Ajahn Brahm’s 2-Day Non-Residential Retreat: “Living in Harmony With the World”

Date/Time
Date(s) - 29 Nov 2025 - 30 Nov 2025
9:30 am - 5:45 pm


Location
Thames Room, Mercure Oxford Hawkwell House
Church Way, Iffley Village
Oxford
OX4 4DZ
United Kingdom


You are invited for a weekend retreat with our wise, kind-hearted teacher, Ajahn Brahm. This non-residential retreat, set in the spacious and quiet grounds of the Mercure Hotel, offers an opportunity to relax and learn how to open the heart to lasting contentment, peace and harmony within ourselves and by extension within society at large.

With Ajahn Brahm’s gentle guidance, we’ll learn how to reconnect with and integrate the disparate parts of ourselves and deepen our innate capacity for empathy and compassion. From a place of inner harmony where nothing is left out, we find a natural resonance with others that enables us to interact harmoniously and create more equitable, loving and inclusive societies.

The weekend will include insightful Dhamma talks, guided and silent meditations, Q&A sessions and humour that helps make the profound teachings of the Buddha relatable ~ and even entertaining! Whether you are new to meditation or a seasoned practitioner, this retreat offers a refreshing perspective on cultivating inner balance. Join us to discover how to live in harmony with the world.

 

Location and Practical Details

Located in tranquil Iffley Village within Oxford and just ten minutes’ drive from Oxford city centre, lies the Mercure Oxford Hawkwell House Hotel. Set among three acres of private gardens, this is the perfect setting to enjoy a quiet time of retreat in one of the UK’s most historical cities. The beautiful River Thames’ tow path is ten minutes walk away through the pretty Iffley village – ideal for walking meditation or to simply watch the river flow by.

For this retreat we have full use of the main conference hall, seating up to 130 participants. Tea (served twice a day) and a lunch of deluxe sandwiches & salad is included in your booking. Gluten free and vegan options will be available.

Comfortable chairs will be available for meditation. Please kindly bring your own meditation mat with a cushion if you prefer to sit on the floor, as we will not be able to provide these.

This is a non-residential retreat (without accommodation included); however, you may wish to book a room at the same hotel by directly contacting them (of course, after you have received your final booking confirmation for the retreat!). Alternately, there are many other hotels nearby and in Oxford city centre.

 

Tentative Retreat Schedule

Saturday 29th November:

09:00 Arriving, Settling in & Tea
09:30 – 11:15 Dhamma Talk & Guided Meditation (Ajahn Brahm)
11:15 – 11:45 Walking Meditation
12:00 – 13:30 Lunch break (food served in the dining room at the Hotel – see event description above)
13:30 – 14:15 Sutta Class (Ajahn Brahm and/or Ven Canda)
14:30 – 15:15 Guided Meditation (Ajahn Brahm and/or Ven Canda)
15:15 – 15:40 Walking Meditation
15:40 – 16:10 Silent Meditation
16:10 – 16:30 Tea Break
16:30 – 17:15 Q&A Session (Ajahn Brahm)
17:15 – 17:45 Silent Meditation & Blessing, Departures by 18:00

 

Sunday 30th November:

09:00 Arriving, Settling in & Tea
09:30 – 11:15 Dhamma Talk & Guided Meditation (Ajahn Brahm)
11:15 – 11:45 Walking Meditation
12:00 – 13:30 Lunch break (food served in the dining room at the Hotel – see event description above)
13:30 – 14:15 Sutta Class (Ajahn Brahm and/or Ven Canda)
14:30 – 15:15 Guided Meditation (Ajahn Brahm and/or Ven Canda)
15:15 – 15:40 Walking Meditation
15:40 – 16:00 Tea Break
16:00 – 16:45 Q&A Session (Ajahn Brahm)
16:45 – 17:15 Metta Meditation
17:15 – 17:45 Discussion on Anukampa Bhikkhuni Project &  Departures by 18:00

 

Ajahn Brahm is dedicated to coming to England every year to support Anukampa Bhikkhuni Project’s charitable aims – of spreading the Dhamma and developing our new monastery, Anukampa Grove. Our monastery gives women an opportunity to train towards full bhikkhuni ordination for the first time in UK history and provides a place for our warm hearted and diverse community to continue growing. The volunteers who organise these retreats give their time freely which keeps costs as low as possible. There will be opportunity to donate towards the running costs of Anukampa Grove and requisites for the Sangha at the end of the retreat.

If you would like to contribute to sponsoring accommodation for Ajahn Brahm and Ven Canda, please donate here, reference: ‘monastic costs.’

We may be able to offer some financial assistance to those of limited means through our bursary fund, collected entirely through the generosity of others.

You are welcome to donate to our bursary fund here.

 

Application Procedure

Next steps:

1. Please ensure you read all the above information carefully first, and then fill in the application form below. At this stage you will not be required to make a payment.

2. After submitting your application form, within five minutes you should receive an email confirming that we have received it. Please check your junk mail inbox if you do not receive it. We advise you to add our email address bookings@anukampaproject.org as a contact, to prevent our emails going into your junk folder.

3. If you do not receive your ticket within an hour, please contact us at bookings@anukampaproject.org. Please be aware that emails that we send to non-Gmail, Hotmail or Outlook email account outside the UK (e.g. .pl; .gmx etc), are often rejected as ‘undelivered’ for unknown reasons. Please therefore contact us from a Gmail, Hotmail or Outlook email account where at all possible, to save disappointment.

 

We aim to approve your application within a week. If you haven’t heard from us after one week, please contact us at: bookings@anukampaproject.org.

 

Health and community care: Please do not attend if you feel ill (e.g. if you have any symptoms of Covid or any other viral infections).

 

This registration fee is refundable minus £50 BEFORE 29th September 2025.

Please note that from 30th September no refund will be given, unless someone on our waiting list is able to take your place. If your ticket can be taken by someone else, you will be refunded minus £50. Whilst we will make every effort to offer your ticket on, we are sorry that this cannot be guaranteed.

 

All ticket proceeds go toward covering venue hire and other arrangements. Any excess will go toward general running cost of Britain’s first monastery for bhikkhuni, “Anukampa Grove Bhikkhuni Monastery.”

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Bookings

2-Day Non-Residential Retreat (£180 per person, including lunch and tea)

Registration Information

Booker details