BRC needs your help now!
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The Buddhist Retreat Centre |
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Ixopo, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa |
For people of all religions |
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BRC needs your help now! |
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| Light and at ease | Image: Chantelle Flores | |
Dear BRC FriendsThe BRC is in trouble. In a nutshell, if we don’t have any income for the foreseeable future, we may have to close the Centre permanently. As a non-profit organisation, the BRC relies on income to pay wages to our local staff - and stipends to our resident staff - as well as meeting the many other costs involved in running the Centre. It would be a tragedy if it had to close due to a financial crisis. We can avoid this with your help:
To thank you for your support, Paid Up Yogis will receive an extra day to be added to the beginning or end of a retreat. My intention in setting up the Centre some 50 years ago was to provide a sanctuary for people to navigate ways of living a more purposeful and meaningful life and to acquire the mental and emotional skills to do so. The Centre has offered this to many people who have come to regard the place as their spiritual home. So it would be tragic if in celebrating our 40th year of existence, we may be mourning its demise. We are missing our friends in Ixopo and holding you in our hearts. We wish you health and safety. Be at ease and use this time to pause and reflect in prayer and meditation. We look forward to better times when we can meet again. With Metta, |
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| Moody clouds over the stupa | Image: Gavin de Kock | |
Resheduled RetreatsWe have rescheduled the following retreats to new dates:
All these new dates have been published on our website: www.brcixopo.co.za. |
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| Nourishing nosh from Plentiful: The Big Book Of Buddha Food | Images: Angela Shaw | |
Forthcoming RetreatsPeople often yearn for an opportunity to recalibrate their lives and to spend some time in quiet reflection among like-minded people. The BRC provides such a refuge - where silence is a precious commodity - and where people meet to engage in a range of talks on Eastern and Western philosophy and psychology. In these challenging times, we need ways to steady our hearts. Focus on staying positive, calm and clear. Choose practices such as yoga, qigong and meditation to centre yourselves. Find effective ways to combat stress. Treat yourself to a personal retreat where you can wake up to bird song, walk in the morning mist, rake the sand garden, listen to the wind chimes and meditate in the company of the mossy Buddha. |
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| Louis: on the teachings from under the bodhi tree | Image: Lisa de Venter | |
Awakening To Flow: Re-Aligning And Shifting Your LifeAwakening to “Flow” is your opportunity to live with joy; to re-align yourself and release fear, anxiety, grief and anger. This retreat will give you the tools to help us transcend the compulsive and worrying mind. Going Deeper Into The Flow: Applied Knowledge Creates Wisdom And FlowJohn Homewood’s insightful wisdom teaching will help clear your mind of its emotional and mental attachment to and “ stuckness” in the past and future, enabling you to move into the “Flow” of abundance, love and the joy of living. This retreat will deepen participants’ understanding of and application of “ Flow” . Under The Full Moon Of May: Wesak - The BRC Forty Years OnWesak is an important day on the Buddhist calendar, commemorating the birth, enlightenment and death of the Buddha 2,500 years ago. This year Wesak has a special significance for us at the BRC as it marks the fortieth year since the Centre opened its doors. Come and commemorate this milestone with us. Transforming Fear: How To Turn Stress And Anxiety Into Well-BeingTo reduce the suffering in the world, we need the skills to reduce our own. Unless it is released, stress gets locked into our bodies, accumulating until it erupts in panic, aggression or illness. Only a bold and brave reorientation can heal the growing epidemic of anxiety and depression. Meditation For Beginners: Learning The Basics Of Meditation PracticeThis retreat is designed to help the ‘beginner’ to understand and experience the basics of meditation practice so that you can transform the mind and open the heart. The weekend will be held in an atmosphere of silence and contemplation. Stress: The Disease Of Our Age - The Buddhist Way OutStress, tension, mental strain and unrealistic expectations cause us intense suffering and a life without peace of mind. The realization that our state of mind is the primary creator of this gives us a way to a different, Buddhist view. Join us for a weekend of meditation and exploration to find a different pathway to dealing with stress effectively. Beginner’s Mind, Quiet Mind: Meditation Instruction And Practice For Meaningful Daily LivingIt is important to take time out from the incessant demand and fast pace of life. The BRC gives us the space to step off the wheel and the time to come home to the quiet, strong refuge which lies at our centre. The time will be silent, quiet and slow. Yogis Live Longer: Hatha Yoga For Health And ResilienceHatha yoga is the balancing of the physical and energetic body and the mind. By bringing balance to these energies, we can bring balance to all aspects of our life so that we can navigate our way with more grace and ease. Join us a for a weekend of asana, pranayama, meditation and chanting. The Enjoyment Of Being Still And AloneEnjoy some serene “alone” time on a Self-Retreat in the beautiful, indigenous setting of the BRC with chi kung, meditation, communing with nature, enjoying the vistas of the velvet Ixopo hills, and relishing the delicious vegetarian food for which the BRC is justly renowned. |
