Meditation Retreat in 2015
Upcoming Meditation Retreat:
May 16 – 17
May 30 – 31
June 27 – 28
(For information on the program, click here.)
INNER PEACE RETREAT
A wellness programme aims to reconnect individuals of the fast-paced 21st century with their environment and self.
The Vision
The Inner Peace Retreat is designed to offer an opportunity to realise peace and happiness through meditation, which contributes to improved perception of oneself and others, harmonious relationships and increased professional contentment.
Mission
There is increasing acknowledgement that meditation is an effective and sustainable complement to medical science to treat physical and emotional illness. Inspired by the traditional and proven technique of meditation used by erudite practitioners, Kechara Forest Retreat designed a meditation program that calms and heals the body and mind.
Participants will learn the basic techniques of sitting and walking meditation and practice with trained facilitators within the sacred embrace of Mother Nature through sessions like Sunrise Meditation and Reflections at The Waterfall.
Grounding and Debriefing Exercises are specially designed to help participants internalise the wisdom teachings and experiences so that these new knowledge and tools acquired are sustained. Meditation can now become part of their daily lifestyle to further enhance their life in a wholesome manner.
Past Meditation Retreats
(click on image to enlarge)
Kechara Forest Retreat – a 21st century Green Haven
Kechara Forest Retreat (KFR) is inspired from the vision to create an authentic holistic lifestyle center where modern day spiritual aspirants can go for a get away from the hustle and bustle of hectic city life.
Observing the exposure of modern society to processed food, emotional strain and intellectual stress, our spiritual guide, H.E Tsem Rinpoche, conceptualized a haven within the natural forest of Pahang, Malaysia where people can go to rest and heal their body, spirit and soul through our carefully crafted nature program.
KFR is unique because it is created from the synergy of modern lifestyle and traditional philosophies of living.
We are now extending the opportunity for visitors to engage in inviting, fun and effective wholesome-living nature programs. There are set programs that encompass a variety of activities to give participants a comprehensive experience of Mother Nature and KFR. Tailor designed programs can also be drawn up from the selection of activities available.
Meditation Program – Standard
Time:
Check-in: Day 1 at 9.00am
Check-out: Day 2 at 4.00pm
Venue: Dukkar Apartments @ Kechara Forest Retreat – Bentong, Pahang State, Malaysia
Contribution: RM450.00 (USD 135 / SGD 175) per person (Room sharing arrangement subject to availability)
• Kechara Member rate: RM400.00 (USD120 / SGD 155) per person
• Price subject to revision with prior notice
For reservations, please contact care@kechara.com or (tel.) +603 7803 3908, at least 5 working days before program start date. Availability on a first come first serves basis and the management reserves the right to update the program accordingly.
Program Outline:
Day 1:
9.00am – 9.30am: Registration and room allocation
9.30am – 10.15am: Orientation & Tour
Dukkar Apartment facilities
Program briefing
• Light refreshments will be served
10.15am – 10.45am: Meditation Fundamentals 1
A class on the principals of meditation and benefits before participants are guided in practical session. The types of meditation taught include breathing, walking and sensory. These meditations are of the simplest and most beneficial exercise for the body. For example, we develop concentration through focus on inhalation and exhalation. We train and develop awareness of our senses through these exercises. With practice and greater mastery, we will be able to control our body and mind to create a sense of calm and clarity, which contributes to wholesome wellness.
10.45am – 11.45am: Walking Meditation 1 at Tara Walk
Walking is one of the most common actions that we take for granted. Many people walk badly, giving rise to poor posture and long-term physical pains. Walking meditation does not only help us improve our walking posture but it is also an effective method to bring our awareness to the present by drawing our focus to our footsteps. Being in the present is very empowering towards developing clarity of mind, which sharpens our senses as we learn to develop and hold clarity of thought while our body is moving. This method of meditation also relieves us from the tension and stress of “the rat race” because we are able to enter meditational mode quickly to realign and re-ground their thoughts in “busy” circumstances, a perfect technique for the fast paced lifestyle of the 21st century.
