Intensive Silent Meditation Retreats
Overview
An Intensive Silent Meditation Retreat is an intensive retreat that provides a rare opportunity to benefit from the sustained silence and stillness of meditation over an extended period.Â
Why intensive? Â
The word intensive doesn’t mean it’s a marathon that we have to go through by sheer individual willpower. Intensive is a word that is related to the word attentive and it’s connected to a root word that means to stretch. So we could say that when we’re paying attention, we’re stretching our minds, our attention outside of ourselves, beyond ourselves. And when we are being intensive, we are being stretched interiorly in, in with an interior kind of attention.
During an intensive silent retreat you’ll notice that your minds themselves begin to slow down, to calm down, to become more clear and we begin to discover the natural state of the mind.
And this isn’t related to any particular special experience. It’s simply discovering what the mind can be like when it is freed from the kind of compulsive and continuous stimulation that we give our minds.
A Typical Day
During an intensive silent meditation retreat, you’ll join seven sitting meditation sessions with contemplative walking sessions between them, every day. A short teaching in the morning and a contemplative Eucharist help the silence reach its full potential. You will also have a daily fifteen minute one-to-one meeting with one of the retreat team.
This is a rare opportunity to go significantly deeper in the work of silence. It is not a time for study or extensive reading. You will be expected to practice a ‘digital fast’ and not to use your phone or computer. This will help us be fully present and undistracted together.Â
This retreat is for you if:
An Intensive Silent Meditation Retreat is for you if:
- you have previous retreat and meditation experience
- in need of rest and replenishment
- interested in deepening or reconnecting with your practice in a silent setting
- inspired by spending time reconnecting with nature
Reviews
Venue
Bonnevaux, Centre for Peace
The beauty and peace of Bonnevaux´s 65 hectares (160 acres) reflects the contemplative life lived here from its foundation as a Benedictine monastery in 1119 until the French Revolution. The land has over 20 different plant habitats, some of which are of heritage value. The community see themselves as stewards of this fertile place.
Upcoming Intensive Silent Meditation Retreats
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