"Where words end, music begins"

There are many parallels between music-making and meditation. Both involve moving out of the head and into the body. Both soften the boundary between self and other. Both offer as much reward and depth as we have patience and discipline to give.  

This will be our third retreat that brings together music and the dharma, and we are very pleased to welcome the inimitable Paramananda to the facilitation team. Together we will explore how meditation and buddhist teaching can ground and inspire creativity, how music-making can be an access point to insight, and how we can collectively use music to support ritual.

We want to create a space for individuals who have experience of meditation, or music-making, or both, or neither, to use meditation as a vehicle to deepen their awareness and so move more easily into their creative flow both as individuals and in collaboration. You don't need to consider yourself 'a musician' to participate, though there will be plenty of musical depth for all levels.  

Over five days we will create a temporary community of music lovers and explorers. We will consider the world we find ourselves in and respond through music, drawing inspiration from buddhism, nature and each other. The programme will include:

• Dharma talks and guided meditations 

• Vocal and rhythm technique 

• Group gamelan, singing and mantra 

• Led sessions that offer accessible approaches into improvisation and songwriting

• Time for individual creative projects 

• Movement and bodywork

You will leave with 

• New practical approaches to practice, improvision, musical creation, and how to be in the world. 

• An understanding of how musical and meditation practices can inform and support each other

• Stategies to overcome blocks around music-making

• Greater confidence to sing and drum

**This retreat is immediately preceeded by A Gesture of Awakening, a 2 week mostly silent meditation retreat led by Paramananda. We are very excited by the idea of moving into sound after two weeks of silence, and encourage people interested in this retreat to also consider attending A Gesture of Awakening. More details here**

"What comes first, the desire to sing, strum, drum, play, or the sense of what the sound could be? What are the conditions of freedom or flow in musical creativity? How does our relationship to our desire to make music influence the music itself and how it moves in the world? I’m excited to explore these kind of realms with the support of meditative, play-based and embodied practice, all in a space of shared discovery.”-  Josh Green