Mindfulness Teacher-Led Silent Retreats
These teacher-led silent retreat offers a safe and supportive environment for experienced Meditators, Mindfulness Teacher Trainees and Established Teachers in which to deepen and extend secular mindfulness meditation practice. It provides an opportunity to deeply tune in to our inner processes, exploring the ways we react to experience and how we might practise kindness towards our moment to moment experience and cultivate wisdom.
These silent retreats are specifically designed to meet the good practise guidelines for Mindfulness teachers on the teacher training pathway and are also highly suitable for more experienced teachers wishing to deepen their connection to the core underpinnings of mindfulness as it is taught in the eight-week course. It is also suitable for those who have taken an 8-week mindfulness course and who wish to deepen their practice. They also meet one of the requirements for applying to the Advanced Mindful Academy MBSR Teacher Training program. No previous retreat experience is required as full teacher support is available.
In general, our retreats include meditation instruction, talks and guided sessions of mindfulness meditation practice including mindful movement. They provide a safe and nourishing environment for the cultivation of a deep and grounded mindfulness meditation practice.
These retreats offer the opportunity to have an intensive practice, during which it will be possible to cultivate and nourish the special sensitivity that underlies awareness practices. In this period in which Mindfulness practice has become so popular, it is possible to misinterpret it as a technique to learn quickly and to apply easily, rather than an inner and heartfelt personal resource to develop through a long-life practice. Many of us are getting a taste of meditation and a wish to practise more intensively, so these retreats are opportunities to take our mindfulness practise deeper.
During the retreats the participants will have the possibility to get closer to and comprehend their personal experiences through the practice of mindfulness meditation in its universal and non-sectarian expression, conveying the way, spirit and practice of MBSR.
Silence:
The retreat will include guided and silent practice, with periods of Mindful Walking and Mindful Movement, to help bring our practice right into the experience of everyday life. Silence is a main supportive feature of the retreat and we will be practising a warm friendly silence and, at all times, there will be the possibility to speak to the retreat leader or organisers should this be needed. There will also be an option to talk briefly with the retreat leader about your practice. The first evening we will be talking and getting to know each other, outlining the program etc. The last evening we will be breaking the silence and sharing aspects of the experience if we wish to.
These retreats will often include:
- Periods of both guided and self-directed practice
- Short talks to support our practice
- Sustained periods of silence to enable participants to connect more fully with their inner experience
- Time to practice mindfulness informally between the scheduled sessions
- The teachers will be available to talk to people individually.
A core teaching intention for this retreat is to offer a structure and atmosphere within which we can deeply look into our experience with the freshness of beginner’s mind, enabling new insights and perspectives to emerge.
Are retreats suitable for everyone?
Although our mindfulness retreats are suitable for most people, they are not suitable for everyone. Retreats can be quite intensive, and we do not advise attending a retreat if you are suffering from certain conditions or have had a traumatic event which is interfering with your everyday life. When filling out the application form for a retreat, we advise that you provide us with as much information as possible so that we can make sure the retreat you select is suitable for you.
Upcoming dates:
Testimonial
In May this year, I attended my 6th retreat at Solterreno.
The centre is set in an extraordinarily beautiful position; its terraces and garden offer calm and tranquillity whilst the surrounding mountains seem to breathe with a quiet and majestic stillness. This awe-inspiring landscape is conducive to a total immersion into the bigger picture!
What really transforms this already beautiful place is the potency and collective resonance of the practice that has been happening here for years. Solterreno's gift of space and silence makes room for a depth of personal practise that can be transforming, life-changing and profoundly healing.
I have attended retreats here in various states of well being - but the common denominator is that once home there is always a shift, a movement, a broadening of awareness and understanding that resonates and informs my choices as I go forward in this life.
With thanks to Bodhin and Adelina and the birds that never stop singing!
Cathryn Newman
