BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//wp-events-plugin.com//7.4.0.1//EN TZID:Europe/London X-WR-TIMEZONE:Europe/London BEGIN:VEVENT UID:1780@anukampaproject.org DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20260613T000000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20260620T000000 DTSTAMP:20260508T090953Z URL:https://anukampaproject.org/events/ajahn-brahmalis-8-day-residential-r etreat-turning-your-life-into-a-true-blessing/ SUMMARY:Ajahn Brahmali's 8-Day Residential Retreat: "Turning Your Life Into a True Blessing" DESCRIPTION:\nWhat is the theme of the retreat?\nMahāmaṅgala Sutta (The Discourse on the Highest Blessings) is among the most cherished teachings of the Theravāda tradition - a gentle yet profound guide to living well. Uniquely grounded in the realities of lay life\, it offers clear\, practic al reflections that nourish the heart and quietly transform the way we liv e\, relate\, and practice.\n\nStep by step\, this sutta elucidates the ent ire spiritual path: from cultivating harmony and wise conduct in daily lif e\, through deepening inner clarity and ultimately pointing toward liberat ion itself. During this retreat\, we will slow down and explore its verses with care\, drawing on the wider wisdom of the Pāli Canon to illuminate each blessing and bring it alive in our own experience.\n\nJoin us for a c ontemplative journey into simplicity\, meaning\, and awakening - a space t o listen\, reflect\, and let the teachings gently lead you to freedom and liberation.\n\nBe there or be square! 🙂\;\n\n \;\nWhy choose an Ajahn Brahmali retreat?\nAjahn Brahmali\, a senior disciple of Ajahn Brah m\, is an exemplary practicing monk\, Buddhist scholar and much sought-aft er teacher of early Buddhism. Ajahn Brahmali brings the depth and scope of the Buddha's teachings to life\, in a way that inspires our everyday prac tice and our path towards Enlightenment. Rarely are the Buddha’s teachin gs elucidated with so much clarity and contagious joy.\n\nThrough your own direct experience of meditation informed by the Buddha's teachings\, your relationship with the historical Buddha will deepen\, bringing renewed co nfidence that you are practicing correctly and inspiring your journey on t he Noble Eightfold Path ~ as though the Buddha were right by your side!\n\ nThe retreat will be held in silence\, and to support this we have exclusi ve usage of the centre for a total of 32 retreatants and three monastics. Furthermore\, Ladywell’s friendly staff will look after all our needs\, preparing and serving our meals as well as doing all the washing up! The r etreat is suitable for both beginners and experienced meditators alike. Be sure to register early and secure your place!\nWhere will the retreat be held?\n\n\nWe are delighted to have found a very peaceful venue in idyllic surroundings. Set in the heart of beautiful Surrey\, The Franciscan Centr e Ladywell is spiritual home to Franciscan Sisters and the FMDM (Francisca n Missionaries of the Divine Motherhood)\, who have created a space of pea ce\, beauty and reflection. The buildings and extensive grounds lend thems elves perfectly to a silent meditation retreat. We feel confident that the atmosphere alone will support you in quietening the mind!\n\nLadywell gro unds offer many different spaces for quiet reflection and the enjoyment of nature. These include:\n\nThe Carceri Garden:\nA spacious\, private and q uiet landscaped garden with a water feature\, summer house and pergola – a place to sit or walk and contemplate the beauty around you.\n\nThe Shri ne Field:\nA short walk outside the back gate brings you to this Shrine in honour of Our Lady. Built by the FMDM in the 1950s the Shrine sits on the site of an ancient chapel.  This place has been a place of prayer since the 7th Century.  The woodland adjacent to the Shrine was planted by the FMDM as part of the Millennium Project in 2000\, in partnership with The W oodland Trust.\n\nThe centre has good transport links from London to Godal ming train station in Surrey.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTentative Retreat Schedule  \nIn the same spirit as Ajahn Brahm\, Ajahn Brahmali has a relaxed appro ach to meditation that allows you to find your own pace and joy in practic e. It also offers plenty of space and time to unwind in the beautiful grou nds. Below is a rough schedule that includes talks\, guided meditations\, sutta classes\, Q&\;A and (unlisted) group interviews with Ajahn Brahma li. Ample time will be available for relaxing and walking in the countrysi de as you please – and\, if the weather is nice you can meditate in the beautiful walled rose garden\, or the surrounding forests and fields.