Serenity and Insight, Stillness and Seeing, with a boundless Heart

Ten-day (9 night) with seven-day (6 night) option, silent meditation retreat, Sept 1-10, 2023

Onsite at Mt Carmel Retreat Centre (near Sydney) with online option (for a limited number of participants)

This dana based onsite and online (hybrid) meditation retreat will invite participants to discover stillness with serenity, seeing clearly with insight and by being present wake up to the unconditioned. This retreat will also invite participants to cultivate the heart with four boundless divine abodes: warm benevolence, compassion, appreciative joy and equanimity.

It will be led by Malcolm Huxter and co-led by Lisa Brown (see below for details).

The daily schedule will include:

6:15 – 7.15am Embodied mindfulness with morning yoga and yoga nidra with Lisa
9.00 -10.30am Morning instruction and guidance /workshop session mostly with Malcolm
10.30-11.00am Tea break
11.00 – 12.30am Periods of silent meditation in a group or individually. After the first weekend, small group and or individual Dharma meetings with Mal
12.30 - 2.30pm Lunch and rest
2.30 - 6.00pm Periods of silent meditation in a group or individually with a tea break. After the first weekend, small group and or individual Dharma meetings with Lisa
7.00 - 8.00pm Dharma talks and discussion with both Mal and Lisa
8.15 – 9.00pm Silent or guided meditation/possible chanting

General aims of the retreat:

To begin to discover stillness and inner quietude with guidance in the cultivation of serenity
To explore the cultivation of insight with mindfulness
To begin to develop 7 factors awakening:mindfulness, enquiry, energy, joy, tranquility, concentration and equipoise
To begin to be completely present prior to conceptualisation about experience with practices called signless samadhi in Theravada Buddhism, silent illumination in Chan Buddhism and shikantaza in Zen Buddhism
To provide the opportunity to experience the development of the four boundless divine abodes (benevolence, compassion, appreciative joy and equanimity).
To free oneself and others from psychological suffering.

Who is this retreat for?
This silent residential retreat is for anyone who has had prior experience with meditation and wishes to enhance and practise her, his or their skills. The retreat may also be suitable for therapists, educators, program leaders and as it may partially fulfil CPD requirements for some professions and meditation teacher training programs.

The fees. In accordance with Buddhist traditions, there are no fees for the teachings and guidance on this retreat as it is dana based. Dana refers to the economy of generosity where the teachings are given freely and those who receive the teaching have the opportunity to reciprocate with a financial gift that they feel reflects their appreciation. There will be a registration fee of $35 to cover administration costs for online and onsite as well as 6 night and 9 night registrations.

The meals and accommodation fees for onsite participation are as follows:
6 nights =$1040
9 nights =$1480
These fees will be directed to the venue and cover meals & accommodation. They will also contribute towards the teachers’ accommodation. Payments can be made in instalments to be completed by August 19, 2023. Bank details for payment will be provided with an email sent on registration. Please note that if you offer dana it should be offered separately from the accommodation fee.

The Venue for onsite participation:
Mt Carmel Retreat is a peaceful and semi-rural sanctuary of 300 acres with birdlife and walking trails, 45 minutes outside of Sydney, near the Minto train station. https://mtcarmel.com.au/ All spacious bedrooms have their own bathroom and toilet. The venue will require that all participants comply with whatever COVID regulations are in place in NSW.

BEFORE YOU REGISTER PLEASE READ THESE MEDITATION RETREAT HEALTH WARNINGS: Link to meditation retreat health warnings

BEFORE YOU REGISTER FOR ONLINE PARTICIPATION PLEASE READ THESE CONDITIONS OF ATTENDING ONLINE RETREATS OF OVER 4 DAYS DURATION: Link to conditions of attending online meditation retreats of over 4 days

Malcolm Huxter (MAPS, AABCAP) is a clinical psychologist in private practice. He is the author of “Healing the Heart and Mind with Mindfulness.” Routledge 2016. http://www.amazon.com/Healing-Heart-Mind-Mindfulness-Ancient/dp/1138851353

A practicing psychologist for over 30 years, he has been guiding in Buddhist meditation practices such as mindfulness and the 4 divine abodes to the general public, a range of cultures, clinical populations, therapists and other professionals since 1991. He is a certified mindful self- compassion (MSC) teacher as well as Cultivating Emotional Balance (CEB) teacher. He began training in Buddhist meditation practices in 1975, living in Thailand as a Buddhist monk for two years in the late 1970’s. As well as Theravada, he has trained in other Buddhist and spiritual traditions. For more details about Mal go to Mal's website

Lisa Brown (AAPi, IYTA, AABCAP) is a Registered Psychologist, Yoga Teacher, certified Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction Teacher (Brown University, USA) and trained Mindful Self-Compassion Facilitator. She is an Adjunct Lecturer at Charles Sturt University where she has taught mindfulness and retreats for post-graduate students and has a deep interest in the conjunction of western science, Buddhadharma and earth-based wisdom traditions in health, healing and trauma recovery. Lisa is currently a student in the Insight Meditation Dharma Teacher Training Programme in Australia and works in private practice, facilitating groups and workshops on Gumbaynggirr Country, Coffs Harbour.

Website: Lisa's website

For more detailed information about the retreat, email malhuxter@gmail.com or phone 0431768299 (Australia)
or Lisa Brown on lisa@mindful-wellbeing.com or 0400491477 (Australia)

PLEASE NOTE MALCOLM WILL BE UNAVAILABLE TO REPLY TO QUERIES FROM APRIL 2-16 AND MAY 24 - JULY 30 2023