Summer Mindfulness Retreat
Mindfulness practice invites us to come into relationship with ourselves just as we are, with compassion and patience. It gives us the tools to regulate our body and mind so that we can feel more calm and at ease, and strengthens our capacity to face the challenges of life.
Being mindful allows for a clearer understanding of how thoughts and emotions impact our health and quality of life. Often our attention follows restrictive and repetitive patterns, which cause us to focus more on the past or future than what is happening right now.
Mindfulness is an orientation to life through feeling-awareness of our natural state, moment by moment. It is developed through simple meditation practices that involve stilling the restless mind, relaxing the body, and softening into the feeling of being. Mindfulness invites us to deepen self-awareness and liberate our attention to be more fully and joyfully in the present moment. The process of mindful awareness makes use of the inherent ability of our mind and body to re-balance and sustain well-being and discover positive new insights and responses to life.
This silent retreat will consist of group sessions along with free time for retreatants to move with their own rhythm. Daily sessions include instruction in the practice of mindfulness, sitting and walking mindfulness meditations, and an inquiry period.
This retreat is suitable for people who are new to the practice as well as those with previous experience of mindfulness.
To register or for more information: www.temoata.org/events/summer-mindfulness-retreat-with-stephen-archer-nyanaviro/
Stephen Archer is a Mindfulness Educator, Presenter, and Principal of Mindfulness Training and Managing Director for Mindfulness Works For Organisations.
He is passionate about helping people to learn mindfulness and discover its benefits. Stephen is an engaging speaker and trainer providing practical and original perspectives on practicing mindfulness in the digital age.
He has been involved with mindfulness for 40 years and began practicing while he was finishing a degree in Eastern studies in the UK. At the age of 23 Stephen was formally trained in mindfulness as an ordained Buddhist monk in the Thai forest tradition. His training included working closely with different teachers and completing lengthy retreats to strengthen his practice. Thirteen years later he emerged from the monkhood with the intention to offer his skills and learnings to the public.
During the last 25 years Stephen has expanded his skill base by studying the psychology and neuroscience of mindfulness, and trauma-sensitive mindfulness practices. He has run workplace mindfulness trainings for organisations including Westpac, Kiwibank, Air New Zealand and NZ Police, delivered courses in healthcare and prisons, and assisted the Mental Health Foundation of NZ to develop their approach to mindfulness. He has worked at the Leadership Development Centre in Wellington running year-long mindful leadership programmes, and is also a trustee of Te Moata, a retreat centre and nature sanctuary in the Coromandel, www.temoata.org where he has led over fifty public 7-day residential mindfulness intensives since 1996.