Silent Meditation retreat:
Skillfully Navigating the Stormy Seas
Led by Ayya Brahmavara & Noon
This silent retreat will offer dhamma teachings, guided & silent meditations, one to one support, time for Q & A's, meditative walking, buddhist chanting.
Come home to this body and mind to ground and resource ourselves in order to be able to skilfully navigate the stormy seas and many challenges that present themselves in our life, the life of all beings around us and globally.
The teachings of the Buddha are always relevant and immediate, inviting us to come and see for ourselves, to be experienced individually by the wise. Here is an opportunity to learn more from the Buddha, to practise the great Dhamma teachings he gave and to be guided and protected by the wisdom and compassion that arise as we do so.
The retreat is appropriate for people at all experience levels or with no meditation experience.
Place : Ekuthuleni Retreat Centre, 1300 Festes-Saint-André, France
Dates: 10 to 15 July
Cost: €300
€180 to paid in advance by PayPal or bank transfer and €120 on arrrival.
This payment covers food, water, insurance, office costs, gas for cooking but not any of our other costs or the living costs of the resident teacher.
Dana: We are not funded by any institutions or governent bodies. Ekuthuleni relies on people's generosity to remain open. Called Dana in the Buddhist tradition from 2600 years ago, these donations are based on each person's income and fluidity with money. Please bring cash with you for this, or you can offer Dana online at Ekuthuleni.
Click on the link to practical information for details about what to bring etc or go to the booking form. After booking, you will receive confirmation & some practical info such as station pick up times & drop off times.
About Brahmavara Bhukkhuni:
Ayya Brahmavara learned Vipassana meditation from age 24, under the guidance of SN Goenka, after hearing about meditation retreats from a fellow student at Sheffield University. From being a medic striving to alleviate suffering, there was a gradual realignment over the next ten years from the medical field of practice to the monastic one. Same quest, going deeper . . . as she discovered in the Buddha's Path of practice how one could begin to explore and to help alleviate suffering through facing up to its root causes.
Ayyā visited Amaravati monastery with a couple of Goenka friends in 1999 and by the end of 2000 was working as retreat center manager there. In August 2001, she entered monastic life and practiced at Amaravati and Chithurst monasteries in the UK for the next 15 years. Ayyā benefitted from many months on tudong in the UK, Ireland, Italy, and France and from pilgrimages to Burma, India, Taiwan, China, and Malaysia which increased her faith in the sāmaṇa life and broadened her view of Buddhist practice.
In 2019, she moved to Thailand and Wat Subthawee to practice under the guidance of Luang Por Ganha. From him she learned the value of sacrifice, of selfless service, and of love. Ayyā Nirodhā is a valued bhikkhuni there and she encouraged Ajahn Brahmavarā to consider full ordination as a bhikkhuni.
In 2021, she received bhikkhunī upasampadā in the USA with Mahātherī Ayyā Tathālokā as preceptor. Her aspiration is to continue the practice using this form as a way of serving and supporting liberation from suffering for all beings. You can find her teachings on her website ayyabrahmavara.org