Weeklong Immersion in Deep Rest Meditation

Les Gavatxes, La Garrotxa, Catalonia, Spain

22-29 June 2023
 register  

more details: eu@opendharma.org

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Description of Retreat

Jaya welcomes new and experienced meditators to this week of silence, aliveness and deep rest meditation.

The teachings on this retreat are offered on donation.

Simple rest unleashes healing and learning. Deep rest helps us to remember what is important in life. In supportive conditions, we can feel more at home in life, and in ourselves, and begin to listen to our own experience and inner guidance.

Jaya offers embodied, finely-tuned meditation instructions to help lower the “alarm system” of stress and to connect directly with aliveness beyond ideas. From there, old habits and wounds can resolve with less drama than when we force things. And we are more likely to fall into natural spaciousness, joy and insight. This real quality of living makes a difference in inner and outer life.

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On this retreat, you are welcome to lie down or sit for meditation in the hall—whatever position best supports depth in your meditation. In addition to 45-minute meditations in the hall, the daily schedule also encourages meditation during periods of walking, meals, rest, and collaborating with daily tasks such as cleaning and gardening. Jaya also leads three optional activities: one-to-one meetings, meditative movement and meditative singing.

The schedule, the surrounding forested hills, the friendly yet dignified atmosphere, and Jaya’s practical and inspired guidance work together to help retreatants find out what works well for them, on their unique paths. The days will be in silence apart from specific times in the hall for instructions, teachings, questions and singing. This is not the silence of censorship or of trying to be good—but rather the sweet silence of freedom that allows old programming to fall away. 

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Jaya makes her teachings and support available on a completely donation basis—following an age-old tradition of offering teachings in trust and allowing participants to feel the joy and challenge of engaging in mutual support.
Jaya  receives no income from retreat fees, apart from travel costs and her stay during the retreat.
You will have the opportunity to give conscious donations from the heart at the end of the retreat.

Language: The retreat will  be held in English. Jaya can manage in Catalan and Spanish in one-to-one meetings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

About Jaya:

Jaya Ashmore has taught meditation and awakening to thousands of people in a dozen
countries since 1999. Also an artist and mother, she revolutionized silent retreats by
introducing deep rest meditation in the 2000s. She has also offered Dharma online since 2010.
Born in the U.S., where she studied religion and art at Harvard, Jaya began practicing
meditation in 1985, and was authorized to teach in 1998. In her teachings, Jaya has deep experience in Buddhism, Yoga, Advaita (non-duality), Christianity and Hindu mysticism, as well as ecology, poetry, embodied movement, and the Japanese art of Jin Shin Jyutsu.

Based in India with her teachers for two decades, Jaya founded the nonprofit Open Dharma in the early 2000s to support awakening for thousands of people from any and no religion. She is also grateful to have co-founded and run Open Dharma in Catalonia and, from 2008-2016, the eco-retreat center Dharmaloca in Catalonia, Spain. In 2022, she published Already Here, a book of “dharma art” drawings, and her teachings and art feature in the Open Dharma anthology Out of Nowhere –both available on jayaashmore.org/books

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Retreat times

The Retreat begins with registration and orientation from 2-3:30 pm on Thursday 22nd June.

The retreat will end on Thursday 29th  June at 2pm. 

Please make sure your departure is between 2pm and 5pm.

 

Accommodation

Indoor accommodation is in simple yet beautiful rooms in the stone house and, a wooden cabin, shared between 2-6 people.  All bathrooms are shared. Bedding and towels are provided.  

Yurt

A yurt space for 3 people,

Camping will be in a designated  area, with beautiful views. 

Please bring your own camping equipment, including bedding/sleeping bag, towel, torch/flashlight, and everything else you need to be comfortable.

 

The Cost

Shared indoor accommodation: 470 €

Yurt: 400 €

Camping: 330 €
Please note that we can not take bookings for specific rooms or sharing arrangements just for either the indoor, yurt or camping option. Rooms will be allocated on arrival.

Please see https://lesgavatxes.es/alojamientos/?lang=en

 

Food:

Our meals will be vegetarian, cooked with love and dedication.

Special dietary requirements including gluten free can be provided for, for an additional 2,50 € per day—please indicate clearly on your registration form if you require this.   It will not be possible to make changes to your requirement fewer than 10 days before the start date of the retreat.

Thank you for your understanding.

 

Transport

The nearest airport is Girona, and further away is Barcelona and from there it is possible to take public transport to Olot or Castellfollit de la Roca.  Rides from there can be arranged with Les Gavatxes for between 20-50 euros once you have registered.  There is also an airport and international train station nearby in Perpignan, France and am international train station in Figueres.  .

 Additional information

Please bring everything you need for the retreat as there are no shops or cashpoints nearby, Les Gavatxes is quite remote.  If you plan to do errands on the way, please be aware that in Spain shops often close from 1-5pm.

• Cash: please bring enough cash in Euros for your remaining payment for the retreat, and your donation to Jaya  (it will also be possible to donate online).  If you need to pay your remaining bill by credit card, there is a 10% increase in the charge.

• A wrist watch or other time piece which isn’t your phone

• Mats, blankets and cushions to be comfortable lying down in the hall (see below)

• Any medications you might need

• Good shoes for comfortable walking

• Toiletries

• Torch

• Reusable water bottle

• If camping: tent, bedding, mattress/roll mat, towel

• Warm clothes for early mornings and evenings

• Sun protection: Sunblock, sunhat etc.

• Rain protection

• Insect repellent, for example citronella

• Some swim gear to dip in the river (optional)

 

What you will need in the Dharma/Meditation Hall 

We encourage lying down in a comfortable way for meditation. If this approach is new to you, we’d really like you to experiment with this revolutionary way of sinking deeper into awareness. to be comfortable lying down for a 45-minute meditation, you will likely do well to have more than just a yoga mat under you--perhaps a camping mat and/or a folded blanket or two on a yoga mat might make a good base. Then consider what other support would be helpful--perhaps a bolster or pillow under your knees or legs as well as smaller cushions for wrists or neck.

Of course you are welcome to also practice sitting if you prefer.

 

For more inspiration on Deep Rest Meditation: https://www.jayaashmore.org/retreats

To be comfortable lying down for meditation, you’ll need to bring enough support: for example, a yoga mat and at least two blankets—one to fold and place under you for added cushioning and one to cover with—or a camping or travel mattress.

Les Gavatxes provides some cushions, as well as some yoga mats, but you will need more in order to settle comfortably into practice.