• All retreats with me require that you have sat two or more residential retreats of one week or longer prior to attending the retreat I teach. I don't give beginning meditation instructions; I assume that everyone knows how to meditate and has enough retreat experience that the basics do not need to be dealt with.

• You should have a daily (or almost daily) sitting meditation practice of at least 45 minutes a day for several months before attending the retreat. If you do not have such a daily practice, you will wind up spending most of the retreat trying to get quiet and will not have time to learn the deeper states of concentration that will be taught.

• Reading any or all of the following will help prepare you for what I teach:
  Who Is My Self? : A Guide to Buddhist Meditation ~ Ayya Khema, Wisdom Publications 1997
  When the Iron Eagle Flies ~ Ayya Khema, Arkana (a division Penguin Books) 1991
  Visible Here and Now ~ Ayya Khema, Shambhala Publications, 2001
  No Boundary ~ Ken Wilber, New Science Library 1979

• Since Sila is the foundation for all spiritual practice, retreats will be held in accordance with the Five Precepts:

  • To not kill living beings

  • To not take what is not given

  • To be celibate during the retreat
    This means no sexual activity during the retreat.

  • To observe Noble Silence
    This means to speak only when necessary, such as needed for doing your work meditation job, during your interviews, during Q & A sessions. This seems to be the most difficult precept for most people; talking is such a large part of our lives. But by not communicating with your fellow retreatants, you allow them and yourself to go deeply inside to gain an understanding of just how our minds work.

  • To not partake of alcohol or (non-medical) drugs
    The Buddha said we are confused enough already - we don't need to ingest things that make us even more confused.

• You also should not change any long term medication right before or during the retreat; such changes can have side effects that are a difficult to deal with on retreat.

• Since you will be observing Noble Silence, you really won't need your cell phone! I do understand that it might indeed be useful while traveling to and from the retreat, but upon arrival, you should turn it off and leave it off. If you do have a need to make a call (emergency, family health issue, etc.), you should walk far enough away that you Leave The Retreat Center when you make your call. You should NOT have people contact you via your cell phone; you are on retreat! Give people the phone number of the retreat center as your emergency contact number - and leave the world behind.

• Since you will be observing Noble Silence, you should not communicate with any of the other retreatants (yogis) unless you are working together on the same work meditation job. This especially means that you may not leave notes for other yogis. If you need to communicate something to another yogi, you should ask the staff or me to pass your message.

• You absolutely do NOT need to take off your watch and set it in front of you when you meditate. There will be bells rung to end all of the meditations, so you have no need of knowing the time (unless you are the bell ringer, of course). You can get much more deeply concentrated if you completely ignore time. It's best if you do not ever bring a watch to the meditation hall. If you feel you have to bring a watch to the meditation hall, you MUST insure that it does not ever make a beep or other audible sound.

• If for some reason, you must leave the retreat early, it is very important that you inform both the retreat center staff and me.

Some retreat centers have additional guidelines that you should be aware of. See for example:

• Cloud Mountain General Information
• About Retreats at Gaia House

The Five Precepts from the Cloud Mountain Retreat Center website
Back To Meditation Retreat Schedule

Back to Leigh's Home Page

Site Map

Site Search

This page hosted by

Leigh Brasington / / Revised 29 Aug 04