BRAHMA VIHARAS

A Seven-Day Silent Retreat led by Christina Feldman, John Peacock and Antonia Sumbundu

The four Brahma Viharas – sublime ways of dwelling in the world – are the centre of all practice and without them the practice can become simply cold and somewhat clinical, with an overemphasis on technique. The Brahma Viharas of friendliness, compassion, appreciative joy and equanimity are the very heart and soul of the practice, in both a literal and metaphorical sense, infusing our ways of practice and being with the sublime warmth, kindness, appreciation and tranquillity. The Buddha spoke about these qualities as being pathways to both insight and liberation essential to the process of ‘waking up.’ In this retreat we will focus on the development of these qualities via meditation practice sessions, dharma talks and group interviews.

This retreat is a rare opportunity to receive in-depth teachings and practice guidance from three highly experienced meditation teachers. It is an invitation to extend and deepen one’s personal experience of mindfulness and the qualities of friendliness, compassion, appreciative joy and equanimity via intensive practice within a supportive and harmonious environment of noble silence. Each day will offer a sustained schedule of formal meditation sessions, meetings with the teachers, talks and instructions, all within an underlying environment of silence.

Since Covid-19 still creates obstacles for entry to Denmark from England, we will run this as a hybrid event with two of our three teachers, Christina Feldman and John Peacock participating remotely via a big screen in the Meditation Hall together with Antonia Sumbundu who will be present in person. We hope for your understanding of this change and can assure you that we have done this before and have good experiences with this hybrid format.

The retreat will follow a normal full schedule for a silent retreat, and it will still count as an annual mindfulness retreat for mindfulness teachers.

We are grateful to be able to offer the opportunity to gather at Gomde, to be practicing together in the Meditation Hall, to be walking at the hills of Gomde and to receive and share these priceless and very beneficial teachings of The Brahma Viharas. This seems so needed at this time.

We hope you share our enthusiasm and longing for retreating together.

The retreat is open to all with a serious interested in exploring practices that can cultivate and nourish the qualities of friendliness, compassion, appreciative joy and equanimity. It is not a clinical skills workshop, but it is highly recommended and relevant for professionals teaching or training in mindfulness-based applications.