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:1786@anukampaproject.org DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20260307T083000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20260308T170000 DTSTAMP:20260306T025722Z URL:https://anukampaproject.org/events/online-weekend-retreat-with-ven-can da-raising-our-happiness-levels/ SUMMARY:Online Weekend Retreat with Ven. Canda: "Raising Our Happiness Leve ls" DESCRIPTION:In early Buddhism\, happiness is not a distraction but an essen tial cause for successful meditation. The Buddha repeatedly emphasised tha t wholesome happiness supports the mind in settling\, unifying and deepeni ng into samādhi (stillness). Through Dhamma reflection\, guided meditatio n and discussion with Ajahn Canda\, we will explore different forms of hap piness described in the early texts\, including pīti (rapture)\, sukha (e ase) and the joy of letting go. These qualities are central to the develop ment of the jhānas ~ the "pleasant abidings here and now."\n\nOver the we ekend\, we’ll learn how reflecting on our inner virtues and developing g ratitude for the small things in life can give rise to wholesome happiness that supports a calm\, joyful and sustainable meditation practice\, gradu ally undermining craving\, aversion and delusion. Rather than chasing flee ting pleasure\, together we’ll gently create the conditions for a happin ess that is stable\, inwardly grounded and leads to liberation.\n\nAs this is an online home-retreat\, you may choose whether you wish to observe th e Eight Precepts or the Five Precepts.\n\nTentative Schedule (UK Time):\nS aturday 7th March:\n08:30 – 10:00 Dhamma talk\, guided meditation\n10:00 – 12:00 Cooking and lunchtime for those on 8 precepts offline\n12:00 – 14:30 Rest and personal practice offline\n14:30 – 15:15 Guided medit ation \n15:15 – 15:45 Walking meditation\n16:00 – 17:00  Sutta discu ssion\n17:00 – 19:00 Personal practice offline \n19:00 – 19:50 Metta chanting and silent group meditation\n20:00 – 21:00 Q&\;A \n\nSunday 8th March:\n06:00 – 07:00 Recommended morning meditation\, offline\n08: 30 – 10:00 Dhamma talk\, guided meditation \n10:00 – 12:00 Cooking an d lunchtime for those on 8 precepts offline\n12:30 – 14:30 Rest and per sonal practice offline\n14:30 – 15:15 Guided meditation\n15:30 – 16:30 Q&\;A and small discussion groups\n16:30 – 17:00 Closing &\; Mett a meditation\n\n*Full time attendance – including the personal practice period – is advisable for this retreat\, so you can experience the full potential of the practice and participate in creating a conducive communit y space. Due to the time zone\, it will therefore work best for people in the UK and Europe (or the east coast of the US if you are willing to adopt forest monastery time and rise early!) If most of the online schedule wil l not work for you\, we kindly ask that you leave the space for someone el se and instead watch the recordings once we upload them to our YouTube cha nnel.\n\nPlease check the retreat schedule against your time zone here.\n\ nHow To Have A Home Retreat\nPracticing in an online retreat can be a very rewarding experience. Unlike simply watching online teachings  on your o wn\, you become part of a mutually supportive spiritual community. An onli ne retreat also differs from an in-person retreat\, by giving you the oppo rtunity to carve out a tailor-made space for yourself\, (at home or in a p lace of your choice)\, where you can dedicate yourself to silent practice without the usual distractions and disturbances\, and gain confidence in y our ability to practice wherever you are.\n\nTo support yourself in this p rocess\, Noble Silence is encouraged throughout the retreat. This means re maining in silence as much as possible and abstaining from the use of elec tronic devices\, especially mobile phones!  It is also important to atten d all or most of the online sessions so you can receive proper teacher gui dance.\n\nTo help you decide whether this format would suit you\, we offer some thoughts about the benefits of an online retreat and consider some o f the potential challenges – as well as possible solutions – so you ca n make fruitful use of your time.\nBenefits:\n- Continuity of practice whi ch helps you gain more benefit from meditation\n- Safety\, intimacy and su pport of an enclosed group\n- Opportunity for personal guidance through qu estions to the teachers\n- Increased confidence in your ability to practic e wherever you are\n- The food that suits your tummy ~ and no one snoring in your dorm!\nChallenges and solutions:\nIf you are living alone you have a ready-made hermitage! Turn off your phone\, put on the vacation respond er and do your weekly shop in advance. Use ear plugs if it is especially n oisy and take a walk in a peaceful park at the quietest times of day. This will help you immensely in observing Noble Silence and cultivating sense restraint\, which inclines the mind toward inner happiness and facilitates quietening the mind.\n\nFor those who do not live alone\, home retreats m ay pose the challenge being around family members\, friends or lodgers who are not on retreat! In this case\, you may need to put a few extra measur es in place to enable you to observe Noble Silence and maintain your inner focus. Perhaps consider asking them to support you on retreat by keeping interactions to an absolute minimum and having a note system for any absol utely necessary communication. Maybe someone kind could offer to cook your favourite food and leave your meals outside your door\, or you could arra nge times to use the kitchen alone? If you have children or teens it might be difficult to keep the noise down\, so you could consider booking into a quiet hotel or apartment and tune in to the sessions from there.\nJoini ng from the same household\nIf more than one person from the same househol d wishes to join the retreat\, please make separate bookings and log in fr om separate computers. This ensures our numbers are manageable for the Q&a mp\;A sessions and enables you to practice as though alone.\n\n\nRegistrat ion Fees\nThe retreat teachings are offered on a donation basis to make th e Dhamma accessible to all. Our volunteers have generously organised this in their own free time and neither they nor the two teachers receive any r emuneration. To honour the wisdom\, time and commitment of our teachers\, you will be invited to offer donations at the end of the retreat. Your don ations will help us support the running costs of our new Anukampa Grove\, which will be the physical hub of our community and a haven of peace\, and provide for the monastics requisites. Please give with a heart of generos ity and joy\, whilst respecting your own personal financial situation.\n\n The registration fee ensures your commitment to attending the retreat\, as we generally experience a 25% no-show rate to online events. When this ha ppens others may lose a potentially life changing opportunity to practice. The registration fee contributes towards our admin and the running expens es of Anukampa Grove. If you are unable to afford this\, please contact us . Alternatively\, you can listen to the teachings later on our YouTube ch annel.\n\nPlease note that the registration fee is NON REFUNDABLE.\n\nNot e:\n\n1. After your registration\, you will receive an email with your Tic ket/Booking Confirmation almost immediately. Please check your junk mail b ox if you do not receive it. You can also add our email address bookings@a nukampaproject.org as a contact to prevent emails from us going into the junk folder.\n\n2. If you do not receive your ticket within an hour\, plea se 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 em ail account where at all possible\, to save disappointment.\n\n \; ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://anukampaproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2 024/09/Ven-Canda.jpg CATEGORIES:2026 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:Europe/London X-LIC-LOCATION:Europe/London BEGIN:STANDARD DTSTART:20251026T010000 TZOFFSETFROM:+0100 TZOFFSETTO:+0000 TZNAME:GMT END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE END:VCALENDAR