Retreat Reports

2-7 July 2024

5 Days of Meditation
at the Old Monastery

A drive through the pouring rain on Tuesday afternoon brought me to the Old Monastery, mud brick accommodation near Stroud.

I unloaded in the damp chill to my assigned room along the brick corridor. After a short wander through the foggy dusk we had soup and chatted with other retreatants. Following was a short talk by our teacher Simon Power, formerly Buddhist monk Bhante Akaliko. His talk focused on the retreat theme The Next Step. This talk and following dhamma talks and sitting sessions were held in the cosy ‘library’.

The following days we welcomed sparkling sunshine to warm us as we walked in meditation on the roads and paths surrounded by the tall forest stretching to the clean skies. I stopped numerous times over the days to reflect on the work/accomplishments of the nuns who constructed the mud brick buildings. The beauty of the environment, plants, trees, flowers and the sounds of birds and frogs provided a perfect backdrop to our meditation efforts.

Over the five days, in addition to knowledge and guidance on Buddhist principles, Simon treated us to a range of creative activities – writing poetry, sketching, craft – to supplement our meditative exploration of self. Every afternoon we stretched and explored yoga postures – sometimes helpful in waking up a drowsy meditator after lunch.

As with all retreats my efforts brought up lots of various emotions/mindstates – agitation, peace, focused calm, anxiety and so on. Simon encouraged letting go and kept us tuned to training the mind.

Our early lunch was always welcome and yummy from a local café. Some participants chose to take the eight precepts which meant this was the last meal apart from cheese and chocolate (apparently allowed?). We were very well looked after with home-baked cakes and lots of teas and real coffee. We were a harmonious team with everyone helping out on their chosen task. One kind practitioner elected to be the bell ringer and woke especially early to encourage us to start the day with 6:30am meditation. With several long sits, walking meditation and the afternoon program, 9pm found many of us ready for bed. The ambiance of the retreat was a light and kind outlook on each other and all living beings.

I'm sure the five days will leave me with a deepened practice as well as dhamma friends.

Thanks to Simon, Jen and Fiona and all others who made this such a worthwhile time.

— Kathy

30 March – 1 April 2024

Watagans Weekend
Online retreat with Pascal Auclair

I took three days over Easter to join a Canadian online retreat, camping on private property bordering Watagans NP.

I had been looking for an opportunity to learn more from Pascal Auclair after being really inspired by his talks and meditations on Dharmaseed. He mostly teaches in French so when I found this English/online retreat offered I was very excited as it meant I could ‘self retreat’, alone and in silence, as well as receive live instruction from one of my favourite teachers!

The retreat, hosted by BC Insight Meditation in Vancouver was being offered both in-person and online, which meant as long I was willing to get up early I could fully participate in the schedule along with a beautiful group of 50-60 online and in-person meditators.

I scoured Hipcamp for a private campsite close to home and found a promising looking place in Martinsville. It turned out to be perfect, totally secluded with walking access into the National Park. There was enough coverage to run zoom off my phone, a pot belly stove which was great for the chilly early morning sits, a covered area exactly the right length for walking meditation. I felt safe and at ease.

Quietness was rewarded with wildlife visits, a wombat grazed in the paddock in front morning and afternoon, joined at times by half a dozen wallabies and many varieties of smaller native birds around the site all day.

My husband and kids were keen to see the campsite so they drove me out on the Friday and we spent a lovely afternoon and evening exploring together, cooking damper and toasting marshmallows. They packed up and left me alone in time for the start of the retreat on Saturday which was an introductory talk and sit 12-3pm. This was about 5-7pm Vancouver time.

I find Pascal Auclair such an engaging, gentle and joyous teacher, I knew after the first talk and sit that I had set myself up for the possibility of deep letting go into peace.

Afterwards, I made myself some dinner on the ozpig, collected some more firewood, watched the wombat grazing, the sun set, the stars twinkle in as the sky darkened and then retired ready for an early start.

Schedule

  • 2.30am – Rise and light fire
  • 3.00am – Meditation instructions
  • 3:15am – Sitting and walking meditation
  • 6.30am – Breakfast
  • 7.30am – Sitting meditation
  • 8.00am – Q&A
  • 8.30am – Walking meditation
  • 8.45am – Dhamma Talk
  • 9.30am – Walking meditation
  • 10.15am – Guided metta
  • 11:00am – Lunch
  • 12:00pm – Rest
  • 2:00pm – Bushwalk
  • 5:00pm – Dinner
  • 8:00pm – Bed

Feel what you feel.

I zoomed into the retreat, listening, sitting and walking as the misty dark faded into dewy dawn. We were directed to notice the sensations at the sense doors, to play with continually coming back to this in our imperfect way.

For the next few hours we continued to practice with as much continuity as we could. Pascal reminded us of what the Buddha said when he came out of his ‘retreat’.

  1. Life is really hard
  2. We make it worse by clinging, including clinging to ‘I’
  3. We can train to stop clinging so much
  4. We can realise that there is really nothing worth clinging to because it’s all changeable, unsatisfactory and impersonal

After the retreat concluded for the day I ate lunch, had a good nap and then I ventured into the National Park, following a ridge line a few kilometres straight up to meet Slippery Rock Road.

Alone in the bush, it’s easier to touch into the peace, to feel what you feel without adding any judgement.

Sunday evening was much the same as Saturday, I ate a good meal, felt the day retreat and the night advance. I sat in silence and appreciated this opportunity to rest in awareness. In the morning I rose at 2am, set the fire roaring and enjoyed a tea in the firelight before zooming in. I could feel the time drawing to a close, just a few more precious hours until the final talk and goodbyes. I noticed agitation creep in of concern about low batteries, about packing up and getting home, but with just enough enough awareness to be okay with that, of course my love, of course it’s like that.

— Melinda