On this page we have a brief explanation of our next retreats with links to get more information. For the long retreats we have more information on the site, for the shorter (day or weekend) events please register your interest for more information via email.
In addition to SanghaSeva's own retreats we are also listing events we wish to promote that closely share our vision. Some are being offered by independent organisations and some in collaboration with SanghaSeva facilitators. To make this as clear as possible they are listed under the heading SanghaSeva Supports. These are not adverts, and no money or favours have changed hands in creating this expanded listing.
This work retreat offers us the opportunity to nourish and express our care for life on Earth and our wish for a more sustainable world. A chance to combine working outdoors with silent reflection, meditation and listening practice.
The retreat is open to all, those new to meditation as well as those with experience; meditation instructions will be given. Also the work will be arranged so people with a range of abilities will have a place on this retreat.
We imagine we will work primarily in the gardens but there are possibilities to work in other areas, depending on needs of the community and skills of the participants.
To enable the cultivation of greater awareness in a daily life setting, the working days' activities will be framed by periods of meditation and contemplation, and parts of each day will be spent in silence. Evening reflections and guided interactive exercises will aim to deepen our connection to all things, including our inner life.
There will be an opportunity for further group sharing and exploration on the last morning.
The retreat will end after lunch on the last day.
We are very happy to be returning to the Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT). CAT is Europe's leading centre for environmental inspiration and courses, it offers practical solutions on all aspects of sustainable living: environmental building, eco-sanitation, woodland management, renewable energy, energy efficiency and organic vegetable growing.
We will stay in one of CAT's two Eco Cabins and work onsite to support the community in whatever way is most helpful. Vegetarian lunch and dinner will be provided by CAT's vegetarian wholefood restaurant, while breakfast will be self-catering.
The full cost of the retreat is £230, we will again offer an "early bird" discount; if you pay in full before 1 March 2017 the retreat will cost £212.
This covers accommodation in the Eco Cabins, all food from the first evening meal (of the day the retreat starts) to the last lunchtime (of the day the retreat finishes), and travel expenses for the retreat facilitator/teacher.
If you are touched by this project but cannot join us, you could also help by sponsoring someone else to go. If you would like to use Paypal please donate here.
With Paypal you can pay securely with credit cards or freely create your own Paypal account.
If you would like to use another method please contact us.
If you would like to join the retreat but require financial assistance please contact us.
The retreat will be facilitated by Gareth Fysh-Foskett and Julia Wallond.
If you are interested in this retreat register your interest to receive more information.
Walking in simplicity and nature through the French Mountains, supported by silence and mediation through the days.
With Zohar Lavie, Christopher Titmuss, Denis Roberect and Nathan Glyde
For more information visit DharmaYatra.org
A silent meditation retreat; finding a sense of home in the wild at a secluded and intimate retreat centre in the oak forests of the Pyrenean foothills.
With Zohar Lavie and Nathan Glyde
For more information visit EkuMeditation.com
“Refugees are going to continue to come, and the only question is what we are going to do to help them.”
- Davan Yahya Khalil
An opportunity to embody our humane response to crisis, and take the chance to care for others.
To embrace our shared humanity and see the person beyond the label 'refugee'.
To open to this painful reality and make a difference by helping create a safe haven for those who have seen the worst of humanity.
We will be supporting NGO's created to provide services to refugees fleeing their war torn homes. This is essential work that continues in Calais even though the camps there were shut down towards the end of last year. Our time volunteering in Calais is an act of solidarity which will make a real difference to those who truly need our help.
We will combine this positive action with meditation, reflection, and group processing.
We will be working with Help Refugees, a grassroots organisation formed by volunteers that came to support the crisis before the camps were destroyed.
Our main work will be in the warehouses where we may be sorting donations, working in the kitchen, or preparing dry food parcels for distribution. Essentially we will do what is needed to support the humanitarian action.
If you are touched by this project but cannot join us, you could also help by sponsoring someone else to go. If you would like to use Paypal please donate here.
If you would like to use another method to support this retreat please contact us.
