Workshops
Take some time out to immerse yourself in meditation and to create some inner peace in your life at our meditation workshops and retreats. These courses examine a particular topic in greater depth than would be possible in a Drop-in class.
Our workshops and retreats are open to everyone and are suitable for all levels of experience, including beginners.
How to Stop Overthinking
Meditation Workshop
️Sun 5 Feb
10am – 2.30pm | Doors open 9.30am
Book here: $65 (includes refreshments and lunch)
It’s very easy to find ourselves in an overthinking headspace. Perhaps we ruminate and dwell on unhealthy thought processes a little too much, or have a tendency towards negative and circular ways of thinking, or maybe our mind just feels jam-packed and over-cluttered with too much mental busyness. Whatever our experience is, this workshop will help.
Buddhist nun, Gen Kelsang Ani, will explain what we can do in our everyday life to stop the habit of overthinking. You will learn:
- how to stop busy, painful and out-of-control thought processes;
- how to stop thinking thoughts you don’t want to have;
- how to switch off when you need to;
- what to do when your mind feels negative, circular or stuck in bad habits of thinking; and
- how to experience genuine peace of mind and an improved quality of life.
Let’s Talk About Death
Meditation Workshop
️Sun 2 Apr
10am – 2.30pm | Doors open 9.30am
Book here: $65 (includes refreshments and lunch)
We are alive, therefore we will die. This is the simplest, most obvious truth of our existence, yet very few of us have really come to terms with this fact.
During this workshop, Buddhist nun, Gen Kelsang Ani, will explain how, by developing a deeper understanding of the death process, we can derive greater meaning from every day of our life; how we can approach our own and others’ deaths with a positive perspective; and how we can protect ourselves and help others at this most defining moment of life.
Retreats
Beginners Meditation Retreat
️Sat 18 Feb
10am – 2.30pm | Doors open 9.30am | see timetable below.
Book here: $65 (includes refreshments and lunch)
Teacher: Gen Kelsang Ani
Restore your inner peace and unlock your minds’ potential for lasting happiness. Join us for a relaxing day retreat in a quiet and peaceful environment, providing a rare opportunity to refresh your mind through meditation. Through meditation we can learn how to relax and develop peaceful and positive states of mind.
Everybody is welcome to attend, regardless of experience. These retreats consist of practical teachings and short guided meditations that will give rise to a peaceful feeling in the mind and improve your ability to live a peaceful life. Topics vary and are detailed below.
Retreat topic: Meditations for a Clear Mind | Sat 18 Feb
Be guided on a voyage of exploration of your own mind and discover your own inner potential for lasting peace and happiness. These meditations help us to experience mental peace and clarity by meditating on the mind itself. Through understanding your subconscious mind and how it works, begin to control your mind and improve your quality life more and in the future.
Next topic: Meditations for a Kind Heart | Sun 19 Mar
Improve your relationships and heal your own mind through meditations on loving kindness and compassion. Change your mindset with these simple meditations; grow your kind heart, and develop greater peace of mind and happiness. You’ll experience the benefits in your own life and in your relationships with others.
Weekend Meditation Retreat
️Fri 24 – Sun 26 Mar 2023 – Love, Desire, Attachment (SOLD OUT)
️Fri 5 – Sun 7 May 2023 – Stress Free Living
️Fri 16 – Sun 18 Jun 2023 – Eight Steps to Happiness
Fri 6pm – Sun 1pm
Teacher: Gen Kelsang Ani
Escape the stress and busyness of life and discover the peace of meditation for yourself. Be guided to cultivate greater inner peace through practical Buddhist teachings and meditations. In between sessions, enjoy the beautiful surroundings of the Glass House Mountains and the company of like- minded people. These retreats provide a wonderful opportunity to unwind, relax and gain a more positive perspective on life.
The retreat begins with dinner on Friday night and finishes with lunch on Sunday. There are plenty of opportunities to relax and unwind in the tranquil surroundings, taking in views of the Glass House Mountains. The retreat is catered with delicious vegetarian food, and includes accommodation. All you need to do is to relax and enjoy yourself. Booking is essential – please book early to ensure a place.
Venue
Glasshouse Mountains Ecolodge, 198 Barrs Road, Glass House Mountains, Sunshine Coast, Queensland.
The Ecolodge is located 70 kilometers north of Brisbane in the hinterland of the Sunshine Coast.
By car
Take exit 188 off the M1 and head along Steve Irwin Way for about 8.5km. Turn left onto Barrs Connection Road, and immediately left again into Barrs Road. Follow Barrs Road for 2.5km and the Ecolodge is on the righthand side of the road. There is ample parking onsite, however, carpooling is encouraged.
By Train
Trains run several times each morning and afternoon from Brisbane to Glasshouse Mountains station on the Nambour/Gympie North line. The Ecolodge is 3 km from the station and we will be running a pick-up and drop-off service from Glass House Mountains Train Station, which you can add at the time of booking.
Retreat Topics and Dates
24 – 26 March: Love, desire, attachment
If we wish to enjoy good relationships, it is essential that we learn to distinguish between love and attachment. While love brings only good results and happiness, attachment brings only problems and suffering such as craving, jealousy, dependence and conflict.
