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Published: February 16th 2024
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The Buddha statue at the entrance to the centre.In the second half of 2022 and the first half of 2023, I spent a few weeks at retreat centres in the UK for retreats and for volunteering, divided into three trips. The first one was a three-week trip in August and September 2022, and I participated in a one-week retreat at Adhisthana in Herefordshire, followed by a guest stay at the same centre, and then a ten-day retreat at Taraloka in Shropshire, Wales; the second one was a three-week volunteering assignment at Adhisthana in November and December 2022; and the third one was a on a ten-day retreat at Taraloka where I was on the team supporting the retreat leaders.
Part 1: Retreats at Adhisthana and Taraloka I arrived at Colwall train station in the early afternoon of the 26
th of August, after having travelled by train from Dortmund with an overnight stay in Brussels (
https://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Belgium/Brussels-Capital-Region/Brussels/blog-1082001.html). Karen, a cheerful woman from the Adhisthana team, came by car to get me and another retreatant from the train station. We picked up two more people on our way to the retreat centre. The day was splendid, and I enjoyed sitting outside and taking in the calm and positive atmosphere of
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The old mansion that now the men's community lives in. this wonderful place. I had been here a few years ago for a retreat, but had not been back since Covid.
The retreat was a big one, with over 100 participants. It was the culmination of a project run by a few members of Triratna Buddhist Order: the Nature of Mind Project. In this project, they had interviewed people from different disciplines on the nature of the mind. There was Amishi Jha, who studies human attention; psychotherapist Paul Gilbert, who talked a lot about compassion; Penny Sartori, who had completed a PhD on near-death experiences; Carol Bowman, who had studied children’s past life memories; computer engineer and AI expert Bernardo Kastrup, whose research connects philosophy and science; and, my personal highlight: Iain McGilchrist, who studied literature and medicine and worked as a psychiatrist. All of them have published interesting books and articles providing different angles on the human mind and I felt thrilled to be able to attend a retreat where we would look at all of this. The insights provided by Iain McGilchrist were the ones that fascinated me the most. Usually, researchers focus on a very tiny field within a certain discipline, say, the functioning of certain
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The lake and the library building in the background. neurotransmitters within the brain as part of neuroscience; or the generation of black holes as part of astrophysics. Iain McGilchrist, however, provided perspectives on the mind not only from one complete discipline of science, but from different disciplines, including psychology, neuroscience, history, anthropology, intercultural research. I was thrilled. I read his book “The Master and His Emissary” in the aftermath of the retreat, and I have to say that it has had a game-changing and formative influence of how I see the mind, perception, and the world as a whole.
I was sharing my room with a quiet and friendly woman. We introduced each other briefly. In the evening, the retreat started with supper, followed by an opening ceremony in the beautiful shrine room. The next days all had the same structure: wake-up bell at 6:30, morning meditation from 7 to 8:30, breakfast at 9, morning activity (talk, meditation, practice) from 10:30 to 1, lunch, afternoon activity from 4:30 to 6 (reflection in small groups plus an additional activity), followed by supper, then an evening activity (talk, conversation, video, ritual) from 8 to roughly 9. We meditated a lot, with instructions from different very experienced teachers, and there were
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The beautiful garden. the talks and various activities. In meditation I got to depths in which I had not been before, and not only the input and reflections were insightful, but so were the conversations with the other retreatants.
At the end of the retreat, I felt inspired and calm. However, the place was also very busy with so many retreatants on site. So, I felt a bit sad when everyone left, but also a little bit relieved because I was looking forward to some peace and quiet. Only two other retreatants stayed on like me: Bella, who usually works as a healer and had loads and loads of interesting stories to share and was on a sabbatical at the moment, and Nathanael, who had only just started meditating and who had decided to stay for another week as a volunteer.
I continued to meditate quite a bit. In addition to morning meditation from 7 to 8:30, this time with the community of people who live at Adhisthana and a few guests, I sat a few more times every day. I also helped a little bit around the kitchen and the garden, and I went on nice walks into the beautiful
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The other lake. surroundings of the retreat centre.
