This meditation retreat is designed to be accessible, challenging and enjoyable to folks from a wide range of experience-levels and faith-backgrounds. In general, anyone willing & able to follow our group format and guidelines is welcome – especially newcomers. If you think you might want to join us, let us know and we can start a conversation.
Here are some patterns that have emerged among past participants:
- Lots of Beginners. Usually people wait until they have some formal meditation experience before they try a week-long retreat, but our relatively-gentler format has been manageable for some who wanted to jump into the deep end. However, beginners should take care not to underestimate the challenge. See our beginners page for more.
- A Differently-Balanced Schedule. Meditators from stricter traditions often appreciate that we have fewer formal sitting sessions, allowing more time for complementary activities. By combining formal sitting, solitary nature contemplation and social bonding, this retreat supports deep, genuine spiritual practice.
- Never Too Old. Many of our past participants were in their 60’s and 70’s. Luckily, our schedule is easier on the joints than at many traditional retreats.
- Bring the Spouse. Many avid meditators normally attend retreats that are too intense for their partners to enjoy. Several such couples have joined us and found a happy medium they can both appreciate.
The main prerequisite is a willingness to participate in our group sitting sessions with a spirit of cooperation and mutual support (which practically-speaking means agreeing to sit still 🙂.) That is the key that makes the retreat a success. Retreat leader David Scheuneman will provide guidance to bring everybody together into making a group effort.
For more about how we sit, see our schedule and group sitting page.