The Buddha taught that life inevitably includes suffering — AND that liberation from suffering is possible. In a world marked by uncertainty and collective unease, how do we meet ourselves and one another with curiosity, courage, and a deep commitment to awakening for the benefit of all beings?

With widespread feelings of anxiety, disconnection, and overwhelm, we will explore what supports a felt sense of safety, dignity, and belonging in the body. How do we learn to expand our nervous systems capacity to stay present to even the most challenging experiences so that we can move through them together, without causing more suffering?  

Collectively, we will tune into the moment‑by‑moment textures of our experience: tension and release, resistance and openness, contraction and spaciousness. We’ll practice recognising the different parts of ourselves that emerge through these patterns and how they can become gateways to insight.

Beauty and joy will be woven throughout the retreat as essential qualities helping us open to ourselves, to each other, our communities, and the world. At the heart of our exploration will be learning to open to and trust the impermanent and insubstantial nature of experience, as gateways to qualities of the awakened mind.

The retreat will include teacher input, guided meditations, 1:1 practice reviews, individual and group reflections, mindful movement, neurosensory practices, chanting, and ritual.

The retreat is suitable for people who already practice within the Triratna Buddhist Community and are familiar with the mindfulness of breathing, the metta bhavana and basic Buddhist principles, as taught within Triratna. You will have at least six months meditation experience and a regular, ideally daily, meditation practice. For more information, read the retreat information sheet. 

There are no single rooms available on this retreat.

Early in life, a deep, unconscious view arises which comes to afflict our whole being. If we could put it in words, it might be “I am separate”. It is a sense of being divided both from our own experience and from others. This sense of separation, even alienation, can be very painful in itself and underlies a great deal of our self-caused dukkha. Yet, it an illusion - it is not what and how we really are. 

The Buddhist tradition has addressed this self-construct, its consequences and dissolution, in many ways. But all reflect the Buddha ’s fundamental teaching of anatta, ‘not-self’. This teaching isn’t suggesting that somehow we don’t really exist. Rather, it is pointing us back to directly seeing and knowing our original undivided
nature - what we are and always have been. 

Knowing directly that there is no separate self here opens us naturally to seeing that a separate other is not to be found either. Our reality is whole and undivided. With the collapse of this subject-object dichotomy, a great deal of the suffering bound up in this belief dissolves. 

We’ll explore non-separation directly on the basis of both integration and positive emotion: calm, embodied, aware presence and unconditional love. From here, we’ll explore our immediate experience directly to see not only how we create and sustain the illusion of separation and a self-other divide but also how this illusion can
dissolve, like a mirage or a dream. 

This retreat is suitable for people with at least six months regular meditation practice and who have attended at least one full week retreat before. For more information, read the retreat information sheet. 

On this retreat you'll experience how connection with nature, landscape and the elements can support a more embodied and easeful approach to life. Watch our short film to hear about the transformative effect of walking retreats at Dhanakosa. 

The retreat offers nature awareness practices and reflections to encourage a deepening relationship with the natural world, combined with guided walking in the landscapes around Dhanakosa. You'll also learn two traditional Buddhist meditations, giving you tools and practices that you can continue at home. We will also explore some Buddhist teachings to get a sense of how these might be relevant in modern life. 

The retreat will include two or three guided walks. We will normally offer different walks to suit a range of levels of fitness and experience. All walks are in the local area but some require a short drive to get to the starting point. For more information on the walks, recommended fitness levels and the appropriate clothing and footwear to bring, please read the retreat information sheet.

You can also watch our short video talking about the different types of walking retreat, guided walk options and what to bring with you. 

An introductory retreat - no previous experience of meditation is assumed - the retreat is suitable for complete beginners, and can also be a good refresher for those who already have some meditation experience.

There are no single rooms available on this retreat.

Give yourself the gift of time amongst the mountains, water and big skies surrounding Dhanakosa in this new spring retreat - a beautiful time to be in Balquhidder Glen as the natural world starts to awaken. 

Time spent in nature can be deeply restorative - re-connecting us to ourselves and to a sense of wonder and peace in this often busy world. This retreat combines guided walking in the landscapes around Dhanakosa with introductory meditation teaching and plenty of time to rest and just be, away from the pressures of everyday life. 

Watch our short film to hear about the transformative effect of walking retreats at Dhanakosa. 

We will introduce two traditional Buddhist meditations and offer a solid introduction to the principles of meditation, giving you tools and practices that you can continue at home. We will also explore some traditional Buddhist teachings to get a sense of how these might be relevant in modern life. 

The retreat will include three days of guided walks, spread throughout the week. We will normally offer three walks on each of these days to suit a range of levels of fitness and experience. All walks are in the local area but some require a short drive to get to the starting point. For more information on the walks, recommended fitness levels and the appropriate clothing and footwear to bring, please read the retreat information sheet. 

You can also watch our short video talking about the different types of walking retreat, guided walk options and what to bring with you. 

An introductory retreat - no previous experience of meditation is assumed - the retreat is suitable for newcomers, and can also be a good refresher for those who already have some meditation experience.

There are no single rooms available on this retreat.

