Insight Meditation/Mindfulness Meditation

Mindfulness

Most of the retreats at Sunyata Retreat Centre employ a form of Insight Meditation called Mindfulness Meditation.  This is an ancient practice that began over 2500 years ago and is deeply relevant to our lives today.  It connects us with our capacity to be present in each moment with an open-hearted awareness of everything that is happening, whether inner or outer.

From this awareness we can become directly aware of what it's like to be a human being and come to understand in direct experience our feelings, emotions, pains, joys, and pleasures. 

When we practice this in-the-moment awareness, our hearts and our awareness awakens to a depth of peace and clarify which liberates us from the suffering created by fear, worry, stress, anxiety, self-criticism, negativity and confusion.

This practice becomes the gateway to joy, inner peace, wisdom, compassion, and  the acceptance of ourselves and others.

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Daily Retreat Programme

Unless otherwise stated all residential retreats start between 6 PM-7PM on a Friday, when retreatants arrive for light supper and are welcomed by the retreat manager. All meals are vegetarian. The first meditation starts between 8 and 8:30PM. Accommodation is typically in shared rooms though there are opportunities for being alone in a room. We can accommodate between 15-22 people on residential retreats. We rise early with the first sitting between 5- 6:30 am. Breakfast is about 7.15 am. The daily routine involves sitting and walking meditation, talks from the teacher, question and answer sessions and sometimes periods of working meditation. Lunch is about 12 noon and usually consists of green salad, fruit, main course and dessert.  There is tea, bread and soup offered between 5 PM and 5:30PM. Unless specified differently, weekend retreats usually end at 4 PM on Sunday and longer retreats between lunch and 4PM on the last day. Retreats are held in "congenial noble silence" i.e. no talking unless necessary and no righteous criticism of oneself or other (the congenial aspect). The freedom from having to engage in social chit-chat gives everyone the space to withdraw inwards and benefit more deeply from the meditation practice.