Christmas Meditation Retreat 19.-21.12.2025

The Christmas season sensitises our hearts to the unique atmosphere that accompanies it. In countries of the Christian tradition, even where Christmas is not associated with religion, more than any other celebration, it has as its theme love and its various aspects. Love can be expressed in giving of oneself, in sharing, in generosity or in bringing light where it is especially needed. Genuine presence and resting in oneself are also important aspects of love. To experience the Christmas spirit more deeply, it is necessary to be present, to create a space of being in the midst of all that is being done and happening. Christmas time can be consciously experienced and embraced, thus sharing true Christmas peace with the world around you.

If your heart is calling you, you are warmly invited to the Christmas atmosphere of Heartland to meditate with us in our candlelit log cabin. The purpose of the retreat is to get us into the Christmas mood, which in Heartland means above all an inner state of gentleness and softness in our minds and hearts, where we can feel at home resting in ourselves. In addition to meditations, the retreat will include a teaching session on the theme and symbolism of Christmas.

Place: Heartland – The Place of Silence, Illintie 51, 96460 Rovaniemi.

Time: Friday 19.12. at 19:00 – Sunday 21.12. at 16:00.

Price: 140 euros (incl. 25.5% VAT), including accommodation. For those coming from more than 400 km, €120. To be paid before the retreat (or separately agreed afterwards) to Sydänmaa’s account: FI40 8954 0710 1011 62. In the message box, type: Christmas retreat.

Meals: we prepare a shared salad with warm side dishes for lunch and a vegetable soup for dinner. Bring a salad and soup ingredients (including a vegetable protein of your choice) for two days. Bring your own picnic for Friday evening. Bring your own breads and spreads. Heartland will provide coffee and tea and coffee milk (bring your own side dishes e.g. cream etc.). In the morning we serve breakfast porridge. Bring your own toppings for the porridge, e.g. berries, fruit, nuts, etc.

Registration: [email protected]. preferably before 15.12.

Teachers

Teachers Leena and Hans Christian Hansen have been dedicated to the study of spiritual traditions, yoga, meditation and spiritual living for over twenty years. They have both taught in the late Asger Lorentsen’s trainings and run their own courses and retreats for over fifteen years. Currently Leena and Hans Christian are students of the American spiritual teacher Mark Sullivan and the Indian teacher Sri M.(Sri M is a student of the legendary Himalayan spiritual teacher Sri Guru Babaji). Both teachers support the Bodhisattva School and other Heartland trainings. The training is essentially not about the knowledge or vision of individual teachers, but about a broader impulse from multiple spiritual traditions and masters. The course is not an invitation to follow any one teacher or spiritual tradition, but rather to provide a rich and practical daily experience of finding one’s own inner connection to one’s own inner spiritual home through sustained practice. The languages of instruction are Finnish and English, translated into Finnish if necessary.

You are warmly welcome to our trainings and retreats, if your heart is in it! Feel free to pass on information about them.