This retreat draws inspiration from the Mahayana Trikaya (“three body”) teaching that points to who we actually are via three simultaneous dimensions of reality: 

• Nirmanakaya: coming home to presence within this body, this world
• Sambhogakaya: befriending the dynamic flow of feeling and energy, and the relational dimension of being
• Dharmakaya: opening to the luminous, boundless dimension of awakened being

We will delve into poetic themes of “coming home” and “belonging” as an emotionally engaging and relational approach to insight that allows:

• Respect and appreciation of core human needs – belonging, safety and dignity
• Holding of the tension between our ideals and our current (often messy) experience
• Healing the illusion of separation and the habits of dualism
• Learning to feel sensations of belonging at the levels of self, community, place, world and to express compassionately responsive activity
• Deepening of mindfulness and metta as practices capable of helping us see the true nature of reality

This retreat will include guided and unguided meditations, mindful enquiry, 1:1 practice reviews, teacher input, large and small group exercises and discussions, movement (somatics), chanting and ritual. This is a silent meditation retreat. Participants should expect to go into silence on the first full day, and come out of silence on the last full day.  

The retreat is suitable for people who already practice within the Triratna Buddhist Community and are familiar with the mindfulness of breathing, the metta bhavana and basic Buddhist principles, as taught within Triratna. You will have at least six months meditation experience and a regular, ideally daily, meditation practice. For more information, read the retreat information sheet. 

Qi Gong is a practice which can help generate more energy and vitality - supporting well-being, balance and ease. Meditation is an integral part of Qi Gong and the two practices complement each other beautifully and can offer an experience of deeper connection with ourselves, others and the natural world. 

We will spend time practicing Qi Gong on the loch-shore and in the grounds and woodlands surrounding Dhanakosa, learning a sequence of movements which you can continue to practice at home after the retreat. 

The meditation teaching will introduce an embodied approach to practices of breath awareness and the cultivation of loving-kindness. We will also explore some traditional Buddhist teachings to get a sense of how these might be relevant in modern life. 

This retreat is suitable for complete beginners to meditation and Qi Gong as well as those who already have some experience. For more information, read the retreat information sheet. 

Are you new to Dhanakosa? Watch our short film to get a sense of the centre, landscape and what it's like being on retreat here. 

There are no single rooms available on this retreat.

In this new 5 night version of our popular introductory nature and walking retreat you'll experience how connection with nature, landscape and the elements can support a more embodied and easeful approach to life. Watch our short film to hear about the transformative effect of walking retreats at Dhanakosa. 

The retreat offers nature awareness practices and reflections to encourage a deepening relationship with the natural world, combined with guided walking in the landscapes around Dhanakosa. You'll also learn two traditional Buddhist meditations, giving you tools and practices that you can continue at home. We will also explore some Buddhist teachings to get a sense of how these might be relevant in modern life. 

The retreat will include two or three guided walks. We will normally offer different walks to suit a range of levels of fitness and experience. All walks are in the local area but some require a short drive to get to the starting point. For more information on the walks, recommended fitness levels and the appropriate clothing and footwear to bring, please read the retreat information sheet.

You can also watch our short video talking about the different types of walking retreat, guided walk options and what to bring with you. 

An introductory retreat - no previous experience of meditation is assumed - the retreat is suitable for complete beginners, and can also be a good refresher for those who already have some meditation experience.

Give yourself the gift of time amongst the mountains, water and big skies surrounding Dhanakosa in this new spring retreat - a beautiful time to be in Balquhidder Glen as the natural world starts to awaken. 

Time spent in nature can be deeply restorative - re-connecting us to ourselves and to a sense of wonder and peace in this often busy world. This retreat combines guided walking in the landscapes around Dhanakosa with introductory meditation teaching and plenty of time to rest and just be, away from the pressures of everyday life. 

Watch our short film to hear about the transformative effect of walking retreats at Dhanakosa. 

We will introduce two traditional Buddhist meditations and offer a solid introduction to the principles of meditation, giving you tools and practices that you can continue at home. We will also explore some traditional Buddhist teachings to get a sense of how these might be relevant in modern life. 

The retreat will include three days of guided walks, spread throughout the week. We will normally offer three walks on each of these days to suit a range of levels of fitness and experience. All walks are in the local area but some require a short drive to get to the starting point. For more information on the walks, recommended fitness levels and the appropriate clothing and footwear to bring, please read the retreat information sheet. 

You can also watch our short video talking about the different types of walking retreat, guided walk options and what to bring with you. 

An introductory retreat - no previous experience of meditation is assumed - the retreat is suitable for complete beginners, and can also be a good refresher for those who already have some meditation experience.

Qi Gong is rapidly growing in popularity as a practice which helps to generate more energy and vitality; promotes self-healing and inner harmony; and can improve levels of health considerably. Many people benefit from having a movement practice to accompany and support their sitting meditation practice. Meditation is an integral component of Qi Gong, and they complement each other beautifully.

This retreat offers us the chance to deepen into our experience of both practices using the breath and focused awareness to more fully experience our connection with ourselves and others in the natural beauty and healing environment that is Dhanakosa.

This retreat is suitable for complete beginners to meditation and Qi Gong as well as those who already have some experience.

For more information read the retreat information sheet.