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Insight Into Life: Inhabitating the Heart of Mindfulness

5-Day Silent Meditation Retreat with Saki Santorelli ● 18-23 October 2024 ● Greece

 

Mindfulness is a path of human unfolding, insight, and the cultivation of a virtuous life.  Embedded in mindfulness, for forty-five years MBSR has introduced and opened this path to people around the world.

The power, harmony, and beauty of MBSR resides in the mingling of meditative awareness, Buddhist and other contemplative psychologies, Western science and psychology, and an imaginative, emancipatory pedagogy.  Attuning to and embodying this mingling from the inside out, we’ll dwell in the heart of mindfulness as a practice and vehicle for reducing the causes of distress when a human being’s innate capacities for awareness and devotion to freedom from the conditioned self are aroused, developed, and gradually integrated into everyday life. 

 

“Insight into life is the real religion, which alone can help one to understand life.”

- Hazrat Inayat Khan

Retreat description

Grounded in practice and approached in the spirit of curiosity and befriending, this retreat is an immersion in the essential aspects of mindfulness meditation practice and their expression in MBSR. Together, we’ll cultivate wakefulness through the intimacy of sitting and walking meditation, mindful movement and yoga, daily practice instructions and evening talks, and group practice meetings with Saki.  The retreat will be taught in English without simultaneous translation in Greek.

Retreat schedule

The retreat will include mindfulness meditation, mindful walking meditation, mindful yoga, dharma talks and group discussions with Saki. The daily schedule is subject to change according to the unfolding needs during the time of the retreat. See an indicative schedule below.

Learning objectives

During this retreat, participants will be able to:

  • Practice mindfulness meditation

  • Inquire into personal dimensions of their mindfulness practice

  • Integrate mindfulness meditation into their personal and professional life

  • Understand the foundational underpinnings of MBSR and other MBPs

  • Realize embodiment as central to becoming an MBSR teacher

  • Connect with & contribute to a community of practitioners & mindfulness-based professionals

Who is it for

The retreat requires no adherence to a particular faith tradition. It is suitable for those seeking an immersion in mindfulness and silence as well as anyone teaching or aspiring to teach MBSR and other MBP’s in a range of institutional and social settings. It fulfills one of the silent retreat requirements for becoming an MBSR or MBP teacher. No prior meditation/mindfulness experience is needed, however this is an in-depth retreat with multiple practice hours per day and noble silence during the entire 5 days.

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 Saki F. Santorelli, EdD, MA

Saki F. Santorelli, EdD, MA is an educator, meditation guide, writer, gardener, and pioneer in integrating meditation and mindfulness into medicine, health care, and the broader society. In 2017, he retired as professor of medicine, executive director of the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society (2000-2017) and director of the internationally acclaimed Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Clinic (MBSR) (1996-2017) at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.

His entire forty-year career in medicine and healthcare has been oriented around the integration of mindfulness into public health fuelled by an abiding trust in the innate brilliance and nobility of human beings. He has plumbed the nature of the healing relationship by working with thousands of medical patients, educating and mentoring generations of medical students, healthcare professionals, educators, and researchers of mindfulness and MBSR. Through his vision and leadership, the Center for Mindfulness transmitted the ethos, practice, teaching, and science of mindfulness to individuals and organizations around the world.

Saki has been a student in the universal Sufi lineage of Hazrat Inayat Khan for nearly fifty years. In 1980, his teacher, Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan, suggested he also become a student in the Buddhist Insight Meditation tradition. He did so. A year later, he met Jon Kabat-Zinn. As their decades-long relationship unfolded, they became colleagues, friends, and dharma-brothers transmitting the taste of mindfulness, the fragrance of the Sufis, and the vision of a grounded, lively contemplative science and education to people around the planet.

Saki teaches, writes, presents workshops, seminars, and leads retreats internationally. He is the author of Heal Thy Self: Lessons on Mindfulness in Medicine now translated into fourteen languages and founder/director of the website and online community, GuestHouse Awareness.com.

 
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Montanema Handmade Village

Montanema Handmade Village is a special retreat center in a virgin fir forest within a canyon in the northern part of Greece, the perfect setting for deepening your practice in silence. Stone built houses are nestled around the main home, where the meditation hall is warm and welcoming, with a view of the forest. Accommodation is comfortable and cozy homes while the food is of utmost quality, organic and home made. For those wishing to further explore the area before or after the retreat, Montanema is close to Plastira lake, waterfalls, forest hiking paths and the majestic monasteries perched on the cliffs of Meteora.

