Will I be able to stop talking for four days and find inner peace? No telephone, no reading, no writing and certainly no alcohol – these are the strict rules for this Buddhist retreat at Gaia House in South Devon.
A friend had recommended coming quickly to avoid being assigned toilet cleaning duties as part of the ‘work meditation’ – an hour of housework or gardening every day. I accidentally get up 24 hours early, but I happily pack up the gardening work.
I am also lucky to have a single room with a bed and a sink. The alternative is a five-bed female dorm or a shared double (room, no bed) – and I’d rather eat my own toes.
Founded in 1983, the retreat is located in a former monastery in beautiful countryside. There is a meditation room with a Buddha and Burmese gong, and there is a feeling of love everywhere. A sign in the salon even asks you to throw away the moths without killing them. After all, we are here to follow Buddha’s five precepts, including not harming animals.
Once the retreat starts, we will wake up at 6:15 am for communal showers, sitting meditation at 6:45 am, and breakfast at 7:30 am. We line up for the meals – delicious plant-based food of whole grains, legumes and home-grown salads, and ‘tea’ (soup and bread) at 5.30pm.
In harmony: Caroline Phillips visits Gaia House (pictured), a Buddhist retreat in south Devon
Established in 1983, Gaia House is set in a former nunnery ‘in beautiful countryside’, Caroline explains. Above the lounge area
There are five guided reflection/meditation sessions daily, one working meditation and an evening lecture on the Dharma (Buddhist teachings) on topics such as the ‘inner critic’.
Most of the 47 participants sit with their feet tucked in on the floor, but I cautiously choose a chair. Our teachers, Alan Lewis and Laura Bridgman, former British Buddhist monk and nun, guide sessions with compassion.
My 28 year marriage has collapsed and instead of running from my grief, I want to be comfortable with myself, connecting with the stillness, the stillness and my spinning mind.
The sitting meditations alternate with walking meditations outside, with everyone moving as if they were moonwalking. I drink in the divine walled garden and eventually sit under a crab apple branch wreathed in Tibetan prayer flags.
During retreats, guests participate in seated meditation at 6:45 a.m. every day, Caroline reveals. She says: ‘There is a meditation room with a Buddha and Burmese gong, and there is a feeling of love everywhere’
I achieve a state of focused calm for about a nanosecond.
I fall asleep during meditation (waking up snoring), snooze between sessions, and sleep well at night.
When I’m awake my thoughts go crazy. Yet letting go of the familiar world of words is also a relief. And I love the work meditation, even though my clipped hedge looks like it was attacked by a drunken chainsaw.
Caroline sleeps in a single room, but others sleep in shared double rooms (pictured) or a five-bed dormitory
A Buddha statue in the garden of the retreat. “We are here to follow Buddha’s five precepts, including non-harm,” says Caroline
The teachers are not paid. At the end, instead of offering them traditional betel leaves or rice alms, I wipe away my plastic and donate £150 to ‘dana’ – Sanskrit for a ‘gift from the heart’.
I feel calmer. More aware of emotions in my head, heart and stomach. I have learned that watching what happens in my body is meditation. I have loved my wise, humble, and blissful teachers. And I picked up some spiritual, self-observation, and compassion tips.
Now let’s have a nice chat.