This wilderness meditation retreat retreat will be in the Pyrennees, in the forest half way up to the mountains .

Noon will offer teachings on the theme of Annicca, impermanence, from the buddhist teachings. How we relate to impermanence, recognising it's ebbs & flows, how to cultivate resilience and a supple heart with the natural changing aspects of human existence...

Celebrating Nature, really soaking into the forest, can open our hearts & bodies to the weave of ecology and meditation, ressourcing our batteries in the hot springs & the forest bathing….to shine some lights into living with awareness in these times of climate change.

This will be mainly a silent meditation retreat with guidance, & time for dharma inquiery.

This wilderness retreat in the forest next to hot springs will be largely self-managed. Come for the number of days that you wish.

You need to have a good level of fitness to join. We will be carrying our own gear and camping in the forest, though we will not move camp more than twice,( this means you could come & just stay for the time we’re in that camp). We will move from one hot spring to another once by going up the mountain & staying overnight in a mountain refuge/hostal. The first day, we’ll go to a paying hotspring ( 9€). If you need to borrow one of Ekuthuleni’s small tents, you would need to come up from Perpignan & stop in the town of Prades, go to the organic shop where our friend who works there will give you a tent. You would need to drop it off there on your way back.

This will be an adventure!

Schedule

• Early am silent meditation

• Break silence for breakfast

• Silent days of meditation

• Sitting in hot springs, walking in the surrounding forest

• Late lunch / early supper

• Washing up 

• Rest

• Guided meditation

• walking meditation 

• Dhamma talk

• Evening meditation and Chanting

This retreat is suitable for people willing to be in silence most of the day. You need to be physically fit as the access is not easy. The main focus will be meditation with a trekking moment or two.

The forest is a quiet place far enough from villages. We will spend some time at one camp before trekking to the next location. Retreatants are asked to be present with the retreat structure and be autonomous to a certain extent as well as flowing with the group.

There will be no cook nor manager on this retreat; we will have a rota system. If you are willing and able to be in a retreat structure with several hours of meditation each day and flow with the conditions, this is a suitable retreat for you. A drug & alcool free retreat.

Dates: 20th to 27th June

Place: Secret location between Perpignan & La Tour de Carol. The exact location will be confirmed by Noon on booking.

How to get to the starting point by train and bus:

From Toulouse: take a train to Latour de Carol / Enveitg (2hr 40 journey) then take the Train Jaune down towards Villefranche de Confluent to station meeting point. . followed by a 45 minute hike.

From Perpignan: Take a 1€ bus or train to Villefranche-de-Confluent, then the Train Jaune up the mountain to given location/meeting point at station.This will be followed by a 45 minute hike.

There are also cheap Flixbus services from Barcelona or Girona in Spain to Perpignan.

Le Train Jaune website

What to bring: You will need to bring your own camping gear, tent, ( see above about borrowing a tent) and some food. This is wilderness camping so be prepared! A list of foods to bring will be given on completing booking. We will each pay for ourselves when we go to the paying hotsprings, the mountain refuge, & maybe eating at a snack bar once…. A friend will help us by dropping off some drinking water at camp 2.

Ekuthuleni will bring a few lightweight camping pots but if you have such things please do let us know. We also have a camping pressure shower to wash with soap to not dirty the hotsprings.

Bring all the usual practical things for camping and walking - sun-cream & hat, footwear for walking, a water bottle - more info here under “What to bring”

Cost: €100 to cover insurance costs for wildernesss camping. Noon will offer guidance and teachings on a dana basis. Please bring dana with you.

DANA: We are not funded by any institutions or gouvernent 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.

Association Ekuthuleni has its own insurance for retreats in nature with groups, & we ask that you also have your own health insurance, & do not have any heart condition that would not be suitable for hotsprings.

For any further information contact Noon or you can book using the link to the form below.