16 – 18 May 2025. 

A weekend retreat exploring the way of meditation in the Christian tradition.

“It is important to understand that this journey is not a technique but a discipline leading us to love. It is a walk of love because what we find at the centre is pure love, the love of God.” (Laurence Freeman)

The way of meditation in the Christian tradition is one of silence, stillness and simplicity, where we come apart from all that usually occupies us to drink deeply from the source within.

“Oh God you are my God for you I long, my soul thirsts for you like a dry weary land without water” (Psalm 63.1)

Judi and Paul Taylor will be leading the retreat, based around the teaching of Laurence Freeman and John Main, both Benedictine monks who appreciate our need for pools of silence in our beautiful and challenged world.

In life the easiest time to learn to meditate is in early childhood. But the right time to learn is always now. For this retreat you just have to bring an open mind and childlike heart.

The retreat is an invitation to those at various stages on the way … we are always beginners as many traditions say, we meet the teaching where ever we are on our journey, it is ever new, ever nourishing.

Some more words about our weekend together which will essentially be a time of silence …

We will be looking at the questions that are somewhere within each of us … what am I really seeking in my life and with my life … what is calling me, what longing within …

Reflecting on Laurence Freeman‘s little book on the inner pilgrimage, the journey to our centre, the source wherein we live and move and have our being, we’ll look at aspects such as the practice of  meditation, and how we can be with our inevitable distractedness to not be discouraged but be prepared. Indeed preparation for meditation is how we set ourselves up for the seriousness and the discipline of the journey which leads to a peace and joy that no words can describe and nothing  can take.

We’re beautifully placed at Campfire with the labyrinth built by David and Sue Woods and their helpers all those years ago, to explore the spiral as an ancient symbol of our spiritual journey that has the end in the beginning and can look to be doubling back on itself, we seem to be repetitively covering the same ground yet all the time moving deeper into our essence, our essential self, on this journey of faith.

We’ll have some conversation around how different forms of prayer sincerely practised, complement each other, all leading us into a great richness, into the heart of God that includes everything … we’ll experience meditation as a vital, deeply nourishing way to be in the presence of  God. Jesus’ teaching on prayer will very much be our guide in this.

Finally we’ll look at levels of consciousness and how if we have an understanding of the journey of meditation in a spiritual sense, if we’re aware of some of the stages that we will pass through, it’ll help us to grow, to deepen and maybe to give up less often. This will include looking at healing of  memories and how we meet Jesus in meditation, and how we come to realise our commonality with so many others, to accept our essential humanity as the teaching gradually becomes integrated in our lives … we come to have a sense of the vision of meditation as a movement into union with the person of Jesus, a loving faithful union, going with him on his journey in the spirit to the Father and in that we touch the boundless mystery of life itself. Quite a promise! We look forward to our time together.

Cost: Packages from $180 – $490

From late afternoon Friday 16th May until Sunday lunchtime 18th May.

There will be 3 levels of accommodation offered, numbers are limited in each level, all-inclusive prices for the 5 nights are

* Private room $490 per person

* Shared room $350 per person

* Swag camping $270 per person

* It’s possible to come daily (non-residential) $180 for all sessions and meals

Free accommodation (in a caravan) is reserved for one volunteer, in exchange for their assistance throughout the event, ideally arriving a few days before the retreat and staying on afterward to assist with clean-up and preparing for the next guests. Minimum 2-week volunteering stay. More information about volunteering here.

NO. OF PARTICIPANTS Around 15

ENQUIRIES: Judi Taylor taylor.judi@outlook.com