Taraloka

One Moment at a Time

Sunday 27 January - Friday 01 February

The teaching programme will take different levels of experience into account

Vidyamala writes:
I have led 'One Moment at a Time' retreats at Taraloka for several years now and really enjoy them. We try to create conditions on the retreat for people to deeply explore mindfulness, relax, unwind and begin to experience life from the simplicity of 'one moment at a time'.

Recently I read a Rumi poem where he suggests:

Walk out like someone suddenly born into colour.
Do it now.
You're covered with thick cloud.
Slide out the side.
Your old life was a frantic running
from silence.

The speechless full moon
comes out now.

I love this poem and it suggests to me the magic of being awake in the moment. When I do stop and take in my immediate experience it does feel to me very like suddenly being born into colour: sliding out the side of the thick cloud of unawareness.

The retreat is broadly based on methods I have developed in my work at Breathworks. This is a project I run in Manchester that offers mindfulness-based strategies to people experiencing pain, illness and stress. It is based on my own experience of living with chronic pain following a spinal injury 30 years ago as well as training I have received from other experts such as Jon Kabat-Zinn from the USA. On the retreat we do a variety of 'Breathworks' practices including body scans and relaxation, breath awareness practices, discussing mindfulness and our emotions and practising the kindly awareness practice (an adapted metta bhavana). We'll also look at how to bring mindfulness into daily life and have a session of mindful movement each day (adapted from yoga and pilates).

We will have some short periods of silence on the retreat - an opportunity to be in contact with ourselves, free from external stimuli and compulsive activity. For this reason, we ask you not to make any phone calls or read any books (other than those based around meditation) and to keep writing to a minimum so you can make the most of this time to just "be". If you have not experienced silence before, then please don't worry. We will be introducing it gradually and there will be opportunities to communicate yourself as and when you feel the need. We will also probably have discussion groups each day.

This retreat is very suitable to anyone who experiences any sort of physical disability or impairment. All the practices we teach can be adapted and everything on the programme is also optional. Taraloka has good facilities so please contact them if you have any particular needs and they will do everything they can to accommodate you.

Saddhanandi and Padmadarshini will be co-leading the retreat with me. We have worked together on this retreat for several years now and get on very well, with shared approaches to practice. Saddhanandi is a very experienced retreat leader and Padmadarshini is a very experienced yoga teacher. She has designed the mindful movement programme we use at Breathworks and on the retreat. She will be able to work with you individually and is skilled at helping you make the most of your physical abilities.

Code: 200804

Suggested donation: £190/150/110