12.00pm – 1.00pm: Sitting Meditation
Sitting meditation is a constructive method to develop discipline of body and mind. In our fast paced society, it has become a challenge to simply be still. The constant distraction from abundance of activities to the beeping mobile phone that we have “stuck’ to the palms of our hands have created a habit of needing and wanting a continuous stream of new excitement. Hence, creating a society that is easily “bored”. Sitting meditation redevelops discipline as we sit in physical and mental stillness.
* At the end of the session, 20 minutes will be allocated to questions and answer session with facilitators.
1.00pm – 2.00pm: Lunch @ Dukkar Apartment
We will serve you a menu that is specially created for the wellbeing of your body and mind. Using local produce to support the local community while reducing the carbon footprint of our meals, you will be delightfully surprised by how nutrition and culinary delight find harmonious synergy.
* During meals, participants are encouraged to practice eating meditation technique that is intended to create mindfulness that will help improve our digestive health as well as let us rediscover the flavors of quality natural and healthy recipes.
2.00pm – 2.30pm: Reading
A self learning session on the Mind. Participants are encouraged to share their views with the facilitators.
2.30pm – 3.30pm: Meditation Fundamentals 2
In this session, techniques on how to deal with our mind during meditation are taught. Participants are encouraged to share their experience / thoughts for assurance. 30 minutes will be allocated to questions and answers session with facilitators.
3.30pm – 5.00pm: Waterfall
Applying the development of awareness and being present in the midst of nature by walking on a bridge and placement meditation exercises.
5.00pm – 6.00pm: Expression Through Art
Expressing an experiential learning through art is most beneficial as this process makes tangible the sensations, thoughts and reactions, which go through our minds throughout the day as we engage in meditation activities. Using different methods of communication like painting, is a refreshing approach that taps into an area of our mind that has been long neglected.
6.00pm – 7.00pm: Feldenkrais Class 1
Facilitated by our Feldenkrais-Teacher from Luxembourg, this unique learning method is taught through « Awareness through movement » lessons. Based on mindful movement, it is a great help for improving ability in daily life in general and more specific in walking, dancing or even sitting or doing gardening. Feldenkrais expressed it this way: “To make the impossible possible, the possible easy, and the easy elegant.”
7.00pm – 8.30pm: Freshen up & Dinner @ Dukkar Apartment
Dinner is prepared in western style. Participants exclaimed they never imagine vegetarian cuisine could “taste so good”!
8.30pm – 9.30pm: Meditation on Loving Kindness
Meditation on loving kindness is one of the most empowering forms of meditation to develop compassion, when done properly, enhances the quality of our lives by developing a conscious appreciation and innate gratitude towards life and all living beings. This session combines two powerful meditative techniques of contemplation and single-pointed concentration.
* There will be a 15 minutes class on Bones for life ( a method derived from the Feldenkrais method ) before the meditation session to facilitate comfortable sitting.
* At the end of the session, 15 minutes will be allocated to questions and answer session with facilitators.
9.30pm: Day ends
Day 2:
6.00am – 6.20am: Hot drink
6.30am – 7.30am: Sunrise Meditation
Sunrise is one of the most precious moments of a day and we often miss the opportunity to soak it up as we are rushing to start a routine of hustle and bustle. Participants return to Manjushri Hill slopes / Rinpoche’s Cabin to observe the beauty of the morning sun and enjoy the first rays of sun touch their skin as the mist gently lifts.
* At the end of the session, 30 minutes will be allocated to questions and answer session with facilitators.
7.30am – 8.30am: Walking Meditation 2 at Tara Walk
8.30am – 9.30am: Breakfast @ Dukkar Apartment
The most important meal of the day is brought to the next level at Kechara Forest Retreat where nutrition and flavor find a perfect balance.
9.30am – 10.30am: Sensory Discovery with Herbs @ The Herb Garden
Our sense of smell is one that triggers the memory. We aim to bring participants back to their state of calm and serenity through natural fragrances of natural herbs by being in the Herbs Garden itself!
10.30am – 11.00am: KFR Tour
11.00am – 11.30am: Freshen Up
11.30am – 1.00pm: Feldenkrais Class 2
Participants experience another “Awareness through movement” lesson from the Feldenkrais method. “ Movement is life. Life is a process. Improve the quality of the process and you improve the quality of life itself. ” Moshé Feldenkrais
1.00pm – 2.00pm: Lunch @ Dukkar Apartment
Chinese cuisine for Lunch!
