A 3-Day Residential Silent Mindfulness Retreat

with Barbara Hussong and Chantek Mary McNeilage

 

Thursday 2nd - Sunday 5th May 2024

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We are offering this opportunity for anyone who has completed an 8-week Mindfulness course to refresh and deepen your practice in a residential retreat.

 

For teachers, this retreat fulfils part of the UK Network’s Good Practice Guidelines and the required commitment for BAMBA to attend a 5-day annual retreat.

 

When: Thursday May 2nd - Sunday 5th 2024.

Arrival from 4:00 pm with supper at 6:00 pm - Sunday ending after lunch

 

Where: Franciscan Centre Ladywell, Ashstead Lane, Godalming, GU7 1ST

 

Accommodation and Location:

 

The retreat will take place at the Ladywell Retreat and Spirituality Centre run by Franciscan nuns, a peaceful and welcoming oasis situated in lovely grounds on the outskirts of Godalming, Surrey.

The food is vegetarian with vegan, gluten free and lactose-free options and the accommodation is in single rooms with ensuite.

The Centre is a 5-minute by taxi from Godalming Station, which is 45 minutes from London on the Waterloo/Portsmouth line. https://franciscancentre.org.uk/

 

Fee: £465 (includes teaching, accommodation, meals and refreshments); some concessions are available.

 

To Apply: Please request and return an application form, with an £65 deposit.

 

The balance of £400 is due by March 18th 2024. Places are limited so early application is recommended.

 

Cancellations: If you have to cancel before the 18th March, having paid the full fee, we will refund the full fee minus £65 deposit. If you cancel after the 18th March, we will not be able to refund you, however, if we can fill your place on the retreat, we will refund you minus the deposit of £65.

 

For further information:

 

Please contact Chantek (07970 181775) chantekmary@live.co.uk

 

The Retreat:

 

Beginning with our first evening session we will explore together what is at the heart of our own understanding of stillness, silence and simplicity. How does this manifest in our practice and our lives. What is our felt sense and experience of these states of being? What would be a helpful way to extend and deepen our practice towards stillness, silence and simplicity. Together we will open to exploring our resistances and what preoccupations and challenges hinder us deepening our practice.

 

Over the following days we will explore various forms of practice together. Some will be guided and include movements, but most of the practices will be silent sitting and walking meditations. When we settle into this rhythm of silent practice and are supported by the stillness, we can then allow ourselves to listen deeply and ‘be with’ whatever arises. This way we get in touch with our innate wisdom and connect to our heartfulness, which allows a kind and compassionate attitude within ourselves, giving us a sense of the simplicity of coming home.

 

Through practising like this together in beautiful surroundings, for an extended period of time, we open to a greater sense of connection with the spaciousness within us and around us. This will enable us to respond from our core to our lives beyond the retreat with a deepened sense of grounded-ness, kindness and compassion. The retreat leaders will offer talks and individual meetings to support your practice and inner inquiry. On Sunday we will end the silence and have the opportunity to share our experiences with each other. We look forward to being together with you on this retreat, to go deeper into the heart of our practice, to relax and trust whatever comes up and enjoy ourselves.

 

Your Teachers:

 

Barbara Hussong has been a student and teacher in Zen and Tibetan Buddhist meditation and Tai Chi Chuan and Qigong for over 35 years. For several years she devoted all her time to meditation practice before training as a psychotherapist in the UK between 1995-2000. Since then, she has worked in private practice with individuals presenting with a wide range of problems.

 

Barbara trained in mindfulness-based approaches at the Centre for Mindfulness Research and Practice (CMRP) in 2005 and began teaching the 8-week course (MBSR/MBCT) to individuals and small groups in 2006 in Kent. She is on the register of the British Association of Mindfulness Based Approaches (BAMBA) and a member of the Mindfulness Network and provides supervision for mindfulness teachers and mentoring, a support for mindfulness students following the 8-week course. In order to help deepen mindfulness practice, she has been offering monthly group meetings and day- and residential retreats since 2008 and has been teaching the 8-week Mindfulness-Based Compassionate Living course (MBCL) since 2017.

 

Chantek Mary McNeilage (UK) has been studying and practising mindfulness, movement, and related contemplative disciplines for more than forty years. Chantek has a long background as a Complimentary Health Practitioner and currently as a Craniosacral Therapist. She has been offering mindfulness-based courses since 2007, plus running retreats in the UK and abroad. Chantek trained in teaching MindfulnessBased Approaches at the Centre for Mindfulness Research and Practice (CMRP), and at the Oxford Mindfulness Centre (OMC) and is a registered teacher of MBCL – Mindfulness-Based Compassionate Living.

 

Chantek is a registered supervisor for the Mindfulness-Network. She has taught and helped implement mindfulness into schools and education. Chantek is on the register of BAMBA the British Association of Mindfulness-Based Approaches. One of her other passions is as a volunteer locally for RDA (Riding for the Disabled, working with children and ponies), and running Mindfulness-Based courses in the Botanic Gardens in Cambridge.

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