Learn how to distinguish between these minds and free ourselves from attachment while cultivating a pure love for others. If we practise in this way our mind will remain peaceful, and our relationships will be enjoyable, stable, fulfilling and harmonious.
5 – 7 May: Stress-free living
Stress, anxiety, worry, whatever we call it, we could all do without it. Discover how our stress, anxieties and worries arise as a result, not of the situations we encounter, people we have to deal with, stuff we have to do, but as a result of our relating to these things in unhelpful ways.
During this retreat we’ll uncover some of the negative mental habits that lie at the root of our stress and learn ways to overcome them.
16 – 18 Jun: Eight Steps to Happiness
Fill your heart with positive thoughts, good intentions, and Buddhist wisdom. By following a series of step by step meditations this retreat gives you the opportunity to connect with your own potential for inner peace and happiness and equips you with special practical methods for keeping a happy and positive mind.
The focus of the retreat will be one of Buddhism’s best loved teachings ‘Eight Verses of Training the Mind’ by the famous Buddhist meditator Geshe Langri Tangpa. These eight verses reveal powerful meditations that awaken our potential for loving kindness, compassion, and wisdom.
Fees & Booking
Prices for the retreat vary depending upon which room is booked and whether you are single or sharing a room with a friend or a partner. There are a variety of different rooms available, please see the pictures below to see the range of rooms available to book.
Prices range from $456 – $610 for singles, for those sharing a room with a friend or couple, prices range from $328 – $405 ( prices are all-inclusive, further details on the booking form).
We also offer day retreats in Brisbane city Click Here for Day Retreats
Beerwah Room
One queen bed and one single bed, ensuite bathroom. Reverse cycle air conditioning. Price includes retreat fee for one person – if sharing your room, please book additional retreat fee per person.
Orchard Room
One queen bed, ensuite bathroom. Reverse cycle air conditioning. Price includes retreat fee for one person – if sharing your room, please book additional retreat fee per person.
Family Forest Room
One queen bed and one bunk bed, ensuite bathroom. Reverse cycle air conditioning. Price includes retreat fee for one person – if sharing your room, please book additional retreat fee per person.
Train Carriage
One queen bed, ensuite bathroom, kitchenette. Reverse cycle air conditioning. Price includes retreat fee for one person – if sharing your room, please book additional retreat fee per person.
Mt Tibro Room
This room is perfect to share with a friend or two. One queen bed, two single beds in separate rooms (one mezzanine), shared full bathroom. Reverse cycle air conditioning. Price includes retreat fee for one person – if sharing your room, please book additional retreat fee per person.
Bungalow
One queen bed, full bathroom, kitchen and living room. Reverse cycle air conditioning. Price includes retreat fee for one person – if sharing your room, please book additional retreat fee per person.
Special Events
Avalokiteshvara Empowerment & Guided Retreat
️ Avalokiteshvara Empowerment: Sat 11 Mar 10am – 4pm
️ Guided Retreat: Sun 12 Mar 10am – 2.30pm
Both days: $110 | Sat 11 Mar only: $80 | Sun 12 Mar only: $50
Teacher: Gen Kelsang Ani
Buddha Avalokiteshvara is the embodiment of the compassion of all enlightened beings. An empowerment is a blissful guided meditation through which we develop a relationship with Guru Avalokiteshvara and connect with a beautiful optimistic vision of possibility and transformation in which we receive and radiate love, compassion and wisdom.
Through imagination, guided meditation and blessings, we feel personally empowered to become the person we wish to be, and to progress towards our own enlightenment.
Following the blessing empowerment on Saturday, Gen Ani will give a commentary to a daily practice of Avalokiteshvara taught in Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso’s most recent book, The Mirror of Dharma. This beautiful, concise commentary is an oral instruction that gives us a unique and direct tantric method for developing universal love and compassion.
We will then be guided to engage in this practice during in a brief retreat on Sunday. Receiving the blessings of Avalokiteshvara will help you to awaken your spiritual potential and draw closer to Buddhahood. Everybody is welcome!
The Secret of Buddha’s Smile: Discover the joy of meditation
A Public Talk
Save the Date
️ Thu 13 April
7pm – 8.30pm | Doors Open 6.30pm
Guest Teacher, Gen Kelsang Rabten, National Spiritual Director for Kadampa Buddhism in South East Asia, Australia & New Zealand. Gen Rabten exemplifies the essence of the modern Kadampa’s way of life, brings a warm heart and joyful attitude to sharing Buddha’s teachings and the practice of meditation.
More information coming soon
National Festivals
Our national events are held at our Mother centre at Kadampa Meditation Centre Australia, in the Dandenong Ranges, Victoria.
International Festivals
International Spring Festival 2023
The source of happiness and goodness
with Gen-la Kelsang Dekyong
May 26 – 31 2023, at Manjushri KMC, UK
A special International Refuge Vow Ceremony
& commentary to The Liberating Prayer based on a special transmission Gen-la received directly from Venerable Geshe-la
More information coming soon
International Summer Festival 2023
The paths of Sutra & Tantra
with Gen-la Kelsang Dekyong and Gen-la Kelsang Jampa
Week 1, Kadam Lamrim with Gen-la Jampa
Week 2, Heruka Body Mandala and Vajrayogini Highest Yoga Tantra empowerments and commentaries
July 28 – Aug 12, at Manjushri KMC, UK
More information coming soon
