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Taraloka Buddhist Retreat Centre

buddhist retreat centre for women

Stories of Wisdom, Stories of Love 2026

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Stories of Wisdom, Stories of Love 2026

17 - 24 Jul 2026
Led By: Mandarava, Alayasri, Sinhacandra
For: Triratna Regulars

In the well known story of Kisa Gotami, her encounter with the Buddha’s deep kindness helps her comes to terms with her own personal loss. Stories call to us and reveal the universal wisdom of human experience. They can help us connect with and look at our own life experiences. On this retreat we’ll explore stories of compassion and letting go in an immersive way through presenting an oral storytelling with puppets, meditation, reflection, sharing, creativity and ritual.

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As a collective we will explore stories’ relevance directly to our own lives through reflection, group discussion, meditation, ritual, gentle body work in nature and our own creativity.

Through storytelling, ritual and the sharing of personal experience we will explore how myths and stories can provide a map to our own internal landscapes. Stories lead us to become more open to the deeper mysterious archetypal patterns that manifest through us all, and give our lives meaning.  This process of engagement will enable us to listen to and be more intimate with ourselves, with others and the world around us. Through doing so we can become more aware of who we are, where we have come from and how to move forward creatively into the future.

Join this group of longstanding friends who have, at different times, over thirty years have lived worked and practiced together. Over the past ten years (we) have been exploring through visual storytelling the relevance of ancient myths and stories to (our) own lives .

 Mandarava is an artist, puppet maker and storyteller who (creates immersive settings ) for enactments and ritual. She has a back ground working in professional theatre/opera, as a puppeteer, puppet maker, scene painter, prop maker and costume dyer. As well as her interest in working creatively, she has trained more recently in the ‘healing arts’ and is now working as a ‘Somatic Experiencing and Focusing Practitioner’ . Both are body oriented approaches that help bring about more aliveness and vitality inherent in our bodies and release what has been blocked or stuck in our lives. She is inspired by a holistic approach to practice that draws on the body, the felt sense and the imagination in a way that is emergent and creative. 

 

 

 

Suggested donation (in addition to the booking fee): £380 waged / £260 unwaged

Booking Fee: £85.00

Single Rooms: No single rooms currently available on this retreat. Please email to go on single room waiting list.

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Ticket Type Amount Spaces
Retreat Booking Fee £85.00

Registration Information

Your Details

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How Did you Hear?

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Triratna Experience

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Retreat Level: Triratna Regulars - You need to have been taught the Mindfulness of Breathing and Metta Bhavana meditations and have participated in the Sevenfold Puja within the Triratna Buddhist Community. You also need to regularly attend a Triratna centre, group or retreats. If you do not fit these criteria, please DO NOT BOOK but choose one of our Open level retreats instead.

Our Triratna Regulars retreats include more periods of meditation and silence than our Open retreats. If you are unsure whether this retreat is appropriate for you, please contact the office and we can talk it through with you.

Accommodation

Big Event Accommodation

Select the accommodation type you require for this retreat:

  • Bedrooms are shared with 2 to 4 people in a room.
  • Single rooms are not bookable online. If you need a single, DO NOT BOOK HERE. Please email admin@taraloka.org.uk or phone 01948 710646.
  • Taraloka is centrally heated and generally very comfortable. You will be sharing a room with between 1 and 3 other women. Rooms are not en-suite but all rooms are close to toilets and showers.
  • Ground floor rooms are available. Please contact the office if you need a ground floor room.

Diet

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Yes

Wheat free
Gluten free
Nut free (please specify which nuts in box below)
No chilli

If you are unable to eat more than two items, please contact the office to discuss before booking. We can only cater for a limited number of restricted diets on any one retreat.

We offer a vegan diet at Taraloka. If you have a restricted diet for genuine medical needs please provide information above. You will be offered a simple meal which may be very similar every day: plain steamed vegetables, rice and simple protein. To assist the cooks, please restrict requirements to absolutely essential items only.

Health

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Yes

For more information see our am I well enough to be on retreat page. On retreats we live as a community and share household tasks such as vegetable chopping, cleaning or washing up for around one hour daily. If you are unable to join the communal work rota, please let us know here, as it helps us to plan the practical running of the retreat.

All information is confidential and will only be communicated to the team leading your retreat, so they can best support you on the retreat.

Mental Health

No
Yes

For more information see our am I well enough to be on retreat page.

Mental health issues won't necessarily block you from coming on retreat, but we do need to know about them. All information is confidential and will only be communicated to the team leading your retreat, so they can best support you on the retreat.

Consent

Continuity is an important aspect of being on retreat. It is disruptive to the atmosphere of a retreat to arrive late, leave early or to take excursions. You cannot attend online meetings while on retreat. Please tick box to confirm that you understand Taraloka's policy on continuity and can attend the entire retreat.

Booking fees are non-refundable under any circumstances. If you give us at least six weeks notice (to the start of your booked retreat) when cancelling, it may be possible to transfer the booking fee, providing there is space on another appropriate retreat within the calendar year. You can only transfer a booking fee once.

We aim to provide an environment that is relaxed and enjoyable, yet also supportive of meditation, reflection and the Buddhist ethical precepts – including the practice of stillness, simplicity and contentment. A retreat is a collective experience, so what an individual does affects the atmosphere of the retreat for everyone.

This is why, to support the retreat environment, we ask that you refrain from alcohol, sexual activity, meat or fish eating and illicit drugs for the duration of the retreat.

Smokers are asked not to smoke on the premises, including in your car, but may do so outside of Taraloka buildings and grounds (this includes electronic cigarettes.)

We also ask that you turn off your mobile phone and leave at home your laptop, tablet and other devices. We request that mobiles and other devices are not used in the retreat centre or grounds. If you need to be contactable in an emergency, please give your friends and family the Taraloka emergency mobile number: 07774 007 133.

Taraloka News

Quarterly newsletter with very occasional additional email

Booking Summary

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Paying for your retreat

Taraloka runs on generosity.

To book a retreat you pay a booking fee. This is the only charge made for coming on retreat. As far as possible, we don’t want anyone’s financial situation to stop them from coming to Taraloka.

At the end of your retreat, you have the opportunity to give money towards Taraloka. If you are able to donate, you are giving to another person who otherwise could not afford to come on retreat. And you are helping to give the gift of Taraloka to the women of the future.

We have suggested donations as these reflect the basic income needed to make a retreat viable. However, they are only suggestions. It is genuinely fine to give ten times these amounts, nothing, or anything in between.

Running on generosity is radical – thank you for being part of that.

For more information see what does it cost and a flow of generosity