Workshops & REtreats

Short-term residential programmes offering a taste of the Dharmalaya experience

Highlights:

Practice compassionate living
Enjoy a brief immersion in nature
Connect with kindred spirits
Benefit from healthy food & lifestyle
Learn it by living it

Workshops & Retreats

Explore the contemplative life in harmony with nature while living in a community of kindred spirits. Our workshops and retreats are designed to provide a strong taste of the topics they cover, going as deep as we can in a short time, and thus the experience tends to be more intensive (meaning there is a structured schedule that fills the whole day, including evening sessions). Still, there are usually moments to enjoy meditative forest walks or journaling at sunset while reflecting on full days of rich experience.

Types of Workshops & Retreats

Training Workshops

Periodic service-learning workshops (typically one to three weeks) providing hands-on experiential education in various aspects of sensible, sustainable and compassionate living, including earthen building techniques (e.g. adobe masonry, cob, rammed earth, bamboo, etc.), organic gardening, natural landscaping, and more. Most of these are followed by optional practicum periods (usually one to four weeks) supporting participants to further their learning by putting it into practice in various projects on the Dharmalaya campus.

1-3 weeks typically

Meditation & Yoga Retreats

Group retreats focusing on meditation and/or yoga (sometimes one or the other, and sometimes both). Some feature more instruction and discussion, while others are mostly silent. All offer an embracing and supportive environment for restful practice. See individual programme descriptions for further details.

1-3 weeks typically

Hybrid Workshop-Retreat Programmes

Many of Dharmalaya Institute's programmes are designed with a hybrid workshop-retreat format, combining the actively engaged learning of a workshop with the deeply restful pace and reflective and contemplative insights of a retreat. In fact, almost all of Dharmalaya's programmes combine these features to some degree, but when you see a programme presented as a 'workshop-retreat' that means the integration of outer and inner work is a main theme in the programme. [Spoiler alert: These are some of our personal favourite experiences!]

1-3 weeks typically

Personal Practice Retreats

Dharmalaya supports dedicated practitioners of meditation and yoga by providing a conducive environment for personal retreats. We offer a small number of retreat cottages (available mostly during the monsoon and winter months) where experienced practitioners can conduct formal retreats in an inspiring natural setting. Healthy meals can be delivered to your door in the case of strictly solitary retreats. For more information on the possibility of doing your own formal practice retreat at Dharmalaya Institute, see this page.

Minimum 10 days,
subject to availability