Deep Rest Meditation Retreat with Jaya Ashmore / 22nd – 29th June

Week-long Retreat with Jaya Ashmore – Catalonia – June 22-29, 2024

Jaya welcomes new and experienced meditators to this week of silence, aliveness and deep rest meditation. The teachings on this retreat are offered on donation.

Rest facilitates healing and learning. Deep rest helps us to be in touch with aliveness beyond ideas and to remember what is important in life. In supportive conditions, we can feel more at home in life, and in ourselves, and begin to listen to our own experience and inner guidance.

Jaya offers embodied, finely-tuned meditation instructions to help lower the “alarm system” of stress and to connect directly with life. From there, old habits and wounds can resolve with less drama than when we force things. And we are more likely to fall into natural spaciousness, joy and insight. This real quality shift makes a difference in inner and outer life.

On this retreat, you are welcome to lie down or sit for meditation in the hall—whatever position best supports depth in your meditation. In addition to 45-minute meditations in the hall, the daily schedule also encourages meditation during periods of walking, meals, rest, and collaborating with daily tasks such as cleaning and gardening. Jaya also offers three optional activities: one-to-one meetings, meditative movement and meditative singing.

The schedule, the surrounding forested hills, the friendly yet dignified atmosphere, and Jaya’s practical and inspired guidance work together to help retreatants find out what works well for them, on their unique paths. The days will be in silence apart from specific times in the hall for instructions, teachings, questions and singing. This is not the silence of censorship or of trying to be good—but rather the sweet silence of freedom that allows old programming to fall away.

Set in lush meadowland in the foothills of the Pyrenees, Les Gavatxes allows us to be at home in the wild. Padding on soft grass along the paths to the meditation hall, we have the company of forested mountains near and far. During the longer lunch break, the river or shaded mountain trails may call. After the evening meditation, we can enjoy unhurried stargazing.

Jaya makes her teachings and support available on a completely donation basis—following an age-old tradition of offering teachings in trust and allowing participants to feel the joy and challenge of engaging in mutual support.
Jaya receives no income from retreat fees, apart from travel costs and her stay during the retreat.
You will have the opportunity to give conscious donations from the heart at the end of the retreat.

Language: The retreat will be held in English. Jaya can understand and speak in Catalan and Spanish for one-to-one meetings, if needed.

About Jaya:
Jaya Ashmore has taught meditation and awakening to thousands of people in a dozen mcountries since 1999. Also an artist and mother, she revolutionized silent retreats by introducing deep rest meditation over twenty years ago.
Born in the U.S., where she studied religion and art at Harvard, Jaya began practicing meditation in 1985, and was authorized to teach in 1998. In her teachings, Jaya has deep experience in Buddhism, Yoga, Advaita (non-duality), Christianity and Hindu mysticism, as well as ecology, poetry, embodied movement, and the Japanese art of Jin Shin Jyutsu.
Based in India with her teachers for two decades, Jaya founded the nonprofit Open Dharma in the early 2000s to support awakening for people from any and no religion. She is also grateful to have co-founded Open Dharma in Catalonia and, from 2008-2016, the eco-retreat center Dharmaloca in Catalonia, Spain.
In 2022, she published Already Here, a book of dharma drawings. Her teachings and art also feature in the Open Dharma anthology Out of Nowhere. Both books are available on jayaashmore.org/books

Accommodation

~Shared room Indoor accommodation is in simple yet beautiful rooms in the stone house and a wooden cabin, shared between 2-6 people. All bathrooms are shared. Bedding and towels are provided.

~Yurt The yurt space accommodates 3 people and has its own bathroom, beds and bedding, but no electricity (Only male identifying people can book the yurt space – 1 space left).

~Camping In a designated area, with beautiful views. Please bring your own camping equipment, including bedding/sleeping bag, towel, torch/flashlight, tent, and everything else you need to be comfortable.

The Cost
For the whole retreat, not including donations for manager and teacher:

Shared indoor accommodation: 480 €
Yurt: 410 €
Camping: 375 €

Please note that we cannot take bookings for specific rooms or sharing arrangements just for either the indoor, yurt or camping option. Rooms will be allocated on arrival.

The 65 dollar (60 euros) registration fee will be subtracted from the amounts above.

Donations(dana) for managers and teacher
Your deposit covers the travel costs, food and accommodation of both teacher and on-site manager.

At the end of this retreat you will be welcomed to offer donations to Jaya, Frances and Emma.
These retreats would not be possible without the organizational support of a manager. This year Frances will do the pre-retreat organizing and Emma will be the on-site manager during the week of retreat. Their work begins several months before the retreat and continues during and after the retreat. They take it all on joyfully and in the spirit of generosity, and your donations, shared between them, will help make their generous support sustainable.

Jaya also offers her time and work happily, and is able to teach this retreat because past donations have sustained her life as a mother, artist, meditator, householder, and taxpayer. She lives on donation even in a time when many teachers have had to start charging for teachings. Your support is very welcome.

Transport
The nearest airport is Girona, and further away is Barcelona and from there it is possible to take public transport to Olot or Castellfollit de la Roca. Rides from there can be arranged with Les Gavatxes for between 20-50 euros. Once you have registered you will receive information about booking rides. There is also an international train station in Figueres, and an airport and international train station nearby in Perpignan, France.

Timings
Please arrive between 2-3:30 pm on Saturday, June 22. The Retreat will begin that day at 6pm and will end after lunch on Saturday, June 29th, at 2pm. Please make sure your departure is between 2pm and 5pm.

To reserve your space on the retreat, please complete the registration form and submit 65 Dollars retreat deposit.

We look forward to seeing you on retreat!