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8 Day Silent Zen Meditation and Yin Yoga Retreat in Algarve
Karuna Center, Serra de Monchique, Algarve, Portugal
Silent Meditation and Yin Yoga Retreat, Algarve, Portugal
A week dedicated to the practice of silent meditation, yin yoga and mindful walks in serene hills is a rare moment to connect at a deep level with our own heart and mind without dispersion and distraction. We find many of the answers we seek within ourselves, in the depth of the living and felt the experience of who we are. This week offers the possibility of taking the inwards steps to reconnect with the source of what is healing and nourishing in all of us. That is the gift of silence and stillness.
Meet the instructors
Hamid
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Highlights
- Yoga
- Meditation
- Dharma talks
- Meditative walks
- Group meeting on last day
- 7 nights accommodation
- Daily meals
Skill level
- Intermediate
- Advanced
7 days with instruction in English
The organizer also speaks: French
Group size: 7-31 participants
Airport transfer available:
Faro Airport (US$ 17 per person)
Faro Airport (US$ 17 per person)
Accommodation
Check-in Time:
17:00
Check-out Time:
14:00
The accommodation is basic and similar to what you would find in an ahsram. We have hosted retreats at Karuna for many years and it is a beautiful place to meditate. However, we do like attendees to be aware of the simplicity of the accommodation in advance so they know what to expect. This simplicity is reflected in the low price for the retreat. There are quite a lot of steps up to some of the bedrooms, so we advise you to pack a suitcase that you can comfortably carry to your room. Please let us know in advance if you have mobility issues and we can arrange for you to stay in the lower bedrooms.
You will be staying in a shared twin or triple room with people of the same gender. The bathrooms are also shared with other retreat participants.
There are no private occupancy options available for this retreat.
Your bedding and sheets are provided, but please bring towels for the shower.
It can be cold in the morning and evening in Portugal on our April and October retreats, so please bring warm bed clothes. There are also extra blankets available for the bedroom.
Program
Zazen (seated meditation in Zen) is at once a bare-bones form of meditation and at the same time, it is not one. Historically it’s a twice millennial practice passed on through generations by the Buddha as the unique gateway to liberating us humans from the rounds of birth and death and the suffering that comes from being trapped in Samsara, the world of delusion and ignorance. But also it is not meditation in the sense we ordinarily understand it to be.
This practice has no object and is not meant to be a means towards some end, it is not meant to take you from here to anywhere in particular. If anything it is meant to help you realize that ultimately there is no getting from here and going there for there is no coming and going. Or if there is, there is no one doing the coming and going.
Clearly, there is a paradox at the heart of Zen practice and Zen meditation. The sitting that is nothing other than the sitting is what this practice is about. The Japanese name for it is Shikantaza: just sitting.
The emphasis here is on the word just. Just being wholeheartedly in full awareness of body, mind, and breath, present to the unfolding of this practice of moment to moment of just sitting. Encountering the resistances and discomforts that inevitably arise as we sit in the openness of just this moment, just this sitting, just this being.
Slowly becoming intimate with the resistance. Noticing the arising of our cravings and aversions and the tensions they create inside. Then the next moment, in the next awareness of body-mind-breath presence to this moment returning to the just sitting. Returning to the release and ease of this just sitting.
Zazen is the practice of paying one’s full attention to just this moment in its arising and falling as silence and stillness come upon you.
When there is justness in the just of sitting, being simply here present to this moment, time and space collapse, all mental categories collapse. In the absence of mental construes, I face the timeless, the boundless in the sheer openness of this moment that is nothing other than this moment of: here I am, showing up completely for one's life!
Meditation is the art of just sitting beyond the projections of the mind, or not being disturbed by the mind's projections. When I can just sit, just breathe, just be the being that I am, then I return quite effortlessly to a simplicity where whatever I encounter is just the being or thing that it is.
What I find compelling in the Zen way of looking at things is how we slowly begin to lose interest in projects, noble as they may be, such as enlightenment or self-realization, the more we move into experiences of immediacy, the more we sense with our pores what intimacy means. Intimacy is letting go of goals, drives, and strivings.
