Dates: November 4 – 11, 2023

Programme: Daily early morning gentle yoga practice. Daily mindfulness and meditation practice. Daily snorkeling excursions. (The full daily programme is given in the Programme tab above.)

Suitability: you should be able to swim 150 metres in the open sea unaided.

Excursions and extras: Village meke dance; tapa making demonstration.

Food: Mixed menu.

Itinerary:   Arrive Savusavu Saturday. Retreat starts Sunday morning, ends Friday evening. Depart Savusavu Saturday morning after breakfast.

Price:

Rear bure standard room: Shared  room: Aus $1950 / Single room: Aus $2450
Non-participating partner price (if sharing your bure): AUD$1300

Front ocean view bure: Shared room: Aus $2350 / Single Aus $2900
Traveling with non-participating partner Aus $1550

This is a mind-expanding, but at the same time thoroughly practical, week of the three components of the title: Mindfulness and Meditation, Yoga, and Snorkeling. It is suitable for all levels, from beginners to teachers of meditation. For meditation teachers, there will be an extra hour set aside on two days for a mentoring session, as well as unguided meditation sessions.

The snorkeling makes for a very special part of the trip: a wide variety of hard and soft coral, abundant fish life, and glorious warm waters. And a snorkel trip becomes a unique meditation of its own.

There’s science in all three. And there’s a transcendent aspect to all three. Read on……

Mindfulness and Meditation and the science behind it.

There is now a huge amount of research showing the benefits of Mindfulness and Meditation.  It has been shown to reduce stress, improve our concentration, our memory, thinking creatively and flexibly, and even build more brain cells.  It increases our positive emotions, builds empathy and emotional intelligence, makes us less anxious, and more accepting of ourselves and others, and leads to better relationships.  But have you ever wondered how?  If so, this course is for you.

You will learn what Mindfulness and Meditation are, and understand what is actually happening in your brain when you meditate, and why it is so effective that even companies are implementing it in the workplace.

A combination of workshops and practices will teach you the different types of meditation and by practicing each you will discover which are the most effective for you personally.

The guided sessions will include:

• breath meditations
• mantra meditations
• mindfulness body scan
• open-awareness meditations
• loving-kindness meditation
• meditation for compassion / self-compassion

The workshops and discussions will include:

• what is meditation and why does it benefit us?
• stress – the physiology of what is happening in your body and how meditation helps
• what is mindfulness and how is it different from meditation?
• what are emotions?
• what is happiness and how can we create it?

Snorkeling

Fiji is renowned for the abundant marine life of its reefs: colorful fish, hard and soft corals, mysterious invertebrates – all in the clear warm waters of the South Pacific.  Suspended in the waters above this wonder world is entrancing, mesmeric…..it’s a floating meditation, an opportunity to immerse yourself in another aspect of our planet. It is deeply and wonderfully complementary to the rest of the week.

Here’s materials you’ll need to bring.

• Rash vest for sun protection (you might like to bring a full body lycra suit for even better protection)
• Reef shoes
• Snorkels, masks and fins are provided although if you have your own you might prefer to bring them
• All equipment for meditation / yoga is supplied (mats, bolsters etc)