Four Foundations of Mindfulness Retreat

Retreat | 10 - 15 December |$ various

This silent secular Vipassana retreat is suitable for anyone wishing to deepen his or her practice and cultivate further understanding of the wisdom teachings underpinning mindfulness practices. These teachings and practices will emphasise quieting the mind, opening the heart, and developing clarity and depth of practice. This may be especially of interest to those teaching or aspiring to teach mindfulness, but all are welcome.

This traditional insight meditation retreat will offer silent periods of sitting and walking meditation, yoga as well group and individual teacher interviews. Teachers will also offer daily talks and systematic meditation instructions that are embedded with the spirit of kindness and compassion.

Tim, Mary and Astrid teach from a trauma-sensitive mindfulness orientation so this retreat will feature choice and flexibility. This retreat will be easier for you if you have some basic mindfulness experience. Do be in touch if you want to discuss this with Mary - one of the teachers.

This is retreat is offered through the Mindfulness Training Institute - Australia and New Zealand and you can book for it here.

Extend your practice

Through extended periods of dedicated practice over the five days you will be able to explore and enrich your practice.

Deepen your understanding

Through the direct practice of the four foundations of mindfulness we will explore the essence of the wisdom teachings.

Rest and restore

Five days of support in terms of space, time and good food and company will enable you to dissolve stress and restore your energy for life.

Register Here

What is a secular retreat?

Secular means "of our age".

We offer retreats that are open to people of any and no faith. Our retreats are informed by both ancient knowledge and contemporary understandings about human flourishing, including scientific findings about health and well-being.

While mindfulness is a natural human capacity, we draw explicitly on the very practical teachings of the Buddha, which describe experiences that are shared by all humans. We bring understandings from Buddhist psychology to inquire into the nature of suffering and how to incline the mind towards freedom. We bring an interest in the the fields of neuroscience and psychology which continue to expand our understandings of how to live a fulfilling life with less struggle, and to make links to practical teachings that have existed for thousands of years.

Our retreats makes the practical learning from Buddhism, as well as modern science, available in an ordinary, secular and accessible way that is applicable in your everyday life.

Details

Prices

Standard Rate
Price - $1395 (inc GST)
Supporting Rate
Price - $1550.00 (inc GST)
Subsidised Rate
Price - $1240.00 (inc GST)

Date and Time

Dates
10 - 15 December 2020
Times
Starts 2pm Thursday and concludes 2pm Tuesday

Venue and Catering

Hartzer Park, Burradoo, NSW

Enjoy your own single room and gourmet vegetarian cuisine.

Hartzer Park is wheel-chair accessible.

How to get there

Driving: Here is a link to Google Maps Hartzer Park.
Train: the nearest station is Bowral Station and then it's a short cab ride to Hartzer Park. Here is a link to Sydney Trains.
Car Pooling: Caroline will be helping to organise some car-pooling and will be sending an email out with details for those people looking for a lift. Do be in touch with if you can offer a lift or are looking for a lift.
Airport Arrivals and Departures - Sharing Transport: If you are arriving at Sydney Airport and would like to share taxi / mini-bus transport costs to Hartzer Park, please let Caroline know and she will connect you with others so you can organise your transport together. Please book flights to be available to catch a bus / taxi by 12.30 pm on the 10 December 2020.
Book return flights on 15 December from 4.30pm for Domestic flights and 5.30pm for International flights. The retreat concludes at 2pm on the 15 December. Allow 1.5 hours travel time from Hartzer Park to the Airport.

Teachers

Timothea Goddard

BA, Dip Psych (ANZAP) Workplace Trainer, Cert V, Yoga teacher (YA200H)

Timothea Goddard is recognised as a pioneer in bringing MBSR to Australia over the past 14 years being the first in Australia to complete the training and be accredited as an MBSR teacher through the Center for Mindfulness, UMass Medical Center, USA; she maintains strong professional links there. Timothea has worked in private practice for 30 years as a psychotherapist, educator and workplace trainer, having trained in humanistic, psychodynamic and body-based psychotherapy as well as comprehensive training in MiCBT, and basic training in ACT, Breathworks, .B, and Mindful Schools. Since 2007, she has been offering MBSR training and supervision for health professionals and others.

She is a long time student of yoga, Aikido and meditation and practices in the Insight tradition. She is the Director of Openground – an Australia-wide network of clinicians and teachers offering MBSR and related programs. She is a founding director of MTI and is currently the Director of Training. She is very interested in the interface of biology and psychology and how mindfulness practice can facilitate the integration between what we experience as "body" and "mind".

Mary McIntyre

B.A (Bus) Dip. Couns, MACA II , SEP Trauma Therapy, Cert. Expressive Therapies, Cert IV Arch. , Circle of Security Parent Educator, Associate of Openground

Mary’s encounter with regular meditation practice began in earnest in 1989. She initially attended retreats in France in the Vietnamese Mahayana tradition (Thich Nhat Hanh) where she took lay ordination in 1995. Subsequently Mary moved from Europe to Sri Lanka for seven years where she explored traditional Theravadan and Western Insight traditions before emigrating to Australia in 2003 . She is motivated by various Insight style retreats including open, spacious style practices such as Reflective Meditation (Linda Modaro) which continues to inspire her.

Mary is passionate about good therapy, human metamorphosis, post traumatic growth and various modalities of healing. She works 1-1 in private practice as a counsellor/psychotherapist based in Brisbane where she also leads MBSR and offers ongoing mentoring supervision to new meditation teachers.

Astrid de Ruiter

MSc (Physics), Grad Dip Counseling, Dip Holistic Counseling

Astrid is a certified MBSR teacher, with the Centre of Mindfulness, UMass having trained extensively with them and Openground. She is a counsellor/ psychotherapist and has a background in science (physics). She has been teaching mindfulness to groups and individuals since 2006, to both clinical and non-clinical populations. Astrid's personal practice of mindfulness spans a period of over 15 years within various Insight meditation traditions. Astrid teaches MBSR courses in Brisbane and on the Sunshine Coast. She brings a gentle yet lively and engaging presence to her teaching of mindfulness. She is strongly committed to helping participants develop their own relationship to mindfulness and mindfulness practice, so that it is personally and professionally relevant. She is gifted in her capacity to balance theory and practice, and to make the learning journey an inspiring and productive one.

The Four Foundations of Mindfulness