About Lenorë

The days will be structured, including facilitated sessions, individual activities (e.g. guided reflections and planning), short meditations, small group sharing, and of course meals. There will also be free time scheduled into each day where you can enjoy the beautiful grounds, a swim in the pool, or an afternoon nap. There will be one evening session each day, after dinner.

Many spiritual retreats are silent except for teacher-led sessions. This silence helps our minds slowly disembark the rat-wheels that they can occupy by habit. This retreat will have some periods of silence, but will also allow time for connecting with others as we consider the opportunity to share our experiences of this time of life, to be valuable.

We expect participants to take care of themselves, and extend that care to the group. This includes being respectful and considerate to other participants and those involved in running the retreat.

We expect you'll engage in the retreat process as openly as you can, with a willingness to be curious about your own experience, whether that's pleasant, unpleasant or somewhere in-between. The benefit you receive from the retreat will be proportional to this engagement.

We expect you to be respectful and supportive of others' experiences that are shared with you, including not disclosing others' personal information during or after the retreat.

If you're receiving therapy for mental health issues, we ask that you discuss with your therapist whether the retreat is appropriate for you. Some sessions will involve reflections that can be emotionally challenging for some people (e.g. vividly imagining yourself very old and at the end of your life; being willing to inspect and discuss your past, and your own habits and behaviours). Mental health difficulties won't necessarily preclude you from participating, but we would need to be sure that your mental state is robust enough to engage in these kinds of activities without causing harm.

If you're not receiving therapy and you have mental health issues - first we would strongly recommend supporting yourself by arranging this help in your life. We want to be sure that the retreat process is beneficial for you, and not harmful, so if you are in any way uncertain that you have the emotional resources to be able to think about and discuss emotionally challenging subject matter, please procure your therapist's guidance on whether this is appropriate for you at this moment in time. It's important that this kind of relationship is in place to support you after the retreat too.

The retreat centre is approximately 1:20 drive from the Sydney CBD. The closest train station is Gosford which is 15km away. When you register you'll be asked if you need a lift from either Sydney or the Gosford train station, or whether you're able to offer one. We can't guarantee this help with transit, but you may be lucky!

No. The venue is a retreat centre for spiritual retreats and the like, which is very different to a spa retreat. A spa retreat can easily cost $1000/day just for the food and accommodation (i.e. not including the guided retreat experience). Such venues would be cost-prohibitive for many people, so we have chosen more modest accommodations and catering that are still very pleasant and able to be booked exclusively. There are also cheaper spiritual retreat centres, however these offer only shared rooms, and/or shared bathrooms. We have chosen this venue because, not only is it beautiful and spacious, with lots of nature for your solo time, but participants all get their own rooms and bathrooms. It's also not too far from Sydney, so transport is not a major undertaking. Personal growth and spiritual retreats are different animals to relaxation retreats!

It would be a good idea to start meditating before you attend this retreat, however it's not essential.

Meditation is not a complicated activity, it's simply the practice of being aware. You can start by finding a quiet, private space and sitting comfortably. Set a timer for at least 13 minutes (research shows 12.5 minutes is the minimum to receive some of the serenity benefits), close your eyes and simply try to notice your experience through any of six channels - the five senses we all know, plus the mind. You can choose one sense and try to focus on that (gently bringing your mind back to it when it wanders, which it will - no problem!) - for instance the feeling or sound of your breath moving in and out of your body. Or you can place your attention more broadly on your experience and see which sense/s are easiest to monitor. Don't forget we're including the mind and its movements as a possible channel for noticing.

After your meditation, make some brief notes of your experience, even if that was 'don't remember a thing!' :)

Our very strong preference is for participants to be fully present (body and mind) for the whole retreat as the experience is designed as a whole. If you have a very compelling need to truncate your retreat, please speak to the facilitator.