This retreat is suitable for those who have a regular meditation practice and who regularly attend retreats, a centre or a group within the context of the Triratna Buddhist Community. You will also need to be familiar with, and happy to participate in, Triratna Buddhist devotional practice and ritual (puja), be comfortable with extended periods of sitting meditation and the possibility on some retreats of periods spent in silence.
[The hermit] takes the purple heavens to be his hut, the encircling sea to be his pond, roaring with laughter in his nakedness, walking along singing with his hair hanging down. - Zhiang Yan
Supporting you to reconnect with the wild, sensuous invitations of the living world all around, and within us.
This retreat brings together both my background as a rites of passage guide working with the medicine wheel, and as a Buddhist. Through blending some of these teachings I hope to invite a deeper connection with the elements and also the unseen and subtle forces, and deeper levels of reality that surround us.
We will do this via guided creative practice, somatic explorations, nature-based ritual and a deeper listening to the aliveness of myths.
Through weaving together these elements we will enter into a kind of ‘call & response’ where the world itself responds, and we can discover the possibility for reciprocity and dynamic conversations with Mystery. Alongside finding ways to re-home the sacred into the everyday.
This is a retreat for supporting you to re-kindle your relationship with your wild soul true nature, with the wild carefree peace and belonging known intimately by hermits, who understood human beings as “part and parcel of [sacred] nature”.
A little Context
Traditional cultures throughout time have been intimately bonded with the more-than-human world, which includes nature ‘out there’, the realm of imagination, dream and myths (both creation myths and folktales). These relationships located us humans deeply within the family of things, in relationship with the different levels of reality, interconnected with all life. Over time these relationships have been severed, along with it our sense of belonging and connection to the sacredness of life.
It’s my passion to support myself and others in remembering and reconnecting with all this.
In recent years I’ve been feeling into where the practices offered on this retreat, which are borne out of my explorations of the medicine wheel used in my guiding of vision quests, meet those of our own system of spiritual practice. There is a fair amount of sympatico crossover which we’ll also delve into on the retreat.
Nagadipa’s work encompasses guiding vision quests, teaching Gendlin's Focusing method - somatic explorations into the wisdom of the body, the creative impulse, ritual and myth. For more information on Nagadipa: www.theartofrewilding.com
Myth moves like a lively river through swarthy packs of reindeer, great aristocratic families, and the wild gestures of an Iranian carpet seller. A myth is not much to do with the past, but a kind of magical present that can flood our lives when the conditions are just so. It is not just the neurosis of us humans trying to fathom our place on earth, but sometimes the earth actually speaking back to us. - Martin Shaw
Covid-secure requirements
We are no longer asking each retreatant to take a lateral flow test before travelling to Rivendell, but we are asking that they bring a test with them in case they fall ill whilst here.
We want those that come to Rivendell to be confident that we are making their stay here as safe as possible.
Concession information
Rivendell has a concessionary rate available for most of its retreats. If you are in need of further financial assistance to help enable you to come on retreat here, please do consider writing to our office team via bookings@rivendellretreatcentre.com explaining your circumstances.
Cancellation policy
All deposit amounts are non-refundable and non-transferable in all circumstances.
If you wish to cancel your place on a retreat, we require a minimum notice of 4 calendar weeks before a retreat is due to take place.
If you cancel more than 6 calendar weeks before a retreat is due to take place you will receive a refund of all but the deposit amount, if you have paid in full.
If you cancel between 6 and 4 calendar weeks before the retreat is due to take place and we can't replace you, you will be required to pay half the total cost of the retreat.
If you cancel less than 4 calendar weeks before the retreat is due to take place then any refund will be at Rivendell’s discretion, depending on the circumstances.
Please let us know as soon as possible if you need to cancel, as there may be other people waiting for a place on the retreat to become available. The refund amount will still depend on whether we can fill your space.
Prices for this event are: £399 - £379 (Conc)