Going on retreat gives you the opportunity to share time, and inspiration with like-minded people from all walks of life. Many people find that a sense of community develops as a retreat progresses, and lasting friendships are born from their experience.

But retreats are not 'holidays'. They are an opportunity to deepen your awareness of yourself, other people, and the world around you. They give you space to clarify what is essential in your life. And as such, a retreat can be a challenging, life changing experience.

The daily programmes vary depending on what type of retreat you book. Most retreats include meditation, periods of silence, and other activities such as talks, workshops, study groups, and sometimes yoga. They also have short work activities and free time.

As someone highly resistant to change, a lover of routine and all things familiar and comfortable this seemed particularly ripe as a retreat focus! I particularly enjoyed developing a collage using images from old National Geographic magazines. The creative process of completing my collage shone a light on some of my deepest fears around truly accepting my life as ‘a precious opportunity’.  I have never perceived so clearly, not just intellectually but emotionally, the aspects of my life that I hope will never change.  This realisation has loosened the grip of those fears allowing them to be named, identified and therefore more effectively worked upon. Being in a retreat environment, with intuitive teachers guiding the process, I find that insights like this can arise in the most unexpected ways.

The setting of this retreat also adds to its magic.  Castle Acre is an ideal retreat setting - peaceful and isolated but with a strong sense of history and place. This year the ruins of the priory and castle acted as very prominent reminders of the retreat’s theme. The Red Lion and its beautiful shrine room with exposed brick walls, wooden floor and cosy log burner made a great home for the week. From the moment the mats were set out on the first evening for the first meditation the shrine room became, at least for me, the centre of the retreat. The combined energy of everyone’s effort and dedication on their path creates something that cannot be put into words. Something deep inside me responds to that sense of connection to each other and our own deeper spiritual aspect. The metta that develops through the week through shared practice, living as a community and generous helpings of heartfelt laughter creates an atmosphere in which one cannot help but be inspired. 

On returning home from the retreat this year I felt far more open, freer and braver. It is so hard to really express in words what happens on retreat or how it feels. I am getting emotional just thinking about it - so maybe this is good practice for me!  I just know that retreats allow space for something a little bit magic to happen. I guess you could say that retreats in themselves are very precious opportunities."

Caroline is a member of the Colchester Sangha. She has been on the Winter Retreat with the Norwich Buddhist Centre three years in a row, and took a collection of beautiful photographs of the retreat. Look for them on these pages soon!

I was fortunate to be in a study group where the openness and honesty of the participants provided a strong foundation for an exploration of the powerful emotions expressed in the Bodhicaryavatara, as well as our individual experiences as the retreat went on.

The presence of a new rupa figure at the heart of Padmaloka's shrine room helped to set the scene in anticipation of the 'New Year's party'. We had been provided with the opportunity to write a list of regrets for the old year as well as positive resolutions for the new. These were collectively offered during an extended puja inspired by the Sutra of Golden Light. The Sutra dramatically narrates a movement toward the end of suffering and the attainment of buddhahood for all beings. We also chanted the mantra of Vajrasattva, a Tibetan Buddhist figure symblic of the original purity of all beings, a fitting way to leave any regrets from the old year behind and move forward with positive intent.

Our offerings were burnt on a large bonfire to the soundtrack of the mantra of Cittigarbha, the bodhisattva of lost causes. We then headed inside to enjoy fruit punch (non-alcoholic, of course) and a range of tasty snacks. We then returned outside to circumnavigate the stupa before meditating through to the close of the year. For the remainder of the retreat the schedule changed; the talks given by Padmavajra were exchanged for a Sunday work period and extended periods of meditation on Monday, providing a much needed chance to absorb the powerful material expounded in the talks and discussion groups.

Santideva presents the spiritual life as an opportunity to move toward the ideal of achieving enlightenment for all beings. This is likely to seem distant for most of us when tied down by a concern for an array of likes and dislikes. However, the start of a new year represents a good time to reflect on the value of the opportunity represented by our present circumstances and consider what makes life truly meaningful for us, whatever that may be.