\n\nS aturday 13th June:\n16:00 - 17:00 Arrival &\; settling in\n18:00 - 19:3 0 Soup or own snacks\n19:30 - 20:00 Orientation talk (silence begins!)\n20 :00 - 21:00 Dhamma talk &\; Guided meditation\n\nSunday 14th - Friday 1 9th June:\n06:00 - 07:00 Meditation\n07:30 - 08:15 Breakfast\n09:00 - 10:3 0 Teaching &\; guided meditation\n10:30 - 12:00 Personal practice / 1 h our group interviews (Tues\, Wed\, Thurs)\n12:00 - 13:00 Lunch\n13:00 - 14 :00 Rest\n14:00 - 15:00 Personal practice\n15:00 - 15:45 Guided meditation \n16:00 - 17:00 Teachings\n17:00 - 18:00 Personal practice\n18:00 - 19:00 Tea break/snacks\n19:00 - 19:45 Group Meditation\n20:00 - 21:00 Q&\;A\n \nSaturday 20th June:\n06:00 - 07:00 Meditation\n07:00 - 08:30 Breakfast & amp\; pack up personal belongings\n08:30 - 10:00 Closing talk &\; metta meditation\n10:00 - 11:00 Discussion &\; Mingling\n12:00 Lunch\n12:00 - 14:00 Departures\nDepartures by 14:00\n\nRetreatants must pack up on the last day of the retreat at 8:15 and leave promptly by 14:00.\n\nAccommoda tion and facilities\nAll the rooms are comfortable and tastefully decorate d\, most are with their own en-suite bathroom. Each room offers a sense of space and calm for guests seeking to spend time away from the hustle of d aily life. There are rooms sharing with one or two other people\, as well as a smaller number of single rooms. There are also kitchenettes through t he building and close to most rooms.\n\n \n \n\nDisabled access\nPlease le t us know if you require disabled facilities or a ground floor room and we will do our best to meet your needs.\nMeeting rooms\nThe largest hall wil l be used as our main meditation hall and there will be another medium siz ed room available for walking meditation in case it is raining. Breakfast\ , lunch and drinks will be provided in a separate dining room. Group inter views will be held in an allocated place to be decided at the time. Each p erson will be invited to join one group interview with Ajahn Brahmali duri ng their retreat.\nFood and drinks\nFood will be simple vegetarian with a vegan option. Tea and coffee is available around the clock. During this r etreat we will abstain from eating in the evening\, to support the deepeni ng of meditation practice. Please therefore note that only breakfast and l unch will be provided. \n\nIf you require food in the evening for medical purposes\, please ensure that you bring along simple snacks such as flapj acks\, that can be kept in the shared kitchenettes.\nWhat will I need to b ring?\n- Meditation cushion(s)\n- Flask (for hot water/tea) and water bott le\n- Torch/flashlight\n- Comfortable modest clothing (no short or sleevel ess tops)\, kindly avoid noisy jackets or trousers.\n- Shawls or thin blan kets for meditation.\n- Raincoat/umbrella (just in case!)\n- Outdoor shoes &\; indoor slippers\n- Any food/snacks that you may need for medical r easons\nCosts\nThe total cost of the retreat\, per person\, is as follows: \n£790 based on staying in a comfortable en-suite shared room with one or two others of the same gender\n£890 based on staying in a single room.\n \nPlease note that the retreat cost is for the venue hire only\, which inc ludes accommodation\, use of two large halls and meals. Ajahn Brahmali is kindly coming all the way from Perth to England to support Anukampa Bhikkh uni Project’s charitable aims - of spreading the Dhamma and developing A nukampa Grove. As the first residence for bhikkhunis in the UK\, Anukampa Grove gives women an opportunity to practice as bhikkhunis and provides a place for our warm-hearted and diverse community to practice. The voluntee rs who organise these retreats give their time freely\, helping us keep co sts as low as possible.  At the end of the retreat\, there will be an opp ortunity to donate towards the running costs of Anukampa Grove and requisi tes for the resident nuns.\n\nWe are extremely fortunate to have three mon astics attending this retreat: Ajahn Brahmali\, Ajahn Canda and Samaneri U pacala! However\, this means we need some extra financial help. If you wou ld like to contribute to the costs for accommodating the Sangha (monastics ) you can donate here\, reference 'monastic costs.'\n\nWe may be able to o ffer some financial assistance to those of limited means through our bursa ry fund. You are welcome to donate to our bursary fund here.\nGetting Ther e\nArriving By Air \nThe nearest airports are London Heathrow (LHR)\, app roximately 45 minutes by taxi\, and London Gatwick (LGW)\, approximately 1 hour by taxi. If you are travelling from the airport by train\, get a tub e to London Waterloo and then a direct train to Godalming (see below). Fro m Godalming\, the venue is a 6-minute taxi ride or approximately a 30-minu te walk.