2.00pm – 3.00pm: Debrief and Closing
It is always fulfilling after completing a wholesome retreat as the body and mind are in harmony and clarity. The key to enjoying this balance for the long-term is consistent effort. The facilitators will support participants to internalize the retreat with a closing session and also introduce follow up programs that are available to support participants to further their spiritual development.
3.00pm – 4.00pm: Freshen up and check out
4.00pm: Program ends
Program Benefits:
The activities in our program are especially designed to facilitate participants to achieve the following benefits within the comfort and ease of a well-designed retreat space.
1) Health:
Interaction with nature has many physical health benefits. Based on this commonly accepted healing benefit of Mother Nature, Program include the following:
• Fresh Air:
– Purify the blood
– Sooths the nerves
– Promotes healthy, vibrant looking skin
– Oxygen contains beneficial negative ion
• Green contact:
Participants enjoy the rare direct contact with natural elements of nature
• Detox
2) A peaceful & calm Mind
It has become a widely accepted approach that physical health must be complimented with emotional wellbeing. In fact, many doctors advocate emotional health as a core ingredient to physical healing.
Our Programs are designed to provide a platform on which we can exercise this awareness and reap its benefits.
• Silence therapy that helps relief stress and develop clarity of mind.
• Using the source of nature to heal our emotions: natural anti-depressant and anti-stress.
• Concentration – mind training that improves our performance at work as well as enhance our effectiveness in creating a balanced lifestyle.
• Nurturing a positive attitude through reflection and contemplation in one of our meditation exercise.
3) Quality time with loved ones
As the pace of city living gets more intense and competitive professionally and personally, individuals are afraid to fall behind if they take a moment “off”. Thus, resulting in the constant race in emailing, social media updating, phone calls during meals, weekends and even holidays. This program removes the distraction of modern technology to refocus participants to the present, as mobile phone, tabs and so on are not allowed besides once-a-day update to loved ones back home.
Things to bring to Kechara Forest Retreat:
• Personal medication, if any
• Sunscreen & mosquito repellent
• Hat, sunglasses, waterproof footwear & a small hand towel (to dry yourself)
• Carrier bag to bring personal belonging and work tools
• Water tumbler
• Personal toiletries
Things you bring home:
• Your life goal – 12 areas of your lives you want to set goals in
~Admin
Please support us so that we can continue to bring you more Dharma:
If you are in the United States, please note that your offerings and contributions are tax deductible. ~ the tsemrinpoche.com blog team
The Inner Peace Retreat is a core program coming out of KFR and it is very popular with Malaysians and foreigners alike.
Let me know if you go a mediation retreat this coming October or November ?
Meditate in Nature. Retreat to Medicine Buddha Hill at the Kechara Forest Retreat for a peaceful and sustainable spiritual lifestyle at Bentong, Jalan Chamang, Bentong, Pahang! As a spiritual practioner, it is always inspiring and exciting to be engaging in a group retreat at a holy place like Kechara Forest Reserve center! This will provide the opportunity for all to rejuvenate, retreat, unwind and look within ourselves whatever distractions that we would have in our busy mind in the city! Apart from making prostrations, offerings of flowers, incense, candles, coneshelf etc., one can also have the immensely beneficial merit of making circumambulations to our beautiful “the lady in Red” Vajrayogini statue housed inside the newly built stately and magnificient Stupa at Kechara Forest Reserve center, for a deeper and more relax sereene practice. You can also opt for a longer period of retreat to even do your own spiritual commitments away from the hassles of city life with your own family for a worthwhile spiritual family get-together!
The following write up is from Forbes (http://www.forbes.com/sites/alicegwalton/2015/02/09/7-ways-meditation-can-actually-change-the-brain/). It’s amazing how beneficial meditation is and modern science has proof of these benefits.
