The Whole in your Heart

Eden Rise, Devon

11th - 17th December 2026

The invitation

There are many ways to meditate — in stillness, motion, and voice — and many directions in which meditation can lead. This retreat is a celebration of those many forms and an exploration of the unity that underlies them. The practices we’ll be doing work together in powerful ways to support a deepening of awareness, a dropping into stillness and peace, a shedding of tension and constriction, and a greater sense of the sheer mystery of being alive.

In this retreat we'll bring together a potent mix of practices — sitting meditation, mantra, relational meditation, and asana — experiencing for ourselves how they complement and empower each other.

No prior retreat experience is necessary, but a curiosity and willingness to engage are a must. If you have any questions or doubts about whether this retreat might be right for you, get in touch.

The name of this retreat is a nod to two strands that run through what we’ll be doing.

On one level, there is often a sense of lack that arises when we come away from the constant stimulation of daily life into retreat. This "hole", if given space, time and the right kind of awareness, ferments and ripens into wholeness — a recognition that what we were looking for was never really somewhere else.

On another, it points to the understanding that the cultivation of love (or compassion, or joy) in meditation is actually the same thing as the recognition of our inseparability from everything else. We share our being with all beings. In the Buddhist traditions, wisdom and compassion are sometimes described as two wings of a bird — they imply, require, and support each other. Nisargadatta Maharaj puts it like this:

“Wisdom tells me I am nothing. Love tells me I am everything. Between the two, my life flows.”

This short quote will be the closest thing we have to a textbook on this retreat.

A common thread that meditative practices pull on is doing less. Allowing the mind to begin to relinquish its habitual and sometimes painful loops of scanning for threats and opportunities. Becoming aware of the layers of tension that keep our hearts at arm’s length from ourselves and others. Noticing that even the sense of "me" as a separate, well-defined thing is something we’re constructing, moment to moment. As we give ourselves space to unfold and decompress, layers of "doing" we had no awareness of begin to soften and dissolve.

What this reveals is an irreducible mystery at the heart of things. The exploration of what it means to be "me" finds no final resting point, but instead an ever-deepening intimacy with what’s actually here. Compassion turns out to be the natural expression of that intimacy, not an extra thing we’re trying to install into ourselves.

We’ll draw from Buddhist, Advaita and other contemplative traditions, treating teachings as strategies rather than dogmas — useful to the extent they orient practice in a helpful direction, rather than as final descriptions of reality.

The practices

Silence

Most of the retreat is held in silence. We’ll arrive on the first evening speaking, ease into silence over the first full day, and hold it until the final day, when we’ll gradually come back out. Some practices do involve using our voices — sharing experience, chanting mantras — and the background of silence allows these to become even more potent.

Meditation

We’ll meditate several times a day, some sessions guided, some silent. We’ll explore a range of approaches, because no two people meditate in quite the same way — part of what we’re doing is helping each person find their own route into awareness, steadiness, and ease. At least one session each day will be given to metta or compassion practice.

Relational meditation

A contemplative practice in pairs or small groups: we take turns speaking our experience and listening, while staying in meditation throughout. The speaking and listening aren’t discussion or reflection — they are themselves the meditation. Meditating in the presence of another can open a kind of shared experience, where what one person touches can support and deepen the same in the other.

Chanting

We’ll chant twice a day, morning and evening, using simple Sanskrit mantras. The sound vibrating in our bodies becomes a surprisingly powerful object for meditative awareness, allowing us to absorb into the mantra. Sometimes the chants will carry an intention — for example, Lokah samastah sukhino bhavantu (may all beings everywhere be happy).

Yoga and movement

The movement practices we’ll do together are a way of grounding awareness in our bodies. Meditative practice goes more easily when we’re at home in the body, and moving and breathing with awareness helps us settle into that ground. As the body opens, the mind and heart tend to settle along with it.