Time simply flew, and on the 9
th of September, I left for Taraloka Retreat Centre near Whitchurch in Shropshire, Wales. How different the atmosphere was here! The retreat centre is for women only and can host a maximum of maybe 26 retreatants. It is located in the countryside, surrounded by meadows, heathland, and fenlands, with a canal nearby on which people can cruise in small house boats. There are little shrines in different places, and there is a certain magic in the air and in the soil. And the female energy in this place is so different from the one in Adhisthana! The retreat was on the topic of “Ritual and the Imagination”, so a whole different topic. It felt a little bit as if getting from the brain into the heart. The structure of the retreat was similar to the previous one (and is always similar on our retreats): wake-up bell at 6:30, meditation from 7 to 8:30, breakfast at 9, morning activity from 10:30 to 1, lunch, afternoon activity from 4:30 to 6, supper, evening activity at 8. But the content and the energy were so different. Rituals speak to a completely
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Sunset in the countryside. different part of a human, and cultivating the imagination requires a lot of space and openness. The ten days were intense, and again, time flew. Soon I was sitting on a train again, travelling to London, where I was going to spend the night before catching the Eurostar to Brussels and from there a train back home. But London is a whole different story!
Part 2: Volunteering at Adhisthana While being at Adhisthana as a guest after the retreat in August, the idea of coming back as a volunteer had come to my mind. I had met and worked with quite a few people from there, and I wanted to come back. So, in mid-November, I returned to Adhisthana for three weeks as a volunteer. I arrived by train on the 14
th of November, after having travelled from Dortmund via Brussels and London. It was good to be back in this wonderful place and it was even better to be able to contribute something.
My days were rather busy. I went to morning meditation from 7 to 8:30. Every few days I skipped part 2 of the meditation and went for a morning run instead. In the
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Tara's cabin, a small cabin that can be used for meditation, yoga, or small group meetings. morning, there was a three-hour work period, followed by lunch break, and another three-hour work period in the afternoon. I was mostly in the kitchen, where we cooked for up to 120 people. Most of the time, I cooked with Athos, who was in charge of the kitchen at the time. Every now and then, I worked with Sanghadeva, Patrick, or Vidyaruchi. All of them have different styles and preferences, and I could learn a lot from all of them. One day, I ended up cooking dinner for 60 people by myself because the cook was sick. This was exciting, of course, but all went well. In contrast to a restaurant, everyone at a retreat centre will be patient and friendly even when things go wrong, which is a big relief. I used to work in commercial kitchens while being a student, and I recall it being stressful and the tone being rough. It was completely different here, the tone was always friendly and well-meaning, and we made sure we had enough time to prepare everything.
Sometimes, I also helped in the most beautiful and enchanting garden that Sanghadeva is in charge of, and I even had the pleasure
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The beautiful garden. of pruning roses, which I had never done before and which I really enjoyed. Sometimes, I helped Karen with housekeeping, or there were some minor tasks Caroline gave me to help with the website. It was all fun, but I most enjoyed the hands-on jobs because normally I work as a “knowledge worker”, sitting in front of the computer a lot of the time. So, hands-on work was a nice contrast, also because I could see (and sometimes even taste) the results of my work.
Of course, I also had days off. One day, Nettan, another volunteer, and I went to visit Worcester with our friend Piluca. She was living at Adhisthana at the time but had lived in Worcester before. Nettan and I caught a train from Colwall to Worcester and met Piluca there. She was a wonderful guide of the city. We started our tour at Worcester Cathedral, officially “The Cathedral Church of Christ and The Blessed Mary the Virgin”, an impressive building in Gothic style that was founded as early as 680. It hosts the tomb of King John, King of England from 1166 to 1216. I guess we all know the younger brother of King
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The shrine room. Richard the Lionheart as the villain from many Robin Hood tales. But what is maybe not so well-known is that he sealed the Magna Charta, which many historians see as England’s first step towards a constitutional monarchy.
The church has most splendid frescoes on its ceiling (which can be looked as using a mirror on the floor so that one does not need to look upwards) and beautiful stained-glass windows behind the presbytery. Most parts of the cathedral were built between the 11
th and 16
th century. Below the nave, there is a crypt that is a remnant from St Wulfstan’s church that was built after 1084. There is something very ancient to this place. When emerging from the crypt, we took a walk around the cloister before leaving the church and going down to River Severn at the foot of the church. There were canals, locks, and a small marina with some house boats. From there, we walked into the pedestrian area where there are beautiful semi-timbered houses, and we had tea and cake in a cosy little café before catching the train back to Colwall and returning to Adhisthana.
In the vicinity of Adhisthana, there are several
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The main accomodation building. very pretty villages. One of them is Coddington, just a ten-minute walk from the centre with a Gothic church, surrounded by a peaceful graveyard with very old graves, and pretty semi-timbered houses. The village of Ledbury is a 15-minute drive from Adhisthana. Shubhavyuha took me there one day and showed me around a bit. There is Church Lane, a narrow alley with picture book semi-timbered houses. On one end of the road, there is Market Hall, a large semi-timbered house dating from the early 17
th century that rests on oak posts.
