What a truly magical experience. This retreat was a holiday for my brain and my soul. I had no idea that there was so much healing in...

The first dhamma talk Hamid gives invites us ‘to become intimate with our own mind’. This invitation shapes this retreat for me. The word...

Coming out of the world of doing, it felt quite intense to go into being. It's strange to see how something I really want - going to the...

As pointed out in the retreat there is an immense source of distractions as never before in the history of humankind. I’m sitting in an...

All reflections have a beginning, yet I am unsure where to start. How far back in time should I go for you to understand my current...

This silent retreat was GORGEOUS. And I mean gorgeous, luxurious, and delightful to the senses. Hosted in an incredible location, there...

The 8-day silent retreat in July 2023 was my second through Maitri Retreats – I also attended in July 2022 with Hamid. This time, I had...

I have attended Hamid's retreats twice : last year for an 8d retreat in Portugal and this year for a 4d retreat in Bali. Trying to...

What arises from silence is GRATITUDE. I feel blessed and privileged to have experienced such an expansive feeling throughout the...

This was to be my second meditation retreat with Hamid, and my first time ever in Bali. The excitement that comes with discovering a new...

For a period of time, the March 2023 silent retreat in Bali was not going to happen for me. Due to passport issues, my partner and I got...

Hello dear reader! Please allow me to pass along some thoughts based on my attendance at the 8 day silent retreat in Monchique. As a 37...

I arrive at The Yogi’s Garden in Payangan, Bali, with a small red suitcase. But I’m also carrying another burden, one that’s harder to...

Following a lot of great personal disappointments in my life and a general sense that my neurotic, ever-anxious, depressed mind was going...

Dreading heading straight into autumn and darkness again after what we in Norway call a “skipped summer”, I desperately searched the net...

The following words can not do justice to what is mostly an experience of the heart for me. I feel like for a week I've vanished from...

This review is really aimed at people who are ‘Umming and Ahing’ as to whether a silent retreat is the right thing for them. I first...

A note from my diary on the retreat: A homecoming. Silence is a homecoming. The first day on the first sit Tears fell down my face I felt...

I shave my head and pack my suitcase. Tomorrow the retreat in Karuna begins. I hear a pigeon calling: "You see it". There is a saying in...

A silent retreat is not an isolated event. There is a string of events, internal and external developments which prompt the call for...

I just finished my 5th retreat and what a profound experience it was. It was so healing. My thoughts were, as I had anticipated, quite...

Linda & David from Art of Euphoria share an intimate glimpse into their first silent retreat experience, with daily personal input.

By Jennifer van der Toorn - So, there I sat, Monday morning at 6AM on a meditation cushion in the temple of Karuna Centre in Portugal....

sesshin ends. last sit together. sitting with those here. sitting with those who left. with those who never came. with those who couldn’t...

Zazen makes you look at the stuff you don't want to see, the things you've been hiding from yourself, sometimes in plain sight. This is...

I swing them violently by the hair from side to side across my head. It's the recurrent dream again. I wake up. Hulk says good morning. I...

It is hard to put into words my experience of the past 6 days silent meditation and yoga retreat. This surprises me as this was my 3rd...

I write this as it is approaching three months since I spent six days on a silent meditation retreat in the hills of Monchique, Portugal....

MAITRI RETREATS AND HAMID EBADI – AN EXTRAORDINARY JOURNEY OF ‘COMING HOME’ “Meditation is a bodily practice.” I will never ever forget...

Hi everyone, my name is Jennifer. I attended one of Hamid's retreats a few years ago and I thought it could be nice to share my blog post...