\n\nBy Train\nTake a direct South Western Railway service from Lon don Waterloo to Godalming (Surrey). From Godalming\, the venue is a 6-min ute taxi ride or approximately a 30-minute walk. Train tickets can be boo ked in advance via South Western Railway or The Trainline.\n\nLocal Taxis\ nClocktower Cars – 01483 422222\nSpeedwell Taxis – 01483 423333\nA3 ta xis Godalming – 07871 818 267\nGodalming Taxis – 01483 666 999\n\nBy C ar\nLadywell is served well by the A3 road from London to Portsmouth. The nearest main exit point from the A3 to Ladywell is Milford Junction\, whic h is 2.8 miles from Ladywell. On taking this exit\, please use the A3100 t o reach Ladywell\, Ashstead Lane\, GU7 1ST.\n\nBy Bus\nThe nearest bus sto p at Tuesley Lane\, Godalming is 0.4 miles from Ladywell\, served by Compa ss bus number 42\, which travels from Guildford to Cranleigh.\nThree furth er buses (numbers 70/71/72) travel from Guildford to Godalming central\, s topping at Eashing Lane\, Godalming\, 1.1 miles from Ladywell.\nFor bus ti metables\, please use this link:\nGuildford\, Godalming and Haslemere bus timetables – Surrey County Council website: https://surreycc.gov.uk\n\nB us service number and timetable Operator Route location\; O30: National Ex press: London\, Guildford\, Hindhead\, Portsmouth and Southsea and Fareham . Please visit https://nationalexpress.com.\n\nYou can also plan your jour ney with Google Maps.\n\nPlease note that they may be changes within the h ttps://google.com/maps public transport timetable e.g.\, a road closed\, d elay etc.  Download First Bus App. and Trainline App. to access real time information.\n\nDisclaimer: We are not affiliates nor endorsing those com panies.\n\nAs the retreat approaches\, you can coordinate with other parti cipants via a lift share spreadsheet\, for example to arrange to share tax is or lifts.\nApplication Procedure\n1. Please ensure you read all the abo ve information carefully first\, and then fill in the application form bel ow. At this stage you will not be required to make a payment.\n\n2. After submitting your application\, you should receive an acknowledgement email immediately. If you do not see it\, please check your junk or spam folder. We recommend adding our email address (bookings@anukampaproject.org) to y our contacts to ensure our emails are not filtered as junk. If you do not receive the email\, please contact us.\n\n3. We aim to approve your applic ation within two weeks. If you are applying for waiting list\, we will onl y contact you if there is space available.\n\n4. Once your application is approved\, your registration fee is needed to secure your place. Upon rece ipt\, your ticket will be automatically emailed to you.\n\n\nWe will alloc ate your room based on the room type you selected in this application form . When it comes to payment you must stick to the room type you originally chose in this application form\, because we have organised the room chart on the basis of your choice and cannot change it at the time of payment!\n \nIf the room type is no longer visible to you below\, it means the room i s currently taken and you can apply to be on the waiting list. If you spec ifically need a single room\, please state your reason. If a single room b ecomes available in the future\, we will contact you to let you know.\nCan cellation Policy\nIf your plans change and you are no longer able to atten d\, we will ONLY be able to refund you (minus £150 registration fee)\, IF there is someone on the waiting list who is able to take your place. This is because we still have to pay the venue\, even if we cannot fill your p lace. Whilst we will make every effort to offer your ticket on\, this cann ot be guaranteed. \n\n \; ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://anukampaproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2 026/01/Franciscan-Ladywell-cropped.jpg CATEGORIES:2026 LOCATION:The Franciscan Centre Ladywell\, Ladywell Convent\, Franciscan Cen tre Ladywell\, Ashstead Lane\, Godalming\, Surrey\, GU7 1ST\, United Kingd om X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=Ladywell Convent\, Francisc an Centre Ladywell\, Ashstead Lane\, Godalming\, Surrey\, GU7 1ST\, United Kingdom;X-APPLE-RADIUS=100;X-TITLE=The Franciscan Centre Ladywell:geo:0,0 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:Europe/London X-LIC-LOCATION:Europe/London BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20260329T020000 TZOFFSETFROM:+0000 TZOFFSETTO:+0100 TZNAME:BST END:DAYLIGHT END:VTIMEZONE END:VCALENDAR