 

Registration Information

Retreat costs

  • Retreat cost (per person):

    • Single occupancy: 1.300€ (sold out)

    • Double occupancy: 1.100€

    • Triple occupancy: 900€

      For those facing financial difficulties, a limited number of scholarships are available upon request, with a reduced participation fee of 750€ (including VAT) for accommodation in a triple room.

  • What is included:

    • Daily teachings from Saki Santorelli

    • 5 nights stay & vegetarian organic meals at Montanema

    • VAT

  • What is not included:

    • Transportation costs to/from Montanema

    • Any drinks or foods not included in the 3 main meals

  • Deposit: 300€

  • Payment deadline: 30 April 2024

  • Registration: Once you fill out the Registration Form below, you will receive an email with payment details. If you don’t receive the email, please notify us at info@onebreath.eu.

Important notes

  • The number of participants is very limited, so we advise you to make your booking as soon as possible.

  • Bring everything you need for your meditation practice, such as zafu/meditation bench, yoga mat and blanket in order to be comfortable in the meditation hall, since the retreat center will not be providing equipment.

  • Please make sure to arrive on time on the first day, in order to complete the registration process in time.

  • During the retreat we will follow noble silence and there will be no use of electronic devices such as smartphones, tablets, laptops.

  • The retreat will take place provided the minimum number of participants has been completed.

  • If you are facing a health issue, please let us know and we will try to make your stay easier in any way we can.

  • Cancellation policy:

    • Deposit amount is non-refundable.

    • For cancellations up to 30 April 2024, a full refund of retreat cost minus the deposit amount will be provided.

    • For cancellations after 30 April 2024, there will be no refunds for any reason.

    • If the retreat is canceled due to force majeure (eg. COVID restrictions), a full refund of retreat costs will be provided.

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Indicative Retreat Schedule

18 October 2024

4.30pm - 6.00pm: Arrival

6.30pm – 7.30pm: Dinner

7.30pm - 9.30pm: Welcome and Introductions | Walking and Sitting Practices

9.30pm Closing for the Day or Further Practice

 

19-22 October 2024

6.30 am: Wake up

7.00am - 8.00am: Sitting Meditation

8.00am - 9.30am: Breakfast

9.30am - 10.30pm: Sitting - Instructions / Q & A

10.30am - 11.15am: Walking Meditation

11.15am - 11.45am: Sitting Meditation

11.45am - 12.30pm Walking Meditation

12.30pm – 13.00pm: Sitting Meditation

1.00pm - 2.00pm: Lunch

2.00pm - 3.00pm: Rest

3.00pm - 3.30pm: Sitting Meditation

3.30pm - 4.15pm: Walking Meditation

4.15pm - 5.00pm: Sitting Meditation

5.00pm - 5.45pm: Walking Meditation

5.45pm - 6.30pm: Sitting Meditation

6.30pm - 8.00pm: Dinner

8.00pm - 9.00pm: Dharmma Talk

9.00pm  Rest or continue pratice

23 October 2024

6.30 am: Wake up

7.00am - 8.00am: Sitting Meditation

8.00am - 9.30am: Breakfast

09.30am - 10.15am: Sitting Meditation

10.15am - 10.45am: Walking Meditation

10.45am - 12.00pm: Talk, Breaking Silence, Closing Circle: Self-Care, Resources, Q&A

12.30pm: Farewell & Lunch

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Frequently Asked Questions

  • See details about how to reach Montanema here.

    Address: Anthochori, Karditsa.

    The closest airport is Volos and then Ioannina. Of course, you have the option to fly to Athens and then rent a car or take the public bus or train to Karditsa, and then a private taxi to Montanema from the Karditsa train/bus station.

    By car, Montanema is 330klm from Athens and 240klm from Thessaloniki.

  • This retreat is for anyone who wishes to deepen their mindfulness/insight meditation practice and gain experience in the application of mindfulness based applications. No prior experience with mindfulness or meditation is needed. In addition, this retreat is for MBSR or other MBI (such as MBCT) students. Finally, it is a pre-requisite for many mindfulness/MBSR teacher trainings.

  • This retreat meets the pre-requisites for the teacher training program in MBSR. If you want to know if this retreat is acceptable by other institutions, please contact them directly.

  • Yes, after completion of the retreat, participants will receive a certificate of completion.

  • Please arrive by 14:30 (Athens, Greece time) on the 18th of October.

  • Yes, there is WiFi but use of electronic devices such as laptops, smartphones and tablets is not allowed during the retreat.

  • If you need to stay for more nights at the retreat center (before or after), please contact Montanema directly for availability.

  • Please bring your zafu/meditation pillow or bench, yoga mat, blankets, comfortable clothing in layers, warm socks and anything else you need for your practice. Also bring a water bottle, comfortable hiking shoes, and any supplements, or pharmaceutical medications you think you may need.