Rest and Restore: Mindfulness & Compassion Retreat

Friday 31st May - Sunday 2nd June 2024 (TBC)
Continental Guesthouse, Hepburn Springs

The Rest & Restore Mindfulness & Compassion Retreat is hosted at the lovingly renovated 1920s Continental Guesthouse in the beautiful bush setting of Hepburn Springs, an area considered by traditional custodians to have special healing properties. Gentle yoga, mindfulness meditation, bushwalking, loving-kindness, nidra and compassion practices, combined with optional extras such as on-site massage or Turkish Hammam steam treatment allow the body to rest fully, and from this rested place open to our ‘already here’ awareness and wisdom. To support this process, we drop into a “warm silence” together at the conclusion of the first evening session, and continue this until our closing circle on Sunday (Maggie will still guide the practices throughout).

You are strongly encouraged to take the day off work on Friday to make this a three-day retreat. Enjoy lunch and exploring in Daylesford or Hepburn, before checking in around 3pm. If the interest is there, we will walk down the hill to the local bath-house or share an on-site Hammam experience, or if preferred take yourself off for a bush-walk, enjoy a massage, or settle in with a book near one of the log fires. Continental House is the perfect winter venue with cosy spaces, log fires, and hydronic heating (plus own ensuite) in each bedroom.

This retreat is suitable for any mindfulness practitioner, including if you have completed the eight-week Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction or Mindful Self Compassion trainings or a previous retreat. You do not need any prior yoga experience. If you don’t have any previous mediation experience, please contact Maggie to discuss before enrolling.

While we encourage an afternoon check-in, our official starting time on Friday is 6:30pm for a delicious Welcome Dinner, followed by our first practice session. The retreat will conclude 2pm Sunday. Please ensure you are able to be present for the beginning and end of the retreat.

TYPICAL DAILY SCHEDULE
7:15 - 8:15am: Gentle yoga
8:30: Breakfast
9:30am - 1pm: Practice session
1pm –2:30pm Lunch & Rest 
2:30 - 5pm: Practice session
6:30 – 7:30pm: Dinner
7:30 – 9pm: Session

Practice sessions might include any of the following:
mindfulness and compassion meditation, yoga, bushwalking, guided rest, evening talk

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