Led by: Satyamuni, Ratnagita and Mokshadipa
Location: Bowerwood, East Devon
Deposit amount: £80
Experience level: See below for retreat suitability
Age group: Adults
Total suggested cost (including deposit): standard: £300, supported:£200, donation tier (helping others to come on retreat):£580
Vehicle Pass: Car: £15, Live-in- 6m and under: £30, Live-in- over 6m: £30
Entering the realm of the dakinis offers practitioners portals to come into relationship with rich symbolic, intuitive and energetic realms at many levels. Dakinis are variously described as messengers and guardians of the dharma as well as the energetic impulses that carry all potential buddhas to awakening.
'The dakini is that part of the Sangha with which we have a real living spiritual contact, and the Dakini Refuge is therefore the esoteric form of the Sangha Refuge' (Sangharakshita : lecture 137 - 1978 Levels of Going for Refuge).
Whilst many retreats bring into centre stage peaceful and serene (male) buddhas and Boddhisattvas, Dakini figures remain more ‘elusive’. Perhaps not only pointing to the flux and change of energies and what we are open to and able to turn towards, but also pointing at times to a very human fear, intoxication with and/or suppression of more (passionate) semi-wrathful and more wrathful energies and forms which manifest.
The retreat is open to experienced meditators of 3-years-plus regular practice.This will be an intensive retreat including brief teachings, meditation, ritual, storytelling, energy work and movement. The retreat will include an extended period of silence outside of teaching elements to support all of our processing. Meditation reviews will be offered.
Please be aware that this is an intensive meditation retreat with extended periods of silence. It is not unusual for retreats of this nature to stir things up. If you are relatively new to such retreats, we suggest you discuss it with your local sangha peers and teachers to check if the retreat is a good fit for you. Please also see our FAQs and the document linked there - Are you well enough to be on retreat?: https://buddhafield.com/retreats#Other
Satyamuni’s life explorations have moved through many (co-existing) work identities as an applied psychologist, psychotherapist, coach from the 1980s. Coming ‘home’ to the dharma, she (re)connected with Triratna in 2006 in Manchester: the beginnings of an ongoing evolving relationship arising out of direct experiences through meditation, exploration and play with ‘dakinis’ and ritual. From the energies and communications experienced she explored connections with movement, yoga and shamanism and often is still moved to paint post meditation and retreat as expression of experiences. She took up a first formal dakini sadhana in 2016 and a second in 2022, which continue to be alive and inspiring. Since 2019 most of her time is spent in solitary and spiritual community retreat contexts in field, mountain and urban settings: practising, supporting and communicating the dharma ‘on’ and ‘off’ the cushions!.
Ratnagita the business woman first encountered Triratna in Glasgow in 1982 which opened up a vast cavern of unconscious energies and yet strangely familiar on a deep primordial level. She re engaged in 1996 with Triratna in Blackburn and Manchester and has been actively involved in both centres as well as being a mother and supporting elderly parents. Throughout this time her love and deepening connection of Symbolism, Myth and ritual has been a constant thread of practice. Her relationship with the Dakinis is both a “formal” sadhana practice and a living direct experience approach. Exploring the connections of shamanism, storytelling and esoteric Sangha communication and play.
Things to note