Retreats

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.

Silence in the meditative sense does not mean a lack of sound. It means a state of consciousness in which we are not carried away by external phenomena or by the stories and emotional experiences of the mind, but are able to remain aware in the midst of all experience and not to identify or “drown” in our experiences. Silence is our own essence, which we can experience when the perceptions of our minds do not capture our attention, but allow us to remain “in the middle” of ourselves in a state of awareness.

The theme of the Easter retreat is letting go and birthing something new. Letting go is not scary when we are aware that there is something real in us, a deeper I-ness that remains and does not disappear, even if some things in us or in our lives “die” or become less dominant. The deeper I-ness rests within Itself, is calm, happy and loving. Meditation is the path to the recognition of the deeper I-ness. The retreat allows you to withdraw for a few days away from everyday chores and to settle down with the Self to empower yourself from within.

Sydänmaa is organising a nature meditation retreat at Luosto for almost a week, which will allow us to take an inner and outer step towards our inner self, as well as to listen to and caress our bodies in nature and with the elements of nature. Many of us experience a deep connection with nature, but do not realise that nature reflects back to us the Buddha nature of our own self, the part of us that is always natural, serene and in harmony with all life. At the same time, our inner being also bubbles with joy, creativity and unconditional love.

The theme of the retreat is The Self-liberating Power of the Heart. Within each of us is the power of Universal Heart Consciousness, an energy that is called by different names in different yoga and meditation traditions, the best known of which is Shakti (or Holy Mother). According to the teachings of the traditions, this same force is both the sustainer of the whole universe (Para-Shakti) and manifests individually within us. Through meditative practice, we can experientially connect not only with our own power, but also with this power of the universe – the Heart of the Universe, whose energy of grace (love) liberates and transforms limiting beliefs and emotional memories within us that we have partially identified with and that have come to narrowly define our experience of who we are.