Course Information

Retreat: Staying Mindful

When: 22 Mar 2021 - 26 Mar 2021
Where: Online Event
Tutors: Annee Griffiths, Sarah Millband

Exploring the Four Foundations of Mindfulness in the Heart of your Life.


Who is the retreat for?

This retreat is suitable as a first retreat for anyone wanting to deepen their practice in a supportive environment and also for those with more experience who wish to further develop their practice. It is also suitable for teachers looking for inspiration for follow-up courses.

This retreat will enable mindfulness teachers who wish to be included on the British Association of Mindfulness Based Approaches’s listing to fulfil the requirement to attend an annual mindfulness retreat.


What's involved?

How do we integrate our practice with our life? What drew us to practice and what motivates, sustains and inspires our practice? How do we keep that alive in our busy lives? What stops us from practising or distracts us within in our practice?

These questions will be explored and will help to lay the foundations of a sense of a shared journey within the community of the retreat.

This secular retreat will integrate the roots of mindfulness-based programmes and Buddhist psychology alongside wisdom from other world traditions.  Throughout the five days, we will explore the four foundations in contemporary form through practice, poetry and reflection.  Each evening session will include a talk on the themes of the retreat.

There will be a variety of guided meditations to facilitate and penetrate a deeper understanding of experience and to refresh practice.  Alongside a revisiting of the core practices of the 8 week course, we will explore intentions for and hindrances to practice.  We will also introduce new practices, including the RAIN meditation to guide us through difficulties and compassion and gratitude meditations to support us with cultivating these attitudes in the rest of our lives.

The retreat will be held in a container of silence that will enable a deeper intimacy within our own experience. There will also be opportunities to share experience in a supportive way. The retreat will provide a deep and non-threatening intimacy of community within a space held by two experienced teachers.  There will be some periods without meditation guidance to support us to deepen in to the silence.

We acknowledge that the container for an online retreat may need to be a little different from in a residential setting, and there may be times of non-silence where you need to be in communication with those you live with. Further information will be given on creating as contained an environment as you can within your own home or another place where you can primarily be undisturbed in your practice and dialogue.

A short individual meeting with a teacher is an important resource during the retreat. This is an opportunity for each participant to explore their practice, to be supported with any difficulties or stuck areas or simply to touch base with the teacher, who is herself a fellow practitioner and a companion on the way.

Mid-way in the course we split into two groups to check in and learn from each other’s experience.

These supportive opportunities for connection make it a suitable first retreat. For all participants, the retreat is conducive for deepening practice and establishing it further in everyday life. Mindfulness teachers will find it useful not only as a training and inspiration for their own courses but also as a further opportunity for embodying mindfulness in retreat and in life.

The retreat will include:

An introductory session

Periods of guided and self-guided practices including mindful walking

Several whole group interactions

Evening talks

A one-to-one meeting with one of the teachers

A meeting with a smaller group mid-way through the course

Sustained periods of silence to enable participants to connect with their inner experience


What are the requirements to attend?

Attendance at an eight-week MBSR/MBCT (or similar) course.

Please ensure you are able to attend the entire event. If this is not possible, please contact us to discuss before submitting an application.

Timings:

Please join ready to start at 4pm on 22nd March. The retreat will finish by 12.30pm on the 26th March 2021.


Location:

Via Zoom in your own home or another space where you have good internet access, space and equipment to sit, walk and move and where you will be undisturbed. We will encourage many similar conditions to a residential retreat such as silence (where possible with some flexibility), not using email, phones etc., taking a break from work and social commitments. The retreat will begin at 7.15 am and finish by 8.45 pm on each of the full days.

A Zoom link will be sent nearer to the start date. 


What to bring/wear:

Please have practice equipment such as mats, cushions and blankets to hand and dress in comfortable, loose, layered clothing.


Fee Options:

  • Full Rate of Online Event - £300
  • Employer's Rate - £350

    Employer's rate - Recognising the large administrative overhead of dealing with employers, we will be adding a £50 surcharge if the employer is paying directly; where possible we would advise applicants to pay themselves and reclaim on expenses to avoid the charge. We will be applying this to all our offerings with effect from September 2020.


The application and payment process:

Our application and payment process involves the following steps:

  1. We receive your application form and assess it to ensure this event is suitable for you. We endeavour to make assessments within a week but if the retreat leader is on annual leave or on retreat then this can take a little longer.
  2. Upon offering you a place we will send an invoice.
  3. Your place is fully confirmed once we receive full payment.
  4. We will email you the joining instructions in advance of the course.

Payment and Cancellation Policy:

Please read our Terms and Conditions for information regarding payments and cancellations.


For more information:

Please email us at retreats@mindfulness-network.org


Click here to sign up to our waiting list - unfortunately this event is now full.