“Meditation Helps Preserve the Aging Brain
Last week, a study from UCLA found that long-term meditators had better-preserved brains than non-meditators as they aged. Participants who’d been meditating for an average of 20 years had more grey matter volume throughout the brain — although older meditators still had some volume loss compared to younger meditators, it wasn’t as pronounced as the non-meditators. “We expected rather small and distinct effects located in some of the regions that had previously been associated with meditating,” said study author Florian Kurth. “Instead, what we actually observed was a widespread effect of meditation that encompassed regions throughout the entire brain.”
Meditation Reduces Activity in the Brain’s “Me Center”
One of the most interesting studies in the last few years, carried out at Yale University, found that mindfulness meditation decreases activity in the default mode network (DMN), the brain network responsible for mind-wandering and self-referential thoughts – a.k.a., “monkey mind.” The DMN is “on” or active when we’re not thinking about anything in particular, when our minds are just wandering from thought to thought. Since mind-wandering is typically associated with being less happy, ruminating, and worrying about the past and future, it’s the goal for many people to dial it down. Several studies have shown that meditation, though its quieting effect on the DMN, appears to do just this. And even when the mind does start to wander, because of the new connections that form, meditators are better at snapping back out of it.
Its Effects Rival Antidepressants for Depression, Anxiety
A review study last year at Johns Hopkins looked at the relationship between mindfulness meditation and its ability to reduce symptoms of depression, anxiety, and pain. Researcher Madhav Goyal and his team found that the effect size of meditation was moderate, at 0.3. If this sounds low, keep in mind that the effect size for antidepressants is also 0.3, which makes the effect of meditation sound pretty good. Meditation is, after all an active form of brain training. “A lot of people have this idea that meditation means sitting down and doing nothing,” says Goyal. “But that’s not true. Meditation is an active training of the mind to increase awareness, and different meditation programs approach this in different ways.” Meditation isn’t a magic bullet for depression, as no treatment is, but it’s one of the tools that may help manage symptoms.
Meditation May Lead to Volume Changes in Key Areas of the Brain
In 2011, Sara Lazar and her team at Harvard found that mindfulness meditation can actually change the structure of the brain: Eight weeks of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) was found to increase cortical thickness in the hippocampus, which governs learning and memory, and in certain areas of the brain that play roles in emotion regulation and self-referential processing. There were also decreases in brain cell volume in the amygdala, which is responsible for fear, anxiety, and stress – and these changes matched the participants’ self-reports of their stress levels, indicating that meditation not only changes the brain, but it changes our subjective perception and feelings as well. In fact, a follow-up study by Lazar’s team found that after meditation training, changes in brain areas linked to mood and arousal were also linked to improvements in how participants said they felt — i.e., their psychological well-being. So for anyone who says that activated blobs in the brain don’t necessarily mean anything, our subjective experience – improved mood and well-being – does indeed seem to be shifted through meditation as well.
Just a Few Days of Training Improves Concentration and Attention
Having problems concentrating isn’t just a kid thing – it affects millions of grown-ups as well, with an ADD diagnosis or not. Interestingly but not surprisingly, one of the central benefits of meditation is that it improves attention and concentration: One recent study found that just a couple of weeks of meditation training helped people’s focus and memory during the verbal reasoning section of the GRE. In fact, the increase in score was equivalent to 16 percentile points, which is nothing to sneeze at. Since the strong focus of attention (on an object, idea, or activity) is one of the central aims of meditation, it’s not so surprising that meditation should help people’s cognitive skills on the job, too – but it’s nice to have science confirm it. And everyone can use a little extra assistance on standardized tests.
Meditation Reduces Anxiety — and Social Anxiety
A lot of people start meditating for its benefits in stress reduction, and there’s lots of good evidence to support this rationale. There’s a whole newer sub-genre of meditation, mentioned earlier, called Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn at the University of Massachusetts’ Center for Mindfulness (now available all over the country), that aims to reduce a person’s stress level, physically and mentally. Studies have shown its benefits in reducing anxiety, even years after the initial 8-week course. Research has also shown that mindfulness meditation, in contrast to attending to the breath only, can reduce anxiety – and that these changes seem to be mediated through the brain regions associated with those self-referential (“me-centered”) thoughts. Mindfulness meditation has also been shown to help people with social anxiety disorder: a Stanford University team found that MBSR brought about changes in brain regions involved in attention, as well as relief from symptoms of social anxiety.