Intimacy with ourselves, intimacy with others, intimacy with the world: The flesh of the world is being part of the silence that opens us to intimacy, resonance, and co-responding with all phenomena and beings.
If you are coming then be an expression of the intimacy of the moment of; here I am, hineni, my voice, I am just coming. I am the coming, the sitting, the breathing, the breath, the just, the thus.
He or she who realizes justness, thusness, things are they are, things just as they are is called in Sanskrit a Tathagata. Tathagata is one of the names of the Buddha.
There is hardly any place for silence in your lives as you feel even more compelled to fill all spaces with words and activity thus losing touch with what is most intimate and close to you; silence and stillness. Through meditation, you will slowly learn to settle here where at times you receive this formidable and unlike any other mind-blowing revelation: silence is the answer you have always been searching for!
Silence is the source of all the teachings, but even more so, silence is the ultimate teaching itself, the ultimate religion. Once it deeply touches your heart and mind you know you are liberated and at home, free from searching and seeking, free from paths, free from teachers and teachings.
Program
The six days will be spent in silence and the schedule will include four daily sessions of Zazen (seated meditation), Kinhin (walking meditation), meditative walks in the surrounding woods, Yin yoga, and dharma talks by Hamid. Each of these four blocks is comprised of three periods of 25 minutes sitting and two periods of walking meditation of ten minutes each.
Three of these meditation blocks are required, the fourth one is optional.
Traditionally, at the end of a silent retreat, the participants all leave with a little time to discuss the thoughts and feelings that came up for them during the silence. However, at this retreat, you will have a group meeting on the day before last during which you can share and open up with regards to whatever you have processed during the week's time of practice. This meeting of group sharing is one the highlights of the retreat experience.
You can explore further different aspects of the teachings to offer a framework to help you make better sense of your experience, so as to support incorporating it into your daily lives.
Instructors
Hamid Ebadi
Drawn to meditation in the 1990’s, Hamid encountered Japanese Zen Master Ryotan Tokuda in 1998, was ordained as a monk at Ei Tai-Ji Monastery in the South of France in 2000 and, in 2011, was authorized by his master to pass on these ancient teachings. Hamid is also a qualified psychotherapist and has continued his personal and professional development by sharing his experience conducting lectures, meditation retreats, and personal therapy sessions. Hamid firmly believes that giving unconditional support and guidance is fundamental to a joyful existence.
Location
Karuna retreat centre is set in a beautiful setting in the eucalyptus forests in the hills above Monchique, about an hour inland from Faro. The view from the center over the valleys and rolling hills with a sliver of the ocean visible in the distant horizon is breathtaking.
Features
General
- Environmentally friendly
- Garden
- Lounge
- Smoke-free property
- Special menu request
- Terrace
- Yoga shala
- Yoga studio
Services
- Free bottled water
- Free parking
Food
Three delicious home-cooked dishes cooked by a remarkable cook called Ana. The meals are 90% vegan. When a dish contains dairy an alternative dairy-free dish will be provided.
The following meals are included:
- Lunch
- Dinner
- Snacks
- Drinks
The following drinks are included:
- Water
- Coffee
- Tea
The following dietary requirement(s) are served and/or catered for:
- Lacto-ovo Vegetarian
- Vegan
- Fruitarian
- Lactose Free
If you have special dietary requirements it's a good idea to communicate it to the organiser when making a reservation
What's included
- Accommodation: bed in a shared room (individual rooms available at a daily extra cost of 35 EUR)
- Food: three beautiful and healthy vegetarian meals provided each day
- All the retreat activities (possibility of asking for a private meeting with the teacher in case the need is felt for extra support and guidance)
What's not included
- Flights and transport to the accommodation
How to get there
Recommended Airports
FAO
Faro Airport
58 km
Transfer available for additional US$ 17 per person
Airport: Faro Airport
Airport transfer available:
Faro Airport (US$ 17 per person)
Additional charges may apply. You can request this in the next step.
Cancellation Policy
- A reservation requires a deposit of 16.94% of the total price.
- The deposit is non-refundable, if the booking is cancelled.
- The rest of the payment should be paid 30 days before arrival.
For this organizer you can guarantee your booking through Tripaneer.com. All major credit cards supported.
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