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| Waves of green | Image: Chantelle Flores | |
Retreats AheadPlease keep the BRC in your hearts and minds and consider booking for some of the recommended retreats below - this will help to keep this sanctuary going. Your Precious Life: Discovering Avenues To Meaning And Purpose: LogotherapyFind your own unique path to meaning and purpose and how it is possible to live life powerfully despite adversity. Finding And Keeping Your Centre: Taking Care Of Ourselves In Order To Be Of Service To OthersThe Buddha's teachings emphasise the importance of taking care of ourselves in order to be of service to others. The wisdom of this teaching tells us that when we are kind and good to ourselves, we are automatically much more so to others. A Neurosugeon Probes Wellness And Performance: PsychoneuroimmunologyIn this retreat we will explore the chemistry which mediates the effects of mind states on the body and how we can attain optimal wellness and performance by getting to know our temperament and personality traits. Life Writing: A Workshop On MemoirLife writing is not only about developing technical skills. It is also a way to reflect and grow awareness. The tools we need to write about what we know best are tools we need to live more creatively and to deepen our observation. Explore refreshing approaches to put our personal stories down on the page. Transformation With The Power Of Awareness: Developing Awareness, Compassion And InsightThe silent retreat will be an opportunity to explore Buddhist teachings and meditation practice to develop awareness, compassion and insight. With more calmness and clarity, we will be able to deal with the challenges of life with more acceptance, ease and wisdom. Beginner's Mind, Quiet Mind: Meditation Instruction And Practice For Meaningful Daily LivingIt is important to take time out from the incessant demand and fast pace of life. The BRC gives us the space to step off the wheel and the time to come home to the quiet, strong refuge which lies at our centre. The time will be silent, quiet and slow. Deepening Your Emotional Intelligence Through Mindfulness: Gaining Insights Into Your Emotional Intelligence For Resonant RelationshipsThis interactive retreat will support participants in their personal development journey through gaining insights into their emotional intelligence and mindfulness, and identifying behaviour that positively impacts their well-being and relationships - in this volatile, complex and ambiguous world. |
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| Dappled light | Image: Chantelle Flores | |
About the BRCPerched on a ridge at the head of a valley in the Umkomaas river system in KwaZulu-Natal, the Buddhist Retreat Centre looks out on a vista of indigenous valleys, forests and rolling hills receding like waves in the blue distance. Here, for thirty-nine years, people of all religions and none have come to experience peace and tranquility. It is a gentle, sympathetic space where one can be still and get in touch with oneself and reflect on the things that crowd one's life. The BRC was voted by CNN as one of the ten best meditation centres in the world. CNN Travel awarded another feather in the BRC’s cap by voting it as one of the ten best spiritual centres in South Africa, recently. The BRC was awarded Natural Heritage status in 1995 under the auspices of the Department of Environmental affairs and received a certificate to that effect signed by President Nelson Mandela for turning an eroded farm into the natural paradise it has become - thousands of indigenous trees were planted by retreatants under the supervision of Mervyn Croft - with 160 species of birds, including the Blue Swallow, otter, deer, antbear and indigenous forests. The Centre was also given the special status of “Custodian of the Blue Swallow” for its work in preserving the breeding areas of this endangered bird. The BRC facilitated the founding of Woza Moya, the community-based NGO, located in Ufafa Valley, nineteen years ago, on the estate. Their vision is for all people in the community to be healthy and productive, to live in a safe and clean environment, with good access to services and social justice. The Centre continues to support the organisation in a variety of ways by contributing Dana, sponsoring their Directors, trainers and visitors' accommodation, and showcasing and promoting their wonderful crafts in the shop such as the sock monkeys, cushions, bags, scarves, beanies and stationery. The Woza Moya Crafters are local women who receive ongoing training and support to enable them to create these unique and charming best sellers. This year as a result of retreatants' Dana (Generosity), the BRC was able to donate R 24,000 to Woza Moya to further enable their good work among the community and to help support the 50 children who attend the Woza Moya play school. Become a friend of the Buddhist Retreat Centre (a non-profit organisation) and find out more about the BRC's Paid-Up-Yogi and Sangha Friends’ projects which help to ensure the continuity of the Centre. Thank you for the abundance that has flowed to the BRC in the form of Paid-Up-Yogis and Sangha Friends’ contributions which enabled us to complete major projects such as rethatching the library and studio roofs, repaving the entrance roads, refurbishing all the Lodge rooms and bathrooms and replacing all the beds. Thank you too for the plants, trees, books and photographs and bathroom accessories. We are very touched by your appreciative letters, emails, support and friendship towards the BRC - your spiritual home from home. Chrisi Visit our website for further information, directions, image gallery etc. |
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