Mindfulness Meditation Retreats

Time for yourself, time for deepening your practice

What a retreat offers you

A retreat offers you the opportunity to for some days intensively engage in meditation. Time to deepen your meditation practice.
It als is an opportunity to step out of the maelstrom of engagements of daily life. To intimately reconnect, with the sense of presence, with silence and quietude and ultimately with yourself, while staying connected with a group of fellow practitioners.

What a retreat offers you

Retreating online - how does it work?

To my experience, online retreats can lead to a surprising depth of experience, along with a strong sense of connection with yourself, the group and the world around you.

We meditate together, throughout the day, guided through an online connection in your own meditation environment. Throughout the day, the connection stays open but you do not need to look at the screen all the time.
Online retreats are often considered equivalent to “in person” retreats. The schedule is also the same. There are of course differences. Personal circomstances and preferences often weigh in the choice for either option.

Meditation is about befrieding who we are.

Pema Chödrön

For Whom?

The retreats are for anyone with experience in meditation.

If you have done mindfulness training, then this retreat offers an excellent opportunity to deepen your practice. This also applies to (future) mindfulness trainers.

But you do not have to have done a mindfulness training: experience with and interest in meditation is sufficient to join.

Dates and times

Retreats typically last five (24-hour days), beginning on the evening of the first day and ending in the afternoon of the last day. The guided program is from 9:30 am to 9:00 pm. The program will provide in ample breaks.

Program

The core of the program is sitting and walking meditation, some of which guided. In the mornings and evenings there are dharma talks. There will also be moments for stretches and mindful movement, and sharings in small groups.

Themes

During the retreat there is guidance core themes such as the obstacles and benifical meditation factors. In addition, each retreat zooms in on one of these Buddhist perspectives:

Satipatthana Sutta: In the Satipatthana Sutta, the Buddha talks on meditation practice and he specifies four ways for establishing mindfulness.
The Three Characteristics: The Buddha taught that life has three characteristics the mind always tends to struggle with: impermanence, non-self and unsatisfactoriness. Understanding these can alleviate many suffering mental patterns.

Practical preparations

Make sure to create a retreat environment free of disturbances. This can mean going some place elsewhere, but also a separate room at home.

See if you can put your daily obligations on hold for the duration of the retreat. Should you have care obligations, make clear arrangements about this with with the people at home. If you are not sure that you can find the right balance, please feel free to connect with me.

Finally, stable internet connection is important. We work with a Zoom connection.

Finally having the time for practicing to be with what is.

Elin

Teacher

Rob Brandsma is a psychologist, mindfulness teacher, educated as a meditation teacher by Bodhi College.

Dates

31 March – 5 April 2025 (online). Theme: Satipatthana Sutta.

28 October – 2 November 2025 (online). Theme: Three Characteristics (Tilakkana).

Language

English. (Translation into Ukranian available via a separate audio channel.)

Costs

The retreats are offered in the spirit of generosity (dana). At the end of the retreat there will be an opportunity for donations to the teacher

Registering

You can apply for any of the retreats through the registration form below.

You do not and to sit and wait untill you get awakened. You go and sit because, just the way you are, you are already awakened. Meditation is the way to realize this.

Shunryu Suzuki