed realises things as they truly are
There will be a daily opportunity to practice metta with instructions given on how this practice can support the other practices and how they can interchange as a means of enhancing rather than diminishing levels of concentration.
Instructions will also be given for using these meditation techniques for specific healing during the course of the retreat.
In addition, participants will receive a daily discourse that will give some of the historical, philosophical and metaphysical background to the practices.
During the discourses, there will be an emphasis on three interrelated aspects:
- Form, feeling, perception, mental formations and consciousness [the five aggregates / skhandas]. Investigating the nature of feelings, reactions and consciousness.
- Karma: how actions determine what we are and what we become.
- How mindfulness of death can support a more fulfilled life.
While these topics will appeal to more advanced practitioners, beginners will find that the discourses give an additional meaning to the practice they are undertaking during the day.
There will be at least two daily qi gong or do-in [tao yoga] sessions. While the retreat will be in silence there will be opportunity for daily consultation.
Why take part in this retreat?
Novices and experienced practitioners alike will benefit. Novices will find the week-long retreat a very powerful foundation course that will support any other meditation, qi gong, or yoga. Many find the early efforts to meditate discouraging - yet meditating in a group and in an environment that is highly supportive at all levels, novices find that they can make very rapid progress.
Novices need not have any apprehension concerning their ability to either understand the instructions or carry them out. These techniques are accessible to all and it is cumulative practice that begins to highlight the obstacles to meditative quiescence, giving the opportunity for the appropriate antidote to be practiced. 
More advanced practitioners will already recognise that it is continual exposure to the practices that allows the refinement of personal practice which supports deeper realisation and increased ease.
Those who achieve a good degree of meditative stability during the week will have the opportunity to practice some of the more advanced meditations that will be referred to during discourses.
In particular we will deal with ‘the four closely placed recollections’: of the body’s essential nature; of feelings; of the mind and of ‘entities’.
These meditations have the effect of countering four principal erroneous and deeply seated views that bind us to our difficulties: not knowing what is purity; not knowing what is satisfactory; not knowing impermanence; not knowing emptiness.
Rather than seeking to achieve any scholarly or philosophical knowledge, all prospective participants will principally be directed towards establishing a practical and functional understanding of the techniques so that they may take them into daily life.
The syllabus is full and individual participants will be directed to the most appropriate practice for them during the course of the retreat. Those with previous experience or those who are naturally able to make swift progress will be able to take advantage of the more advanced meditations. Whatever your perceived standard of practice or understanding, all can benefit. Achieving excellence in all the topics is not the goal - the goal is to practice at a level that brings a glimpse of the enormous benefits of composing the mind, relaxing and directing attention towards subjects that bring deeper wisdom and release.
When is the retreat?
Saturday 8 – Saturday 15 May 2010 at Ram’s beautiful rural retreat in the foothills of the French Pyrenees. Participants are asked to arrive between 4pm and 6pm on Saturday 8 May.
More information about the venue
