Regularly dedicating an evening, a day or a week to the focused practice of mindfulness in the company of like-minded people can make a big difference in finding more sanity in our busy lives. Most of these offerings are for people with some experience of mindfulness.
Longer, residential retreats are often a turning point for people, taking the understanding of mindfulness to a deeper level and helping to make it an integral part of one's life.
Coming Down to Earth and into the Heart
5 day retreat with meditation and mindful movement
Thursday 14 – Tuesday 19 August 2025
for people with some previous experience, suitable for mindfulness CPD
with Ratnadevi and Kristine Mackenzie-Janson
It’s easy to get swept away by the pace of life and end up reacting rather than responding to what’s coming at you. This retreat offers a chance to pause and re-set, to reflect and be profoundly nourished by the natural beauty and welcome of the island.
There is a power in appreciation – it brings into focus what really matters to us: it may be kindness, connection, beauty or an inner spaciousness. Likewise, difficult experiences, as we acknowledge and allow them, can be a way in to discover what we long for. When we discover our heart’s orientation and come to trust it, our inner strength and resilience grow and we go back to ‘normal life’ with a refreshed sense of purpose and agency.
Mindful movement is highly effective in down-regulating our stress levels and settling our nervous system, particularly when done spaciously and with an emphasis on presence and enjoyment in our body as it is. It will help us to feel well-toned and grounded in our sensory experience, less prone to mental proliferation.
We are drawing from several disciplines: Chi-Kung, Yoga, Feldenkrais Method and fascia stretches. It doesn’t require any particular degree of fitness and flexibility, and people with particular health issues should get in touch with Ratnadevi prior to booking.
On the retreat we flow organically between movement and stillness, learning to see, hear, smell and touch the world with fresh appreciation and open-heartedness, doing less and being more. Some of the meditations on this retreat will explore kindness and compassion, developing skills to be more accepting and caring towards ourselves, others and the world. Acknowledging any inner objections or doubts is part of the process, as we encourage all of ourselves onto this organic journey.
Once we have got to know each other a bit, much of the time will be in silence, including mealtimes and overnight. This will give us the opportunity to go deeper, while still feeling in connecting with others. In fact, allowing ourselves to be nourished by a growing sense of being part of something bigger, is a large part of our intention for the retreat. It can be so relaxing to the hard-working parts of us that are so used to striving on our own. There will also be opportunities to share what’s emerging in small groups. Weather permitting some practice will take place outside, in the peaceful and magical setting of the island – maybe doing walking meditation among the horses.
Bookings and cost:
In order to secure a place on the retreat, you must pay the tuition fee (which includes hall hire) of £270 by clicking the booking button below. We recommend you book soon to avoid disappointment.
You go the Holy Isle website to choose your room and pay for your accommodation and food. See their website for information on types of accommodation and costs.
Important: The retreat starts with supper on the first day and finishes after breakfast on the final day. It is important to attend for the whole duration of the retreat, to ensure the best experience for yourself and the group.
The retreat is not suitable for people who experience major mental issues. If in doubt, please contact Ratnadevi or Kristine prior to booking.
Contact: info@livingmindfulness.net or kristine.m.janson@gmail.com
Connecting Beyond the Surface
a foundation course on mindful & compassionate communication within oneself & with others
for experienced meditators, with Kristine Mackenzie-Janson and Ratnadevi
one day in-person, 20 Sep 25, 10am – 5pm, followed by 6 online sessions, Wednesdays 7 – 9pm, starting 24 Sep. Three of these sessions will be taught, alternating with meeting in small peer practice groups.
Cost: £200 – £170 – £140 (If the price is an obstacle to you joining this course, please get in touch with Ratnadevi)
Mindfulness and compassion practice can open up a sense of choice and ease in many areas of our lives, but we may still feel ourselves at a loss and disappointed in ourselves when it comes to communication. Our buttons get pushed and before we know it, words come out in ways that lead to hurt, misunderstanding and mutual defensiveness. Or we play it safe and just skim the surface, at the cost of not accessing the openness, love, depth and mystery of connectedness that we intuit is possible. Maybe, after years of trying, we wonder whether it really could be different, whether we could ever feel confident in our ability to stay grounded, open-hearted and connected in most social circumstances?
This course offers clear and applicable tools that have the potential to make a tangible difference to the relationship with yourself and with others. You will take the expertly structured input from the teaching sessions into your practice groups to deepen and refine your skills, letting them land deeply, so that they will be available when you need them most. This is what we are aiming for:
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Cultivating a solid basis of presence, so you notice when you stop being curious about what is going on inside yourself and in the other person, and you can quickly re-centre yourself.
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Exploring the power of pausing and being choiceful about when to speak and when to receive others.
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Enhancing your awareness of feeling states and your vocabulary to accurately and sensitively convey them. Taking responsibility for your feelings and avoiding blame.
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Embracing and managing fear, including of the unknown, and becoming skilled at re-balancing the nervous system.
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Recognising your impulse to blame yourself or others as a sign of unmet needs.
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Taking time to establish empathetic understanding of everyone’s needs, as a basis for creatively finding strategies that work for everyone.
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Maturing your empathy skills - somatically, affectively and cognitively. Having empathy for yourself increases your capacity to listen.
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Developing confidence in raising an issue without starting a fight – clearly stating what happened, without judgement.
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Making requests that can be easily received and offer choice.
This workshop is informed by mindfulness and (self)-compassion practice, Non-Violent Communication (NVC), Internal Family Systems (IFS) inner parts work, Insight Dialogue and neuroscience.
Ratnadevi Holtbernd PhD is a mindfulness teacher/ trainer/ supervisor with decades of experience. As a certified coach she is skilled in effective communication tools based on NVC and IFS. She is passionate about exploring the interface of traditional Buddhist teachings (she is an ordained Buddhist) with effective contemporary methods of healing and integration. She is also an artist and writer and brings an ecological and systems-based perspective to her work. She is the author of ‘Bringing Mindfulness to Life’ and a columnist at Buddhist Door Global.
www.livingmindfulness.net info@livingmindfulness.net
Kristine Mackenzie-Janson came to being a mindfulness teacher, trainer and supervisor through her adventures in Tibetan Buddhism. She has worked as a tutor for the Mindfulness Association and as an honorary fellow of the University of Aberdeen on their MSc Studies in Mindfulness for over a decade, and loves to witness the unfolding transformation when people bring mindfulness, compassion and insight into the heart of their lives. In the last few years Kristine has become increasingly interested in how we either become closer or get disconnected in communications with others, and she qualified as a coach last year in a training based on NVC.
www.earthymindfulness.com Kristine.m.janson@gmail.com
You can book your place here. Please feel free to contact Ratnadevi or Kristine for any questions.