Tag: Vajrasana Retreat Centre

Becoming My True Self

Final evening at Vajrasana

This is the final post in a series inspired by a week on retreat. You can read the first post, ‘The Gift of Kindness’ here, the second post, ‘Simplicity in Practice’ here and the third post, ‘What is Silence?’ here.

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Clear sky full of stars. Soft footsteps echoing through the cold night air. Wind howling around the courtyard. Wrapped up in coat, hat, scarf and gloves, protected and held by the walls of Vajrasana. Buddha sitting on his pool of rippling black water. Soft spot lights picking up textured seed heads. I walk a little with my walker, exhilarated, hopeful. I sit back in my wheelchair pulling my blanket around me as I allow my senses to awaken and my imagination to come alive.

The theme of imagination ran throughout much of the retreat. We were invited to let it into our practice and to play with it, from a place of embodiment so that we didn’t slip into fantasy. I often draw upon imagination in my meditations and I was delighted that it became a topic of the retreat; something that can feel at odds to mindfulness, but that can add such vibrancy and richness to our practice.

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What is Silence?

Rustling grasses in the courtyard at Vajrasana

This is the third in a series of posts inspired by a week on retreat. You can read the first post, ‘The Gift of Kindness’ here and the second post, ‘Simplicity in Practice’ here.

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What is silence? Is it the absence of sound, or maybe the absence of unnecessary sound? Stillness. Space. In music, silence is often more powerful than the notes – it takes courage, confidence, an assured performer. Perhaps the same is true in conversation? What about internal noise? Thoughts can be incredibly loud, even though others can’t hear them. Who needs to hear it for it to be a sound? Can you be silent within whilst the external world is noisy? Is silence even possible? Is it more a case of turning down the volume and tuning in to what is most necessary, valuable and important?

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Simplicity in Practice

Early morning at Vajrasana

This is the second in a series of posts inspired by a week on retreat. You can read the first post, ‘The Gift of Kindness’ here.

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“Soft hands, soft mind, soft heart.” – Vidyamala Burch

We arrived on retreat with our baggage to unpack. We had our suitcases and holdalls of physical belongings. We also had the psychological and emotional unpacking that would likely arise during the spacious time we were giving our meditation practice. 

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The Gift of Kindness

With Vidyamala Burch, Co-Founder of Breathworks

In December, I left the pre-Christmas chaos and travelled back to Vajrasana, Suffolk to spend a week on retreat. Led by Breathworks Co-Founders, Vidyamala and Sona, and senior trainers, MJ and Andrea, ‘A Journey into the Heart of Mindfulness and Compassion’ was an opportunity to immerse myself in my practice after focusing on teacher training, and a chance to look inward and reflect before the year came to an end. It was an inspiring and uplifting week, and has led to a series of blog posts, this being the first.

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Breathworks Mindfulness Teacher Training – Advanced Level

I’m sitting in the courtyard. The sky clear blue above, hot rays of sun warming my skin. Grasses whisper in the breeze, a bee buzzes around a yellow lily. There’s a burst of laughter, a passing conversation. Cutlery rattles as the dining trolley is wheeled through to the kitchen.

I was partway through my teacher training week, feeling held in the space and held in the community as the gentle hustle and bustle of retreat activity went on around me. I was back at Vajrasana, a beautiful retreat centre in the heart of rural Suffolk. I felt part of the Breathworks family, experiencing a deep connection with the people, the practice, the training and the environment I was in. I was aware of my breath deep within my body, of gentle flutterings of excitement in my chest, a smile on my face.Read More

Breathworks Mindfulness Teacher Training – Introductory Level

Two weeks ago I posted about the Breathworks Mindfulness teacher training I was about to embark on (here) and how mindfulness is enabling me to align my needs with my aspirations. I had the most wonderful time on retreat. We had a week of sunshine and inspiring training at Vajrasana. As I’d hoped, my practice most certainly was my protector.Read More

Reflections on Retreat

It was a dark winter’s afternoon and I was surrounded by fields in rural Suffolk. I’d lost all sense of where I was when I embarked on my first meditation retreat, but the centre soon enveloped me in its gentle and calm atmosphere. I was at Vajrasana, part of the London Buddhist Centre, in the state of the art ‘intelligent’ building that opened in 2016. Communal spaces, bedrooms and meditation spaces surrounded peaceful courtyards. Each way I looked, a picture was framed by the architecture, changing with the light and dark, and the misty fog that seemed to shroud us until our final afternoon.Read More