On another day, I hiked to Ledbury and met Shubhavyuha there for coffee. On a clear day, the hike would have been very scenic. It started by climbing Oyster Hill, from where one has a most beautiful 360-degree view of the surroundings, including beautiful Malvern Hills. The path then runs above the valley, offering more beautiful views. However, on the day I went for my hike, it was all foggy. So, I could not enjoy any panoramic views. However, there was something to hiking in the fog. Landscapes, trees, bushes, fences, and houses would appear in front of me and then disappear again after a while. There was
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Earth sky garden, a terrace in front of the shrine room. a certain magic to this weather, and once again I had this feeling that I have quite often when I am in the countryside in the UK: There is something incredibly ancient about the land, something mystical. But I must confess that I was happy to arrive in Ledbury and enter the warm and cosy café where I was going to meet Shubhavyuha.
Time flew, and suddenly my time at Adhisthana was over. I caught a train back to London on the 6
th of December, spent a night there and then returned home via Brussels and Cologne.
Part 3: Volunteering at Taraloka I arrived at Taraloka on the 13
th of April. The weather was splendid, the sun made this beautiful place radiate and shine. I had a tiny little room for myself with the window facing the garden. This time, my job was to support the five ordained women who were going to lead a Satipatthana retreat for 24 women. During the afternoon, one by one everyone arrived, and we had time for some introductions in the evening. I only knew two of the women, and it was good to get to know the others a bit
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The church. before the retreat would start the next day.
Satipatthana is one of my favourite practices. The word can be translated as “standing close by with mindfulness” and it is about being with what is, without pushing the experience away when it is negative or clinging to it when it is positive. The experience can happen on different levels, in the body, for example as sensations of tension or relaxation, warmth or cold, tingling, touch (e.g., with clothes). In a similar way, you can be aware of your feelings and thoughts, and of mind states that can either help or hinder progress on the spiritual path. What is key is just noticing with interest and curiosity (because something you are interested in will also keep you motivated) without clinging to what you like or pushing away what you do not like. You also pay attention to how all sensations, feelings, or thoughts keep changing (because this makes it easier not to get attached to something – what you don’t like will pass, and since what you like will pass as well it is even more important to enjoy the moment).
I practice satipatthana because it makes the experience of
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Church Lane, looking toward the church at its other end. the here and now so much richer and it helps me deal with small hassles and big problems because I do not make them bigger than they are. I also get along with people better because I try to stick with what I observe instead of attributing all kinds of motivations to them, which very often are wrong anyway.
My job during the retreat was to do the organising and to be a link between the retreatants, the women leading the retreat, and the women living in the Taraloka community. This initially meant familiarising the retreatants who had not been at Taraloka before with the centre, and then familiarising everyone with the work rota. At our retreats, we usually have jobs that are done by retreatants: preparing the meals and washing up afterwards, cleaning bathrooms, taking the rubbish out, and so on. My job here was really easy because all the women had been to Taraloka before and were familiar with the place and its routines. There were other organising tasks like making photocopies of documents, booking taxis for retreatants at the end of the retreat, and so on. This might sound like a lot, but there was more
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Church Lane, looking towards the main road. than enough time and space for me to participate in the whole retreat.
As always, there was a wakeup bell at 6:30, then we had a session of mindful movement and meditation from 7 to 8:30, breakfast at 8:45; morning input and practice session from 10:30 to 1, afternoon input and practice session from 4:30 to 6, supper at 6, and evening ritual at 8. The retreat was intense, and I got into a real flow. I loved being there for the others, being of service, connecting with everyone in spite (or maybe even because) of a long period of silence, and experimenting and exploring with whatever came up. Moreover, it was very inspiring to be with the five women from the team. All of them were so different, and there was so much that I could learn from them. And of course Taraloka is just a magical place, and it was even though the weather was rainy and cold from the first day of the retreat onwards. So again, time flew, and suddenly it was time for me to leave. I caught a train back to London, spent a night there, and then went home by train via
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Worcester Cathedral. Brussels and Cologne.
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alex waring
Alexander Waring
Peaceful
Ah, so peaceful just simply reading this blog. The photos also add magic to the place. I understand the beautiful feeling of walking in the fog, I enjoy this myself too. And thank you for the reminder that England does have this fantastic and very deep spiritual sense that you can find between the urban busy-ness. Lovely to read about your retreats. I used to attend Triratna Buddhist sessions here in Croydon, and also visited Holy Island once just off the coast of the Isle of Arran in Scotland. Thank you for the reminders of the value in meditation. A lovely blog to read.