Urban Winter Retreat: Preparing Your Nest

As winter approaches, what is your response? Whether you embrace winter or resist it, we invite you to rest into its qualities as you feather your nest and consciously prepare for a time of comfort, reflection, nourishment and growth.

On this urban retreat, Breathworks Associate Teachers Sophie Matthew and Emma Tian Williamson will guide you in creating your own roadmap for ‘wintering’, showing you new ways you can turn towards this season and take advantage of its many gifts. 

At a time where the bright lights of the holiday season pull you into activity, we invite you to slow down.

When instincts are to draw inwards and hibernate, we invite you to unfurl and find connection in movement and community.

Held in the peaceful city hideaway of West London Buddhist Centre, you will spend two days exploring practices and tools to help you make the most of a more contemplative time. From heart-opening meditation and connection practices, to embodied movement and qigong to melt away tension.

The retreat will provide an opportunity to reflect and cultivate the fruits of your practice, and will be welcoming space to meet and connect with others.

The weekend is non-residential, so if you are travelling from out of town you will need to arrange your own accommodation. 

What You Will Gain

• Soak up the benefits of a retreat without leaving the city
• Resource yourself with tools to sustain you through the winter period 
• Learn how to sync with the seasons 
• Reflect and set intentions for a new season
• Find comfort through nourishing movement 
• Go deeper in your practice with two focused days of meditation & mindful movement 

Who This Event Is For 

People with more than 2 months of meditation experience.

What to Bring

Please arrange your own lunch daily, there are plenty of cafés and supermarkets around the area and the centre has a kitchen/lounge area if you wish to bring a packed lunch or eat in the space. Refreshments, hot drinks and biscuits will be provided for tea breaks. 

We recommend wearing loose and comfy clothing, and bringing a water bottle (water refill available at the centre). 

Details

When: Saturday 9 & Sunday 10 November 2024

Time:  Saturday 13:30 - 17:30, Sunday 9:30 - 17:30 UK time (see this Time Zone Converter for your time zone)

Where: West London Buddhist Centre, 45a Porchester Rd, W2 5DP, London

Schedule

Your Retreat Leaders

Sophie Matthew

Sophie has been a fully accredited Mindfulness teacher for the past five years and has been practising mindfulness and meditation for the past nine. She has found this to be transformative in her own life, particularly in relation to stress and living with chronic pain, and is passionate about sharing its many deep benefits with others.

Sophie is an Associate Teacher for Breathworks and regularly teaches both Mindfulness for Stress and Mindfulness for Health courses at the West London Buddhist Centre, the Breathworks Centre of Excellence in London. Sophie is also a Breathworks Supervisor. She also teaches MBSR, MBCT, MBCT for Life,Mindfulness in Schools Foundations and Nurturing Parents; Mindfulness Wellbeing for Parents courses.

Sophie very much enjoys working collaboratively and doing what she can to support others on their own unique and individual journeys with mindfulness.

Emma Tian Williamson

Emma is a mindfulness teacher based in London, with an approach that focuses on mind and body awareness. 

Drawn to mindfulness after a period of work related burnout, she found integrative practices of yoga and meditation to be ‘antidotes for modern life’. Fascinated by the power we hold to transform our minds, Emma’s style of teaching explores ways that we can respond to life in more calm, creative and kind ways.

As a Breathworks Associate Teacher, she runs 8-week courses and workshops for the organisation and teaches at the West London Buddhist Centre.. She also co-runs the People of Colour group on the Community of Practice as a space for people to find commonality and representation in the mindfulness world.

With her Head of Marketing and Communications hat on, she created the Conscious Marketing for Mindfulness Teachers course to help other teachers gain the confidence and skills to master marketing.

Outside of Breathworks, she runs her wellbeing consultancy Flow & Create where she holds mindfulness and wellness programmes for workplaces and individuals.

She also teaches yoga and qi gong around London, and enjoys bringing her own mindful movement approach to her classes.

For her, what she loves most about teaching is passing on the tools that have helped her to live a more balanced and happy life.

ABOUT THE VENUE

Tucked away off West London's Porchester Road, the West London Buddhist Centre is in a beautifully designed space that provides a pocket of calm in the city.  

GETTING THERE

The centre is a 2 minute walk from Royal Oak and a 15 minute walk from Paddington, Queensway and Bayswater stations. It is also well connected with frequent bus links. 

ACCESSIBILITY

The whole centre is fully accessible with a lift, disabled shower and toilet.

Cost 

Supporter's Rate Pay for yourself and help support one person to join on a Bursary.	£345
Individual Rate Full-priced rate	£275
Concessionary Rate For those in financial hardship who cannot afford our full priced rate (see below for more).	£175
Bursary Rate A limited number of places are reserved for those unable to afford the Concessionary Rate.	£105

A Guide to Concessionary & Bursary Place

Breathworks is a charitable organisation with a mission to make the benefits of mindfulness accessible to everyone. To help remove barriers for people in financial hardship, we offer a limited number of concessionary and bursary places on events and courses. We operate our booking system on the basis of self-assessment and trust. Please have a careful read of our eligibility guide below, and contact us if you have any further questions.

Concessionary Rate: applies to individuals with an income of less than £22,000 a year (or less than £25,000 if you live in London).

Bursary Rate: a limited number of bursary places are reserved for individuals with significant financial barriers that limits them from affording the Concessionary Rate.

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