A wonderful retreat in Golden Bay

In November, a small group of people gathered together to experience the 9 day online Ren Xue Yuan Tze retreat in-person. What better place to do this than at the beautiful neighbouring retreat centre of Shambhala in Onekaka, Golden Bay.  This retreat centre has been built over the last 35 years by John Clere inspired by his Tibetan Buddhist experiences on retreat. He has created a peaceful place with a beautiful practice hall and accommodation. 
A group of 14 people, mostly from the local area, learned, practiced and grew together in a nourishing Qifield integrating with the Qifield of the Ren Xue land in a very natural way, enjoying visits to the retreat centre site and farm as part of the retreat experience.  It was inspiring to see how the future retreat centre will function in the future as an integral part of the farm and community which surround it.  It was fantastic to visit Steve on the farm who gave us a great tour and showed us around the orchard plantings and shared the vision. 

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Memorial Benches

Some of us spent an afternoon at the new memorial benches installed by Chris Turton to honour the legacy of Annie Currie who was a supporter of the project. It was very moving to hear the story of Annie from Chris and we all experienced the beauty of the words on the plaque "Settle in to Stillness Here".  These benches have been placed so that people can easily access and spend some quiet moments in contemplation and connection with nature. We are so grateful to Annie for her generous gift and Chris for all her energy in the project.

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Huge thanks to everyone who made this retreat such a success.  Enjoy the photos and amazing memories....