The timeless idea of a retreat is to remove ourselves from the endless distractions of the mind, of our responsibilities, of the demands that life places on us, so we can remember and re-engage with the deepest part of ourselves. Retreats can infuse our lives with the qualities of peace, joy, and the knowledge that within ourselves, we mysteriously are never truly alone, we’re always connected to something bigger.
The retreats
Emergence Foundation retreats are an opportunity for those with fully engaged lives to step away for some time from the intensity of a committed life.
The purpose of the retreats is to provide a space in which we can discover or recover the experience of being—our fundamental nature, and the peace and depth of trust in life this inspires. So that once again we can engage with the world, refreshed, rejuvenated and purposeful.
Through the simple practices of meditation, inquiry, conscious movement, and attuning to nature, we offer our retreat participants the chance to regenerate at the deepest level—to awaken to new perspectives, and to bring the fullness of ourselves to a world that desperately needs our creative engagement.
The thread we follow is one of listening: listening to ourselves, to each other, as well as to the space around us. When we listen deeply, the gap between that mysterious depth we discover in silence and ourselves, each other, and the world around us, starts to fall away.
Meditation is the foundation of social action. Some people remove themselves from the world. In isolation there is existence, but Life is in relationships.
Vimala Thakar
What we offer
The retreat provides a trusting, open space, where people feel supported and enabled to engage in self-discovery and collaborative inquiry.
Meditation
The meditation we offer is for anyone at any level, including if you have no experience at all. Meditation is all about letting go and discovering the experience of being. Through developing awareness and attention, meditation becomes a portal to stillness, peace and clarity. For those new to meditation, guidance is provided. The meditation sessions are led and interspersed with the opportunity to ask questions and explore one’s experience.
Inquiry
We offer small, facilitated discussions on themes that are relevant to our lives, and our relationship to the world at large. Real inquiry is based on developing the ability and willingness to listen. To be interested in what we don’t already know, to engage our own thinking, and to not be afraid to speak from our own authentic voice. When a small group comes together in this way, inquiry becomes a collective creative process of insight and discovery.
Conscious movement
These sessions will introduce people to the intelligence of the body. They are an invitation to the transformative potential of simple improvisation and embodied movement practices, approached with consciousness and care. These solo and collaborative movement experiences engender sensory awakening, regeneration, and reflection, offering us a chance to slow down, listen, and look inwardly — into the body, soul and life itself.
Attuning to nature
Through the conscious use of our five senses and the activation of the chi-energy beyond the physical body, these sessions provide a space to awaken us to our interrelationship with, and inseparability from, the natural and more-than-human world.
These four portals to the deepest part of ourselves fit naturally together in a wholistic tapestry, that enriches our experience and our capacities as human beings.
While on retreat there is also time to simply be alone and to spend time in the beauty of nature.
Transitioning back to the world
At the closure of a retreat, we bring a focus to transitioning back to our lives and work in a positive and purposeful way. How do we integrate what we have experienced, and think about next steps.
Emergence Foundation retreats are an open invitation to remember that underlying our day-to-day experience is a depth that is always present, always available, ever regenerative, always loving, always giving.
Voices from the 2026 retreat
What people said after the last retreat, in their own words.
