Yorkshire Dales National Park
Inspired by Lama Ole Nydahl‘s advice and wishes from his last New Year’s Letter “The coming year and on is the time for meditation!”, the Manchester Sangha decided to organize an event which would enable us to deepen our meditation practice. Thus the idea of Northern Retreat originated some time in January this year. After searching a while for a suitable venue we found the perfect place for this purpose.
The venue, West End Outdoor Centre, is close to the heart of the Yorkshire Dales National Park yet only 12 miles from Harrogate. It is is situated amidst stunning landscape overlooking the peaceful and tranquil Thruscross Reservoir in a designated area of outstanding natural beauty. Far away from the noise and disturbances of motorways and big cities it offered excellent conditions for meditation practice and calming our minds.
The retreat took place from Friday 4 March to Sunday 6 March 2011 and 22 friends from around the country gathered there to spend weekend togehter in a meaningful way, i.e. going deeper into meditation and strengthening our bonds. As all of us arrived on Friday evening we started with the short talk on “The importance of doing retreats” given by Rafal Olech, a travelling teacher from Poland who was also guiding the retreat and giving explanations to meditation practices. On Saturday, which happened to be the first day of Tibetan New Year – an auspicious day for meditation practice – we had four meditation sessions and Rafal gave a lecture on “The meaning and importance of Sangha” in the evening.
The retreat was a great success. Not disturbed by everyday affairs we could solely concentrate on meditating and spending time together in between. As time went by we became more joyful, relaxed and open leaving the place inspired and ready to work even harder for the benefit of all.
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