~About retreats

Intensive retreats

These retreats are held in silence and offer an intensive program of sitting and walking meditation. Apart from meetings with teachers, these retreats are held in silence.

Participants are expected to stay for the whole retreat.

As in Open Retreats there are meetings with a teacher in groups, and the opportunity for one-to-one meetings. There is also a morning yoga class or chi gong.

Intensive Retreats are fully residential.

Open retreats

These retreats have a schedule that allows for both intensive meditation practice (in silence) and unscheduled time for self-directed practice, including rest and mindful interaction. Within each week there are normally:
~ two consecutive “Full Retreat” days (in silence)
~ four days with a mix of silence/scheduled meditation (morning and evening) and unscheduled non-silent time (afternoon)
~ one day of self-directed practice

There are also dharma talks, discussion groups/workshops, walks in nature, and on occasion, text classes. Participants meet a teacher in groups twice a week, and there is also the opportunity for one-to-one meetings by appointment. There is usually a morning yoga class. In addition, participants sometimes offer each other tai chi, yoga, reiki, etc. Participants need not stay for the whole retreat. Retreatants are requested to arrive and leave on any Wednesday. Open Retreats are residential and 3 meals a day are provided by the ashram/retreat center.

Informal teachings in Lucknow

Format depends on the number of people attending, but recently has consisted of one 2-hour meeting per day. The main focus has been Ajay's text classes (recently Yoga-Vasistha, Kabir and Ramana Gita), and there may also be a time of singing or meditation in each class. Other activities include walks in the forest, Qi Gong, discussion groups and Jin Shin Jyutsu treatments.

Teachings in Lucknow are normally non-residential, with participants finding their own accommodation and food.

The spacious approach

Please remember that these courses are different from those offered in the Goenka and other traditions. In addition to the formal sitting practice, we offer formal walking meditation as well, and we encourage retreatants to experiment with meditation while lying down. Also, we emphasize bringing attention into every activity of the day, including eating, standing and taking care of basic tasks such as cleaning one’s clothes.

The intensive retreats are held in strict silence except for group interviews every few days. We also offer the chance to meet with us individually to discuss your practice and day-to-day experiences on the retreat. Silence is one of the single most important aspects of our retreats.

We discourage reading and writing on these retreats. Men and women are housed separately but we do not insist upon separating them in the meditation hall or while eating, unless that is a rule in the particular place in which we are teaching. Sittings and walking periods are usually 45 minutes in length. We do not encourage very long sittings to “break through” pain. In general, we tend to avoid striving and struggling to attain goals. We emphasize direct, simple, immediate experience over an intellectual grasp of things, but we also recognize the value of thoughts when used in the service of wisdom. We do not believe the purpose of meditation is to “get rid” of thinking or to “kill” the ego. Our experience tells us that there is no need to get rid of anything in this practice and that the key to freedom and true happiness (which is, after all, why we do this practice) is found in the mind’s relationship to things, rather than in the things themselves. We also believe it is important to do the practice with a light heart and a sense of humor. Remember the laughing Buddha images!