All real living is meeting.
Martin Buber
Events & Retreats
Sitting together for longer periods has always been part of the zen tradition. We offer opportunities for this form of practising at both residential and non-residential retreats. They both create containers for immersing ourselves in practice to encourage and support sitting with ourselves and each other in a quiet reflective place, whether urban or rural. We have been offering retreats in the UK since 2010.
2026 - 4 Day - Non-residential - Arnside, Cumbria
Passing Through the Gateless Gate
Friday 30th October – 2nd Monday November
Led by Josh Gifford & Trudy Johnston
“The truth is, there is no gate or barrier
Where you feel stuck is precisely where you realise
awakening or freedom”.
Guo Gu
2026 - Full Moon Ceremony - Online
Tuesday 24th November
7.30 – 8.30pm
Led by Sophie Cattier
This bodhisattva ceremony has been practiced through time and space and we will be amongst many offering the ceremony to the full moon.
It will include chanting and reciting the precepts, and then a moment of sharing in breakout rooms with a prompt.
This meeting is open to everyone, having taken the precepts or not.
There is no need to register, we invite Dana contributions.
2026 - Rohatsu Celebration - Online
Sunday 6th December
2.00 – 5.00pm
Led by Josh Gifford & Trudy Johnston
Rohatsu is the traditional celebration of the occasion it is said that the Buddha sat down beneath the Bodhi tree and made the great resolve, “Though only my bones and sinews remain and my skin and flesh wither away, I will not leave this place until I realise complete enlightenment”. He practised through the night.
Shakyamuni Buddha realised enlightenment on seeing the morning star. He said, “I and all beings on earth together realise enlightenment simultaneously.”
We will meet together, to sit, chant sutras and offer incense and candles and flowers, and support each other to offer gratitude, deepen our practice and support awakening for all beings.
Dana: This will be a dana event, which means there is no pricing structure. You can choose what you would like to contribute.
Information and registration available soon.
2027 - 5 Day - Residential - Sheldon, Devon
Being Time
Saturday 1st May – Thursday 6th May
Led by Josh Gifford & Trudy Johnston
An invitation to inhabit the timelessness of all moments.
“Time itself is being, and all being is time”
Dogen
“If all time is eternally present
All time is unredeemable”
T.S. Eliot
Information and registration available soon.