Living with Illness and Loss at Gaia House

Living with Illness and Loss is a meditation retreat in Devon, UK, for people who want to meet illness, loss and the fact of mortality with wisdom and love. It is led by Insight Meditation teachers Nathan Glyde and Zohar Lavie, and it runs for about five nights at Gaia House.

What to Expect

Illness and loss ask us to slow down and look closely at what is happening. This retreat offers time and quiet to do that, opening to what is shared by everyone, the inevitable parts of being alive, with clarity and kindness rather than avoidance.

The teaching sits within the Insight Meditation tradition and the Buddha's teachings. Nathan and Zohar are known for their work on dependent origination, the teaching that all things arise in reliance on causes and conditions. They explore it as a practical question of how stress depends on thirsting, and how seeing such dependencies opens a path to freedom. That way of looking suits a retreat on difficult subjects: it gives a way to see what is happening without being swept away by it.

The material does not give a daily schedule, so expect the usual shape of an insight meditation retreat, with teaching and meditation guided by the two teachers.

About Nathan Glyde

Nathan Glyde is an Insight Meditation teacher recognised by Gaia House in the UK. He has practised and studied meditation since 1997 and has taught on retreats since 2007. In 2004 he co-founded SanghaSeva, whose retreats emphasise wisdom and compassion in ecological and humanitarian service. With Zohar Lavie, he writes the materials for and runs DependentOrigination.org, a body of work that aims to make the teaching of dependent origination accessible to all.

About Zohar Lavie

Zohar Lavie teaches alongside Nathan, and the two offer retreats, online drop-in groups and meditation sessions together. Zohar also leads days and retreats in London, Israel and Devon, and works with Nathan on the dependent origination material, which the two describe as a practical exploration of how everything leans.

The Setting

The retreat takes place in Devon, in the south west of England, at Gaia House, a well-known Insight Meditation centre in the UK. Gaia House also hosts many of Nathan and Zohar's other retreats, so the place is familiar ground for their teaching.

Before You Go

This retreat is open to anyone drawn to facing illness, ageing, loss or the wider reality of impermanence through meditation. You do not need to be ill or bereaved to take part. If you are unsure whether the retreat is right for you, or have questions about accessibility, meals or rooms, it is best to ask Gaia House directly.