Join us for the fourth Wake Up Retreat for Young Adults in Ireland by Registering HERE!

Leave the city behind, get a breath of fresh air, and celebrate awakened living with a lively group of young mindfulness practitioners and monastics from Plum Village in Kerdiffstown House, County Kildare, about a 40-minute drive from Dublin.

In today’s busy world, we all experience the stress, pressures, and expectations of daily life – overconsumption, overwork, uncertainty and anxiety about the future. How can we touch peace and freedom in the midst of all this?

This retreat offers us time and space to come together to disengage from all the busyness and begin to reclaim our peace. With the tools of mindfulness practice, we will learn how to stop and listen more deeply to ourselves and others, to explore what binds us and what can make us more peaceful.

Click here if you wish to read a retreatant’s experience of our last retreat in November 2013.

What? Wake Up retreat with monastics from Plum Village

When? Thursday, 16 October to Sunday, 19 October 2014

Where? Kerdiffstown House in Naas, Co. Kildare. Click here for Google Map

Who can participate? Everyone between the ages of 18 and late thirties

How?: By registering HERE!

Last day of registration: Wednesday, 8 October or once the retreat is fully booked

Please only register if you can attend the entire retreat. Given that the retreat is only three days in length, missing a day would mean you’d be missing out on a lot in reality. Plum Village retreats put a lot of emphasis on the communal experience of practicing collectively.

No special discounts or scholarships can be offered.

Arrival date:
Thursday, 16 October from 6pm to 8pm for registration. Dinner will be served between 6.45pm and 8pm.

Important note: We strongly recommend that you attend the orientation session with the monastics at 8pm that day because it will explain what we’ll do during the retreat.

Departure date:
Sunday, 19 October at 4.30pm

Price (includes all meals and 3-night accommodation):

• Employed with contribution* – 200€
• Employed without contribution – 170€
• Unemployed/Student – 120€

*Your generosity makes it possible for those in need of financial help to attend future retreats. We appreciate your help in increasing access to our practice to all who wish to experience it.

Accommodation: You will sleep in same-gender dorms for three nights. Dorms have shared bathrooms. Single-bed dorms will be assigned on a first-come, first-served basis to those who are employed (with or without contribution). Bed linens and blankets will be provided.

Payments accepted: Credit card only.  If you do not have a credit card, please ask a friend or family member to book a place for you.

Please note: your place on the retreat is not allocated until full payment is received. Partial payments, payment installments, and holding places to pay later will not be accepted.

Cancellation/Refund policy:

• Cancellations are accepted in writing only – please contact us
• Full refund by 11:59pm GMT on Wednesday, 8 October 2014. No refunds will be accepted after that date and no exceptions will be made.

I’m interested! How do I register?

• Click here to book a place. Please make sure that you enter a valid email address.
• After you’ve submitted the registration form, you’ll be taken immediately to a separate website for payment.
• Please note: Payment must be must straight away to confirm your place.

I need a lift/I can offer a lift to Kerdiffstown House
We have created a password-protected board for all retreatants to contact each other to car pool. After you have submitted your registration form and payment, you will receive the password within 24 hours.

Please click here to access the password-protected board and click here for driving directions.

I’d like to take the public transportation to Kerdiffstown House
Please click here for more information.

What to bring?… the important checklist!

• Loving kindness and a willingness to help the retreat flow smoothly by participating in work meditation and volunteering as needed.
• Whatever you use for meditation such as a cushion, blanket, or meditation stool. Chairs will be provided.
• Blanket for deep relaxation and meditation to keep you cosy (and for extra warmth at night).
• Loose clothing suitable for sitting meditation – Your favorite hoody, pants etc.
• Bottled water, if you don’t like tap water.
• A bottle to carry around water with you, if you like.
• A tea thermos to take your tea around with you, if you like.
• If you wish, you can bring your own herbal tea and/or vegan biscuits to share.
• Comfortable clothes for optional exercises (and meditation).
• Warm clothes and rain jacket if we go outside.
• Shoes that are suitable for outside walking meditation or exercises, especially if wet, and also shoes that are suitable for inside. You can bring your comfy slippers if you like!
• Personal toiletries and medications if needed.
• Ear plugs – If you are staying in a dorm or you’re needing a nap, these can come in handy. Also some parts of the old building can be noisy at times.
• Hot water bottle – It can get cold so if you think you need one, be sure to bring it. Hot water is available from the dining room kitchen – Be Careful!
• Notebook and pen – For all your thoughts, inspirations, notes etc.

Food
Meals are vegan (e.g., no animal products) and prepared by a professionally qualified chef. We cannot provide for special diets. Please provide your own medication or special foods if needed.

Mindful Volunteering
Working meditation is an essential part of the retreat experience. Everyone is asked to turn up for their scheduled work periods and consider helping as necessary. The small team looking after the retreat needs everyone’s help to ensure that the retreat runs smoothly.

If you see something that needs to be done, consider if you could do it yourself rather than alert the team: if there are cups that need collecting, collect them; if the tea area needs tidying, tidy it. By helping, you support yourself and the smooth running of the retreat.

The practice consists of washing pots, dishes, cups, and clearing the tables after meals or chopping some vegetables before each meal.

Noble Silence
We will be observing noble silence at certain times during the retreat. Silence supports us in deepening our practice of mindfulness and looking into ourselves and our habit energies. As still water reflects things as they are, the calming silence can help us to settle, and to see things more clearly. The practice of silence need not be oppressive. Although we do not speak, we can acknowledge the presence of each other with a smile.

Included in this silence is the refreshing opportunity to take a break from our mobile phones, telephones, emails, portable devices and laptops. Please support your practice by limiting your use of these devices to only what is absolutely necessary, and if you do need to use them, please find a place where you will not disturb others.

Kerdiffstown House is an old building. The plumbing makes some noise and it is often difficult to get the heating just right. It is helpful in maintaining a quiet environment if you finish using the bathrooms and showers by lights out at 10pm.

Dana
The registration fees are set to cover the costs and do not include fees for the monastics, as it is part of the tradition that the Dharma (teachings) be given free of charge. It is then left to the individual to donate as they see fit. This also nurtures a spirit of generosity and open-heartedness. Dana (donation) is normally left in a bowl, for that purpose, towards the end of the retreat.

SAMPLE SCHEDULE

6:30 Guided sitting meditation
7:00 Exercise/Working meditation
8:00 Breakfast
9:00 Working meditation
10:00 Dharma Talk
11:30 Walking meditation/Working meditation
12:30 Lunch
14:00 Deep relaxation and Touching the Earth
15:30 Dharma group sharings
17:00 Working meditation
18:00 Dinner
19:00 Free time
20:00 Sitting meditation and chanting
21:30 Noble Silence

* All retreatants are requested to refrain from smoking, drinking and sexual practice during the retreat to support everyone’s practice, lay and monastic. If you are a smoker that cannot abstain for the weekend, please be mindful of the other retreatants by using the car park area at the back only. Exit is behind dining hall and also the courtyard.

……REGISTER HERE!