The retreat will be facilitated by Nathan Glyde.
If you are interested read more information and register your interest for this retreat.
“Be the change you want to see” - Mahatma Gandhi
An opportunity to open your heart to the complex situation in Israel and Palestine.
To connect directly with the people and their pain beyond media reportage, views and opinions.
To develop our ability to be with difficulty, conflict, and blame.
To stay steady with strong emotions and expand our capacity for peacefulness, kindness and care.
To meet and be inspired by those who choose peace when all around them pushes towards conflict.
We will be spending time both in Palestine and in Israel, meeting Palestinians and Israelis whose lives are directly affected by the conflict. We will harvest olives with Palestinian villagers who have difficulties accessing their olive groves due to the Israeli army and settlers.
The aim of this retreat is to bring love, compassion, and an openness of heart and mind to a place of pain, suffering and confusion.
We will be working with both Palestinians and Jews dedicated to a nonviolent transformation of their lives. Our wish is to bring support and understanding to all those living this conflict and its effects. There will be silent days of meditation and reflection, and group explorations into being with our experience.
If you are touched by this project but cannot join us, you could also help by sponsoring someone else to go. If you would like to use Paypal please donate here.
With Paypal you can pay securely with credit cards or freely create your own Paypal account.
If you would like to use another method please contact us.
If you would like to join the retreat but require financial assistance please contact us.
The retreat will be facilitated by Zohar Lavie and Nathan Glyde.
If you are interested read more information and register your interest for this retreat.
“Be the change you want to see” - Mahatma Gandhi
This retreat is an opportunity to reach out beyond the walls that separate Israelis from Palestinians; both walls built by human hands and those built within us.
By not allowing ourselves to be limited by the constructed roles we play, we can directly express our basic human goodness.
This is a chance to experience the situation more directly; beyond stereotypes, media images and fearful projections.
The aim of this retreat is to cross the real and imagined border between these countries; so close and yet often so far apart.
To create a supportive environment for opening to the situation, we will be spending time in a Palestinian village meeting and working with Palestinian villagers, whose lives are impacted by the Israeli army and settlers.
Our wish is to bring support and understanding to all those living in this conflict, and to make the meeting of Jews and Arabs, Israeli and Palestinian, a reality.
We hope to bring more understanding, more compassion and more peace, both to the moments of the retreat and to the situation as a whole.
This is a short version of the Being Peace retreat listed below. This weekend retreat is primarily aimed at people who are already living or spending time in the region.
The retreat will be facilitated by Zohar Lavie, Nathan Glyde and Aviv Tatarsky.
If you are interested in exploring what it is to "Be Peace" register your interest for this retreat to receive more information.
In the same beautiful location SanghaSeva will be doing their regular Dharmalaya retreat in the spring we are offering a chance to enjoy one of the quietest and most secluded mountain retreat centres in India.
We will be meditating in the natural environment of the Himalayas in a natural mud built eco-centre. Long views, vast skies, and great mountains invite you to be still, calm and relaxed.
With Nathan Glyde and Zohar Lavie.
For more information visit ZoharLavie.org
"We can do no great things, only small things with great love" - Mother Teresa
An opportunity to open to joy and sorrow, and see where and how they meet.
To share care and love in different ways; experiencing how much we receive when we express that part of ourselves.
To inquire into "What helps?" - what is helpful and what comes through us to be of service.
To explore our relationship with being and doing.
Anandwan is a vibrant and inspiring community, comprising cured leprosy patients and people with any "disability" that has led them to be cast out from their families and societies.
The work retreat offers time for living and working in the community alongside the residents, developing friendships and learning new skills. There will also be time for daily meditations, group explorations and a silent meditation day once a week.
We have made a short video, with film maker Tom Riddle, showing more of what happens on this retreat:
The work retreat will be preceded by a silent meditation retreat in Anandwan's agricultural lands. We feel this adds to the experience of being in Anandwan, but it is not compulsory.
The silent retreat offers time to explore our inner nature, and see what we discover within. Days will include guidance in mediation techniques and practices, talks and time for personal interviews with facilitators. As well as group meditations in the hall, there will be time for walking meditation outside.
