August youth retreat at Plum Village is now confirmed!

The annual youth retreat has just been given its final go-ahead by the elders at Plum Village, and will take place 21-28 August 2009.

We’ve chosen these vacation dates so that as many people from as many countries as possible can come. This year the retreat will take place between Lower Hamlet and Upper Hamlet, so that we can accomodate over 100 young people (as well as the 50 -70 young monastics who will participate in this retreat!) It will be the biggest yet. 

It’s the one time in the Plum Village year that we create a program specifically for young people – full of energy and relaxation, spontaneity and authenticity. We’ve now started having young people’s retreats all over Europe and the US, but this is the one chance for us to come together from all over the world to a beautiful corner of France.

This retreat is created for young people, by young people. We’ll come together to nourish our joy, chill out in nature, relax and just be ourselves. We’ll have sitting meditation and walking meditation, bonfires, and hikes and frisbee... creative workshops and a lot of music. Bring your inspiration!

Register now in English or French

Over 30 young practitioners from all over the world (including Croatia, Australia, Holland, Sweden, Germany, Ireland, Israel and the United States) have just completed the intense adventure of the bi-annual 21-day retreat here in Plum Village.  Some were in Plum Village for the first time, some had been before, and others had stayed in our monasteries in Paris or Germany or the U.S.

As well as soaking up all the sitting and walking meditations, and feeding our souls with Thay’s wonderful Dharma Talks, we met for bonfires and long lazy-day hikes, ate ridiculous amounts of wild cherries and drank fresh elderflower cordial from the hedgerows. We played a lot of frisbee (and got a little bit injured doing so!). And it was great just to hang out as young folk, simply and lightly, in the free moments of the retreat......  We were so inspired by Thay’s Dharma Talks on a Universal Global Ethic, and his teachings guiding the rewriting of the 5 Mindfulness Trainings, that we

Hello everyone,

I hope you have been peaceful and happy in the happy quiet of wake up uk recently. And now it's time to turn to our plans for the summer.

Aaron is planning a trip to plum village for the last week of the summer opening (roughly 26th July - 4th Aug). The summer opening runs from the July 7th - Aug 4th and is for people of all ages with an emphasis on families. It is really lively and joyful.

Jasmine is planning a trip to plum village for the youth retreat. The dates for this are the 21st-28th August. The youth retreat will hopefully explore the kind of stuff we've been doing in the wake up uk retreats - how to practice as young people. And also trying to connect up the wake up movements going on across the world. It will undoubtedly be a lot of fun.

From the 9th-10th of May young people from all over Germany came together to play the Wake Up game with our beloved Thay and the cool Plum Village Sangha in Köln and Waldbröl!
Enjoooy the pictures (taken by TTT)!