Meditation Can Help with Addiction
A growing number of studies has shown that, given its effects on the self-control regions of the brain, meditation can be very effective in helping people recover from various types of addiction. One study, for example, pitted mindfulness training against the American Lung Association’s freedom from smoking (FFS) program, and found that people who learned mindfulness were many times more likely to have quit smoking by the end of the training, and at 17 weeks follow-up, than those in the conventional treatment. This may be because meditation helps people “decouple” the state of craving from the act of smoking, so the one doesn’t always have to lead to the other, but rather you fully experience and ride out the “wave” of craving, until it passes. Other research has found that mindfulness training, mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT), and mindfulness-based relapse prevention (MBRP) can be helpful in treating other forms of addiction.
Short Meditation Breaks Can Help Kids in School
For developing brains, meditation has as much as or perhaps even more promise than it has for adults. There’s been increasing interest from educators and researchers in bringing meditation and yoga to school kids, who are dealing with the usual stressors inside school, and oftentimes additional stress and trauma outside school. Some schools have starting implementing meditation into their daily schedules, and with good effect: One district in San Francisco started a twice daily meditation program in some of its high-risk schools – and saw suspensions decrease, and GPAs and attendance increase. Studies have confirmed the cognitive and emotional benefits of meditation for schoolchildren, but more work will probably need to be done before it gains more widespread acceptance.”
Sounds like a good pause from the hustle and bustle of city life with all the stress and pollution.
Most of all Kechara Forest Retreat itself is a treat to be there.
Wonderful program great work by everyone who put this together! May many more people get the benefit from being at KFR.
This looks great. Love the detailed outline of what the programme entails. The pictures look serene, calming and beneficial to the mind. This is lovely indeed.
This program sounds really interesting. The meditation program would be able to calm our minds to give us a more refreshing way of life when we return back to our city lifestyles.
Just based on the program outline, I believe those that have attended this program would be going back to their daily life as a fresh new person that would be able to do things with a fresh mind.
Meditation is to be able to give ourselves time to reflect and review what we want in this life. Some choose meditation to discover, some choose meditation to escape but I choose meditation to discover what my inner mind is. Going for retreats like meditation is to give oneself a chance to discover us.
這活动非常適合我们生活在城巿忙碌里，得到個短暫的心身休息的好去處，自然的森林環境周圍，使雜念全然鬆脫，得到輕安。
Speaking from personal experience of a retreat in KFR, I would definitely recommend Kechara’s retreat programs to others. We had good guidance throughout the program..from proper breathing technique, sitting postures, meditation focus, etc. Although we were in a group, I still had the “me” time throughout the retreat. Also, Kechara staff and volunteers served us with fantastic food (1st class plating that’s visually tempting). The accommodation at the Dukkar apartments was really comfortable with good facilities. Definitely a good experience, especially for those who just need a breather from the daily grind. Thanks to Rinpoche for the vision of creating such a peaceful place for all that is in need of a Retreat from the rat race. Thanks to Kechara’s staff and volunteers for providing the enjoyable and relaxing experience.
This is a PERFECT opportunity to spend some real quality time with oneself. And KFR is just below an hours drive from the captal city KL. It’s ideal for people who are always busy working and can’t seem to find the time to get some “peace”. For some this may even help them to overcome something or heal something. Thank you Rinpoche for creating this place Kechara FOrest Retreat and giving back to us an opportunity to find out what we have lost – ourselves, our true nature… and for us Buddhist… our Buddha nature!
Very healthy and exciting programme . Nowadays people was so busy with routine life, we never have chance to stop a while and let our mind calm down. This programme was a good choice for us to let our mind to be calm and connected with natural .
This program is very suitable for people who wants to take a short break from the daily hassle of life. It provides a platform to get away from much distractions letting one to completely relax in this conducive forested retreat centre. With the forest audience and the surrounding nature’s environment, it is very favourable for meditation of this sort. It’s worthy of one’s time 🙂
Sounds like a very good program!
With the hustle and bustle of our current lifestyles… this meditation program will definitely “tweak” and “tune” our body, mind and soul off all unnecessary stress and emotions!