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Balajit

Balajit (he/him) has been leading retreats and events across the UK for around 17 years. For several years he lived and worked at Vajraloka Retreat Centre in North Wales.

He is currently based in Birmingham, where he mixes Buddhist teaching responsibilities with work as a trauma therapist. He has studied and practised the newly emerging psycho-biological approaches to trauma work-and is qualified in Somatic Experiencing, NARM therapy and SHEN Therapy.

In the past few years, Balajit has been exploring the intersection of trauma, the human nervous system and the ancient teachings of the Buddha. Buddhist practice presents a opportunity to work through and release the forces that keep our hearts closed. 

His teaching focuses on the core teachings of the Buddha as outlined in the ancient texts. He particularly emphasises the importance of body awareness and embodiment, both in meditation and in everyday life. So that insights and shifts impact actual behaviour of body, speech and mind, rather than just being understood as ideas and concepts.

the three bodies of belonging

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Retreat Type:
Regulars - Meditation

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 meditation, movement (somatics), music, chanting and ritual, exercises and discussions, teacher input and practice reviews. 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 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

Booking Fee:

£100

Booking Availability:
Spaces

going deeper - meditation and yoga

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Retreat Type:
Going Deeper

Experience Balquhidder Glen in late summer and take time for yourself to deepen your practice and connect with like-minded others in the supportive context of a Dhanakosa retreat. 

This retreat offers a body-based approach to meditation supported by the mindful body work of yoga to support us to develop a fuller physical and emotional awareness. We will continue exploring the Mindfulness of Breathing and Metta Bhavana practices, and also introduce a stronger Just Sitting and reflection element to our practice. These retreats will also include an introduction to Buddhist ritual and the Seven Fold Puja. Longer periods of silence than on introductory retreats will support a deep and rich experience of ourselves and others.

Going Deeper retreats are an ideal first regulars’ retreat. They are suitable for anyone who has already done an introductory retreat, or who has been attending their local Triratna centre and wants to take things deeper.

Yoga teaching is suitable for beginners and experienced practitioners and will include elements of embodied movement. For more information, read the retreat information sheet

Booking Fee:

£100

Booking Availability:
Spaces

Doorways to the deep

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Retreat Type:
Regulars - Meditation

If we dive deep enough into the sea, we reach a depth where the body is no longer buoyant enough to float nor heavy enough to sink. We remain suspended, hanging in deep blue space, able to move in any direction without the least bit of friction. 

This place is called the doorway to the deep and it promises to open us to our true nature, our deepest potential when freed from afflictive mental states that bind us to suffering, by either taking us back to the surface or pulling us under. From this place we discover a more creative response to life, full of awareness, love and transformation. 

This retreat is suitable for those who have a regular meditation practice and who regularly attend retreats. You will also need to be comfortable with extended periods of sitting meditation and periods spent in silence.

For more information, please read the retreat information sheet.

Booking Fee:

£100

Booking Availability:
Retreat Full

going deeper - yoga and meditation

-
Retreat Type:
Going Deeper

This retreat will emphasise a body-based approach to meditation supported by the mindful body work of yoga to help us develop a fuller physical and emotional awareness. We will continue exploring the Mindfulness of Breathing and Metta Bhavana, and also introduce a stronger Just Sitting and reflection element to the practice. These retreats will also include an introduction to Buddhist ritual and the Seven Fold Puja. Longer periods of silence than on introductory retreats will support a deep and rich experience of ourselves and others.

Going Deeper retreats are an ideal first regulars’ retreat. They are suitable for anyone who has already done an introductory retreat, or who has been attending their local Triratna centre and wants to take things deeper.

Yoga teaching is suitable for beginners and experienced practitioners and will include elements of embodied movement.

For more information see the retreat information sheet

Booking Fee:

£100

Booking Availability:
Retreat Full

going deeper - yoga and meditation

-
Retreat Type:
Going Deeper

This retreat will emphasise a body-based approach to meditation supported by the mindful body work of yoga to help us develop a fuller physical and emotional awareness. We will continue exploring the Mindfulness of Breathing and Metta Bhavana, and also introduce a stronger Just Sitting and reflection element to the practice. These retreats will also include an introduction to Buddhist ritual and the Seven Fold Puja. Longer periods of silence than on introductory retreats will support a deep and rich experience of ourselves and others.

Going Deeper retreats are an ideal first regulars’ retreat. They are suitable for anyone who has already done an introductory retreat, or who has been attending their local Triratna centre and wants to take things deeper.

Yoga teaching is suitable for beginners and experienced practitioners and will include elements of embodied movement.

For more information see the retreat information sheet

Booking Availability:
Retreat Full