just do it

You can be a part of the wake up movement right away -  just experiment with bringing the basic practices of enlightened living into your daily life, and you immediately connect yourself to a diverse global family walking the same path. Wherever in the world you may be, you can start the practice of deep relaxation, enjoying your steps and breath and sitting meditation. You can even offer the planet a car free day or treat yourself to a mindful walk in nature with friends. To help get a sense of what we're all about, have a read of our mission statement and the five mindfulness trainings, or watch the video of the day the wake up movement was born.

get together

It's a lot more fun to do these things with like-minded friends. Anyone can set up a wake up group wherever they are. Perhaps 2 or 3 people you already know might like to join you - and you can also use this site to find others in the same country or town. Simply sitting quietly, walking in nature, sharing deeply and hanging out together, being really present for one another, can be totally nourishing, supportive - and refreshing. Your wake up group can be as informal and dynamic as you like - be creative! You can get together for picnics (like in Belgium), or awakened weekends by the sea (like in the UK) or days of mindfulness with young monastics (like in Paris). Since the wake up movement came into being in Summer '08, young people have set up groups all over Europe and the US. You can too, and the young monastics at Plum Village and Deer Park will do all they can to support you. Just let us know what you are planning to do and what we can do to help.

Check out the upcoming Wake Up Events Listings, and check out the country pages to see what's going on in your country - that's also the best place on the site to fine and get in touch with others near you. If we don't have a page yet for your country, send us your request, and we'll publish one right away. You can also join active wake up groups on Facebook: the International Wake Up group; the UK Wake Up Group; the TTT Wake Up Group- and please feel free to create one for your own country too.

come to a retreat

Many of us first came into contact with meditation and mindfulness by going to a retreat in the Plum Village tradition. All year round you're welcome to come along and experience daily awakened living in the Plum Village tradition practice centres: Plum Village in Southwest France; Maison de L'Inspir' in Paris, Deer Park in California and Blue Cliff in New York. The average age of our international community of monks and nuns is twenty-something, so young people are right at home! You can come and stay with us for a day, a long weekend, a week or even a few months. You can download registration forms online and book by email. Reductions (or work-exchange-scholarships) are normally available for students and under-25's - don't forget to ask when you book.

Plum Village monastics also travel to lead retreats in the Spring and Autumn all over Europe and the USA. Checkout the main Plum Village 2009 calendar, or the Wake Up Events Listings. You never know, we may be coming to a city near you!

get involved in the website

Write!..... We're always very happy to receive articles. Just write about your experience of waking up and living deeply your daily life - being a 21st century counter-cultural revolutionary! Please send articles, poems, stories and photos to: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Even though this site is only in its early days, and we're working hard to publish lots of things up here, if there are some articles or multimedia content you'd like to see, but that we haven't posted yet, please feel free to let us know, so this site can be as helpful and nourishing and inspiring as possible.

Translate!.......Can you translate? We need help translating this site so it can be as international as our community. If you can translate from English or French into any one of the following languages, we'd love to hear from you:

Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Flemish, Portuguese, Russian, Vietnamese, Chinese, Thai, Hindi

You can help us on an article-by-article basis; no commitment required!

Help!......... Do you know how to use Joomla! or would you like to learn? We're always looking for a helping hand with the technical and editorial aspects of the website. Please get in touch with the webmasters if you'd like to be a cyber bodhisattva!