Led by: Paramananda and Satyamuni
Location: Bowerwood, Nr. Broadhembury, E. Devon
Deposit amount: £130
Experience level: Experienced meditators - at least three years
Age group: Adults
Total suggested cost (excluding deposit): standard:£500, supported:£330, donation tier (helping others to come on retreat):£840
Vehicle Pass: Car:£15, Live-in- 6m and under: £30, Live-in- over 6m: £30
See our FAQ for an explanation of the deposit/ dana/ donation tier system. Please do read this is you think that you will not be able to afford the retreat or you are not sure about the deposit/dana/ donation tier system in any way. We have suggested donation amounts to guide you and they relate to what it costs us to run a retreat. However you are free to give as little or as much as befits your circumstances.
This two week intensive meditation retreat held under the trees offers a rare opportunity to deepen our practice supported by the natural world. Please note that this year's retreat is 1 day longer than usual offering a little more spaciousness
Meditation can help us face up to the challenges that confront us at this time, acting as a counter-balance to the individualism and compulsive consumption of the modern world. On this retreat, we will be cultivating a collective sense of solidarity, both with one another and with the natural world which we are completely dependent upon. The retreat, which will be largely in silence, offers a unique opportunity to strengthen our hearts in order that we are able to meet our personal as well as global difficulties, with courage and compassion.
Paramananda teaches a soulful approach to meditation, infused with poetry and myth, and at the same time grounded in connection to the body, land, place and each other. Living and meditating together in silence we will create a community of practice that supports us to go beyond our normal sense of who and what we are. Through practicing in solidarity with the human and more than human world we will seek to move beyond embodiment into ‘enworldment’.
Leader Bios
Paramananda
Paramananda is an inspirational and much loved Buddhist teacher who has written a number of books on Buddhism and the craft of meditation, including ‘A Deeper Beauty’, and mostly recently ‘The Myth of Meditation: Restoring Imaginal Ground through Embodied Buddhist Practice’.
He worked for a number of years as a psychiatric social worker and did voluntary work in the community for the Samaritans, in drug detox, and in a hospice. His time is now dedicated to teaching.
Satyamuni
Satyamuni is delighted to return to total immersion after a gap of 3 years. For 10 years this retreat was her context to practise more deeply within a community in greater harmony with the land. In the gap, she spent 2 years in the spanish mountains in a women’s community also supporting meditation and ordination retreats For the last 14 months Satyamuni has been mainly in retreat with communities of practitioners (wales, spain, new zealand, england) as well as on solitary retreat in lapland.
Satyamuni originally trained as a social psychologist and researcher before retraining as a clinical and forensic psychologist and psychotherapist. Her focus was on more appropriate, timely and responsive therapeutic pathways into and out of secure psychiatric care. She now practices full time as a Dharma practitioner contributing to communicating the teachings in any way that is helpful.
Things to note