If you wish to only attend the silent meditation retreat select the appropriate retreat on the registration form.
When we first came upon Anandwan we saw it as a rare jewel, an embodiment of compassion; a vision of the future.
We want to offer the opportunity for others to experience the wonder, the empowerment, and the beauty of this precious place.
Both retreats will be led by Zohar Lavie and Nathan Glyde.
If you are interested read more information and register for the Anandwan retreat.
In the holy beach town of Gokarna, Karnataka in Southern India we are offering a new silent meditation retreat.
We will be meditating in the beautiful landscape of coastal coconuts and warm sea breezes. Long views, vast skies, and sea eagles invite you to be still, calm and relaxed.
With Nathan Glyde and Zohar Lavie.
For more information visit ZoharLavie.org
"To forget how to dig the earth and to tend the soil is to forget ourselves" - Mahatma Gandhi
An opportunity to live in a community sharing our deepest intentions, living lightly on the earth while co-creating a centre of connection and positivity.
To nurture gentleness; bringing it into being on the retreat and enlivening it in our lives and in the world.
To harmonise with the elements; connecting to nature by living and working outdoors in the Himalayan mountains.
On this retreat we will participate in the creation of the Dharmalaya institute for compassionate living.
The work retreat offers time for living and working as a community, developing friendships and learning new skills. We will be participating in the creation of food gardens, permaculture landscaping, and earth building.
There will also be time for daily meditations, group explorations and silent meditation days.
Preceding the work retreat there will be a silent meditation retreat, we find this adds to the experience of being in Dharmalaya.
The silent retreat offers time to explore our inner nature, and see what we discover within. Days will include guidance in mediation techniques and practices, talks and time for personal interviews with facilitators. As well as the group meditations in the hall, there will be time for walking meditation outside.
If you wish to only attend the silent meditation retreat select the appropriate retreat on the registration form.
Dharmalaya is dedicated to bringing together sustainable development, ecological building, and spiritual growth.
We hope this retreat will be a time of connected action to develop connection to ourselves and the world.
Both retreats will be led by Zohar Lavie and Nathan Glyde.
If you are interested read more information and register your interest for the retreats.
This is an opportunity to spend a day outdoors together, working gently with the earth as an expression of our hearts.
The day will be framed by periods of meditation and contemplation cultivating greater awareness in a daily life setting.
Bringing positive action and spiritual practice together gives us an opportunity to express our care and love for our planet, while also offering an opportunity to meet and connect with like minded people.
We will be working at and with the Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park, participating in wildlife and habitat conservation work.
This could include weeding, pruning, brambling, habitat creation, path repairing etc.
No skills or previous experience required; everyone is welcome.
Times: 9:30 to 17:00
Cost: £12 to cover organisational costs.
There will be the possibility to offer dana to the facilitators at the end of the day.
The retreat will be facilitated by Zohar Lavie and Nathan Glyde.
This event is run jointly with London Insight Meditation.
If you are interested to receive more information please register your interest for this Saturday retreat.
Read more about SanghaSeva's facilitators.
Exploration and cultivation of four natural wonders of the heart: friendliness, compassion, appreciative joy, and equanimity.
With Zohar Lavie and Jenny Wilks
For more information visit GaiaHouse.co.uk
A silent meditation retreat; finding a sense of home in the wild at a secluded and intimate retreat centre in the oak forests of the Pyrenean foothills.
With Zohar Lavie and Nathan Glyde
For more information visit EkuMeditation.com
The art of welcoming each moment with a kind and spacious attention.
With Zohar Lavie and Jake Dartington
For more information visit GaiaHouse.co.uk
This retreat provides an opportunity to explore being present with our experience just as it is without judgement or blame.
With Zohar Lavie and Paul Burrows
For more information visit GaiaHouse.co.uk
With Zohar Lavie
For more information contact us
Exploring the heart’s natural willingness to act
With Zohar Lavie and Shiri Barr
For more information visit Tovana.org.il