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Booking via link below. A €300 deposit is required and the completion of application form. Balance to be paid by 1st June 2026.
Application Forms: For an application form please email info@mindfulness.ie
Suitable for: The retreat is open to anyone with previous experience of similar types of silent retreat of 5 days or longer. It is important that you have had some experience of being on retreat, in silence, before undertaking a retreat of this length.
This retreat is an opportunity to put aside time to dedicate it to your personal practice, without the usual pressures of daily life. You are invited into silence, supported by others also practising in silence. This can be such a supportive environment in which to immerse ourselves in living wakefully, coming closer to our own experience, coming to know 'the stranger who was yourself.'
For mindfulness teachers and teacher trainees, personal meditation practice is an essential foundation for this work, and participation in silent teacher-led mindfulness meditation retreats is part of all Good Practice Guidelines. This retreat satisfies the MTAI criteria for a mindfulness teacher's annual retreat.
This retreat will explore aspects of the discourses of the Buddha which are the foundation for the so-called 'modern mindfulness movement'. These are profound teachings that encourage us to place the path of freedom and compassion in the classroom of our lives, nurturing a heart that is receptive and unshakeable. Developing the capacity to encounter our own inner and outer experience with equanimity and curiosity creates a foundation for meeting the experiences of our students and clients, in offering mindfulness-based interventions.
Each day will offer a sustained schedule of formal Insight and Metta meditation practices, group meetings with the teachers, talks and instructions, all within an underlying environment of silence. As well as sitting and walking meditation, there will be periods of guided mindful movement each day.
Access: We welcome people with disabilities to our retreat. Please contact us with your specific needs relating to disability, long-term illness or health condition.
Donations: To allow us to be able to continue to be sustainable and inclusive in the current climate we would very much welcome donations so that we can continue to offer places at reduced rates. We hope to offer rates which continue to reflect our intention that anyone who would like to attend can do so, through collective generosity. Please consider making a donation, no matter how small.
Cancellation policy:
Cancellations up to 1st June 2026 will incur a €50 administration fee.
Cancellations after 1st June 2026 will incur the loss of the deposit.
The organisers may waive cancellation fees in exceptional circumstances, at their discretion.
Prior to your retreat, we will send some more information about what to expect whilst at Castletown.
We are delighted that Christoph and Jaya will return to Ireland this year to lead our annual retreat. They led the August retreat in Castletown in 2024 and it was a beautiful retreat. They both have a very gentle style and approach, they know the Buddhist teachings intimately, having both spent considerable time living the monastic life, and they also understand the challenges of living well in the non-monastic world. Those who participated in the retreat in 2024 really appreciated their thoughtful style of teaching and reflecting and also their senses of humour. Participants also commented on the emphasis Christoph and Jaya both place on mindful movement, which is so helpful to the body, and provides a very holistic way of approaching meditation practice. We are very happy to welcome them back, and to invite you to join us in Castletown in 2026.
Suitable for: The retreat is open to anyone with previous experience of similar types of silent retreat of 5 days or longer. It is important that you have had some experience of being on retreat, in silence, before undertaking a retreat of this length.
This retreat is an opportunity to put aside time to dedicate it to your personal practice, without the usual pressures of daily life. You are invited into silence, supported by others also practising in silence. This can be such a supportive environment in which to immerse ourselves in living wakefully, coming closer to our own experience, coming to know 'the stranger who was yourself.'
For mindfulness teachers and teacher trainees, personal meditation practice is an essential foundation for this work, and participation in silent teacher-led mindfulness meditation retreats is part of all Good Practice Guidelines. This retreat satisfies the MTAI criteria for a mindfulness teacher's annual retreat.
This retreat will explore aspects of the discourses of the Buddha which are the foundation for the so-called 'modern mindfulness movement'. These are profound teachings that encourage us to place the path of freedom and compassion in the classroom of our lives, nurturing a heart that is receptive and unshakeable. Developing the capacity to encounter our own inner and outer experience with equanimity and curiosity creates a foundation for meeting the experiences of our students and clients, in offering mindfulness-based interventions.
Each day will offer a sustained schedule of formal Insight and Metta meditation practices, group meetings with the teachers, talks and instructions, all within an underlying environment of silence. As well as sitting and walking meditation, there will be periods of guided mindful movement each day.
Access: We welcome people with disabilities to our retreat. Please contact us with your specific needs relating to disability, long-term illness or health condition.
Donations: To allow us to be able to continue to be sustainable and inclusive in the current climate we would very much welcome donations so that we can continue to offer places at reduced rates. We hope to offer rates which continue to reflect our intention that anyone who would like to attend can do so, through collective generosity. Please consider making a donation, no matter how small.
Cancellation policy:
Cancellations up to 1st June 2026 will incur a €50 administration fee.
Cancellations after 1st June 2026 will incur the loss of the deposit.
The organisers may waive cancellation fees in exceptional circumstances, at their discretion.
Prior to your retreat, we will send some more information about what to expect whilst at Castletown.
We are delighted that Christoph and Jaya will return to Ireland this year to lead our annual retreat. They led the August retreat in Castletown in 2024 and it was a beautiful retreat. They both have a very gentle style and approach, they know the Buddhist teachings intimately, having both spent considerable time living the monastic life, and they also understand the challenges of living well in the non-monastic world. Those who participated in the retreat in 2024 really appreciated their thoughtful style of teaching and reflecting and also their senses of humour. Participants also commented on the emphasis Christoph and Jaya both place on mindful movement, which is so helpful to the body, and provides a very holistic way of approaching meditation practice. We are very happy to welcome them back, and to invite you to join us in Castletown in 2026.
Jaya (Karen) Rudgard is a member of the faculty of The Bodhi College. She began meditating in 1984, and from 1996 to 2005 was ordained as a nun in the Thai forest tradition in England at Amaravati Buddhist Monastery. She subsequently trained as an Insight Meditation teacher at Spirit Rock in California and Insight Meditation Society in Massachusetts. She teaches meditation retreats and courses in the UK and internationally. Jaya has extensive experience teaching Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) and Mindful Self-Compassion and teaches retreats for Mindfulness teachers and teachers in training. She also enjoys practising and teaching qigong.
Christoph Köck is also a member of the Bodhi College faculty. As well as leading the August retreat in 2024 with Jaya, Christoph led an online retreat for the MTAI in 2023. Attendees at both retreats really appreciated his non-dogmatic, reflective style. .
Christoph was born in Vienna, Austria, and spent 17 years of his life as a Buddhist monk in the Theravadin tradition. He lived mainly in monasteries connected with Ajahn Chah in Thailand and the West. Currently he lives in Vienna, working as a psychotherapist in a private practice. He teaches Buddhism and meditation internationally, and is trained to teach MBSR and MBCT.
