2-Day Retreat: The Sensual World
13-14 July 2024
Come practice at the Cliff House in Cuckmere.
Daniel and Alistair have the great good fortune to live in a historic Coastguards Cottage in the Sussex landmark of Cuckmere Haven. Sitting in the presence of the famous Seven Sisters cliff it is a unique and potent place to practice meditation.
It's a small venue so we are limited the places to 15. And there is no on-site accommodation so you will need to book a night in one of the many lovely B'n'Bs or hotels in the area. (There are lots to chose from).
These retreat are quite intimate and friendly in tone; and spontaneous and flexible in content. We tend to focus on relaxing and grounding on the first day and deepen our investigation on the Sunday. Details of the specific retreat below.
Opening the sense gates can lift us out of suffering.
The Cliff House at Cuckmere is such an ideal place to explore the role of our senses in meditation.
The smell of the sea, the sound of the birds, the sun's warmth, Daniel's delicious food. All of these riches can open up our minds and free us from what I called the Ego Loop.
Much of our suffering as humans comes from getting stuck in loops of thought which run over and over, often out of consciousness. Mindfully plugging our attention into the sense gates of sight, smell, touch, tast and sound breaks the loops and allows something fresh to happen.
We'll settle the mind on Saturday using the sensual world as an achor. And on Sunday we'll look more deeply into what 'perception' actually is. Where do our senses happen? How real are they?
About Cuckmere Haven
The striking cliffs of the Seven Sisters and the famous snake-like meanders of the Cuckmere river make the natural reserve of Cuckmere Haven a world-famous tourist attraction. But what many of the day-trippers from around the world discover when walking here is a place of enormous natural diversity, striking energy and subtle magic.
The walk down to the beach is an almost perfect example of chalk downland with the accompanying array of butterflies, rabbits and wild flowers that make this landscape unique in the country. And the meeting of the river and the sea at the Haven beach is a potent spot energetically.
Our house is one of the four coastguard cottages, which date back 200 years. Originally built to keep guard against smugglers the cottages have had a fascinating history through the two world wars and are now featured in countless pieces of art and photography.
Alistair will be leading this retreat supported by Daniel.
Rough Timetable:
On Saturday 13th we can start to gather at the cottage at 9am for tea/coffee and breakfast nibbles.
Then we will practice from 10am until 1.30pm
A delicious vegetarian lunch will be served at 1.30-2.30
And then we will practice again until 6pm
Daniel will serve a lovely soup and bread supper
7.30 we will sit by the sea and share our experience and practice once more.
Participants head home at 8.30 pm.
Sunday 14th
Gathering at the cottage for a dawn sit at 6am.
Breakfast at 7.30.
Practice from 9am till lunch at 1.30 (with tea break)
1.30-2.30 Lunch
2.30 until 4: Final practice and gathering of merit.
Team and schedule
Food, Accommodation and Pricing
Unusually for Mindsprings this is NOT a residential retreat - our home is too small! So, you will need to find a place to sleep on the Saturday night. Luckily this is Sussex and so there are innumerable lovely hotels and BnBs to be found across the Cuckmere area. The villages of Jevington, East Dean and Alfriston are all excellent locations. (Why not stay a few extra days!) But you might like to find somewhere in nearby Seaford as well.
Daniel will be cooking and looking after us during the weekend. He cooks excellent and tasty vegetarian food. And we will have teas and coffees and snacks to tide us over between meals. We can cater for allergies but not for individual preferences. So if you have a food allergy please let us know in your booking form. Note: because we will be using our own kitchen to cook, we cannot guarantee it will be nut-free if you have a strong allergy to nuts.
We are charging a flat rate of £250 for this weekend. As usual, if you have a strong desire to come but can't stretch to that financially then please let us know in an email. We never want money to get in the way of meditating.
But please note we can only host 15 people on the cliff so we apologise in advance if you cannot get a place this time round.
About the teacher
Alistair is a broadcaster, psychotherapist and meditation teacher.
He's worked for the BBC for more than 20 years and works as a UKCP-accredited therapist in East Sussex. Since 2004, he's run Mindsprings, his therapeutic meditation organisation which teaches body-based and Buddhist solutions to many of our everyday problems.
Mindsprings offers popular meditation-based courses on many subjects:
- helping people with anxiety, dissociation, stress.
- working with mental health in the LGBTQ community.
- exploring the growing field of embodiment and somatic practices.
- teaching Buddhist practices for mental health and well-being
Alistair teaches in England, Wales, Scotland, Belgium, Ireland, Sweden, Iceland and the Netherlands.
Getting to the Cottages
We live on a reserve without motorised traffic so to reach the cottages requires a pleasant mile-long walk down a track through the chalky downlands. If you have mobility issues then please let us know and we can organise a lift from the car park.
Full details of how to get to the cottage will be sent out with your booking.
