Elemental Immersion 2027

Elemental Immersion is an intensive Buddhist meditation retreat at Taraloka Retreat Centre in Bettisfield, Wales, built around contemplation of the six elements. It is offered for Going for Refuge Mitras and Triratna Order members, and is led by Maitridevi, Candrika, Sanghamani and Sukhasiddhi within the Triratna Buddhist Community.

The retreat runs for ten days and sits at the Triratna Regulars level, with more meditation and silence than an Open retreat.

What to Expect

The six elements are solidity, fluidity, temperature, movement, space and consciousness. The retreat approaches them as qualities to contemplate, ones that can bring us into what the organizers call an infinitely extensive kinship with everything, and so change our relationship to life, the world and the universe. The starting point is a question of identity: if we are to awaken, we need to re-imagine what we are, and to see that we are not separate beings but embedded, entangled and participative in a much bigger world. The retreat draws on Sangharakshita's words in Living with Awareness, that a universe conceived of as dead cannot be one in which a person stands any chance of attaining Enlightenment.

Expect an intensive meditation retreat with guided meditation periods and periods of silence. Meditation reviews with the retreat leaders are part of the programme. Life at Taraloka is communal, with a vegan diet and shared household work.

Your Retreat Leaders

The retreat is led by four people: Maitridevi, Candrika, Sanghamani and Sukhasiddhi. They lead together as a team, and between them they hold the meditation reviews alongside the guided practice.

The Setting

Taraloka Retreat Centre is in Bettisfield, Wales, and runs on a model of generosity. Participants pay a booking fee when they reserve a place, and at the end of the retreat they are invited to give what they can. Suggested donations reflect the basic income needed to make a retreat viable, but they are only suggestions, and giving more, less or nothing is genuinely fine.

Most people share a bedroom with two to four others. Rooms are centrally heated, not en-suite, and close to toilets and showers, and ground floor rooms can be requested. For a lighter setup there is a mattress option, and camping is available within the centre grounds for those who prefer to sleep outdoors. Single rooms cannot be booked online; people interested are asked to contact the office to join the single room waiting list.

All meals are vegan. Wheat free, gluten free, nut free and no chilli options are available.

Before You Go

This retreat is for Going for Refuge Mitras and Triratna Order members. It is pitched at the Triratna Regulars level, so participants should have learned the Mindfulness of Breathing and the Metta Bhavana, taken part in the Sevenfold Puja within the Triratna community, and attend a Triratna centre, group or retreats regularly. Those who do not yet meet these criteria are pointed toward Open retreats instead.

The retreat is held in English. Accommodation, vegan meals, guided meditation and silence, and meditation reviews are all part of the retreat. Travel to and from Taraloka, the end-of-retreat donation and a single room are not included. Places have filled, and a waiting list is open for anyone who would still like to attend.