Sharing circles

Each day includes a sharing circle — a chance to share our experience as we move through the retreat, and hear from our fellow explorers. Being on retreat can be wondrous, boring, lonely, funny, and pretty much any other adjective you can think of. Having a space to express some of what’s happening in our internal world often helps free things up.

Who this is for

This retreat is open to anyone with a genuine interest in contemplative practice. You don’t need to have sat a retreat before. Some prior experience of meditation, yoga, or other practice will give you a helpful foundation, but this is not required — what matters more is willingness to engage.

It will suit you if you’re drawn to spend six days in mostly silent practice, and are willing to meet whatever your own experience brings up. It will also suit you if you’re curious about practices — chanting, relational meditation, metta, movement — that aren’t always included in silent retreats, and you’d like to see what happens when they’re held together in a single container.

This might not be the right retreat for you if you’re currently in an acute mental health crisis, or if recent trauma is near the surface and unprocessed — in those cases, intensive silent practice can sometimes intensify what’s difficult rather than help. If you’re unsure whether the timing is right for you, get in touch and we’ll have a conversation about it.

Practicalities

The schedule: Days run from around 6:45am to 8:30 – 9pm, full but not extreme — there’s enough time to get a full night’s sleep. The atmosphere is supportive rather than challenging or austere.
Food: Two meals a day — a substantial brunch mid-morning and a main meal in the afternoon — with fruit, nuts, tea and snacks throughout. Everything is vegetarian; all main dishes are vegan and gluten-free. Simple and nourishing: porridge with toppings, eggs and toast, dhals, stews, soups, plenty of vegetables. Meals are eaten in silence for most of the retreat. It takes some getting used to, but often becomes one of the unexpected pleasures of being on retreat.
Work period: A short work period each day — around 30 – 45 minutes — when everyone helps with meal prep and basic tasks around the house. This keeps costs down, and is itself a form of practice — bringing mindfulness into daily activities. If you can’t do a particular job for any reason, that’s fine; there will be enough hands.
Accessibility: Eden Rise is a converted barn complex with some stairs. If you have specific access needs, get in touch and we’ll talk through what’s possible. Same for any health conditions or dietary requirements beyond gluten-free/vegan.
The venue: A pair of converted barns set in the Devon countryside near Totnes. A simple, comfortable place — large practice room with a wooden floor, kitchen and dining area, lounge, underfloor heating throughout. Accommodation is a mix of shared and single rooms, all with shared bathrooms. Outside there’s a garden with a fire bowl, and access to the surrounding land for walks.
Getting there: Eden Rise is close to Totnes, with its main-line rail station. We’ll help arrange lifts or taxis from the station for people travelling by train.
Arrival and departure: The retreat runs from the evening of Friday 11 December to around midday on Thursday 17 December 2026. Arrival is from 5pm on the Friday; the retreat ends after a final sharing and optional lunch on the Thursday.
After booking: You’ll receive a short questionnaire covering health, dietary needs, and anything else that will help us support you well during the week. If anything comes up there that we want to talk through, we’ll be in touch. Questions before booking? Email Will at willje1986@gmail.com.

Booking

Booking is secured with a deposit. The balance is payable by 1st November 2026 — I’ll send you a Stripe invoice closer to the date.

The bursary rate is offered to anyone who would like to come, but would not be able to afford the full price. To book a bursary place, please email me directly.

Balance payable by 1st November 2026.

Single room

Your own private room.

£550 total · £150 deposit · £400 balance

2 places remaining

Twin room (shared with one other)

A bed in a twin room shared with one other retreatant.

£450 total · £150 deposit · £300 balance

4 places remaining

Bed in a 6-person dorm

A bed in a shared dorm room.

£350 total · £150 deposit · £200 balance

6 places remaining

Sleep in your own campervan

Park up at the venue and sleep in your own small campervan.

£350 total · £150 deposit · £200 balance

2 places remaining

Bursary place

A reduced-rate place in the 6-person dorm. Email me to book.

£200 total · £100 deposit · £100 balance

Get in touch

The Whole in your Heart

£350 – £550

Book your place