Meditation & the Contemporary Wisdom of Meister Eckhart Retreat

Meditation & the Contemporary Wisdom of Meister Eckhart Retreat, led by Chris Whittington, founder of the School of Contemplative Life.

With astonishing wisdom, originality and directness, Meister Eckhart invites us to let go of all our conceptions of God and enter the groundless ground in which we are one with God and all creation.

Why? To manifest this oneness in a life of love and compassion. For Eckhart, the spiritual life is inseparable from the ethical life.

“If a person were in an ecstasy as St Paul was, and if they knew of a sick person who needed a bowl of soup from them, I would consider it far better if you were to leave that rapture out of love and help the needy person out of greater love.” 

Recognised today as one of the greatest mystics of the Western Christian tradition, Eckhart has much to say which can help us greatly in meeting many pressing contemporary issues.

Eckhart had a profound sense of the equality of all human beings, and despite living within a male-dominated Church and society, he was deeply influenced by women.

When it comes to the urgent need to protect our planet, Eckhart had a profound sense of the essential goodness of creation, that each of us and every created thing bears witness to the invisible source of all life.

“Someone who knows nothing but creatures would never need to attend to any sermons, for every creature is full of God and is a book.”

For Eckhart, God is the ever-present ground of all creation, the oneness in which “we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28).

The extraordinary gift of his teaching, is how it can help us cultivate awareness of this oneness, so that we, like him, might come to see God in all things and all things in God.

Through a flow of talks and extended meditation practice, we will explore the teaching of Meister Eckhart, focusing in particular on:

• Releasing into the oneness of God
• How a spiritual life is inseparable from an ethical life
• Radical equality
• Parallels in the teaching of Meister Eckhart and Buddhism
• How awareness of oneness is the deepest basis for compassion and justice, for our care of each other and of our precious world.

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The retreat has been carefully crafted to be relevant and accessible to anyone searching for truth and peace, regardless of their faith, beliefs or previous experience of meditation.

A detailed timetable for the retreat will be sent to everyone attending. The retreat starts on Friday at 4:30 pm with an orientation talk, followed by a period of silent meditation before dinner. Short talks across the weekend will be balanced with periods of sitting meditation, walking meditation, time for private reflection and enjoyment of the beautiful grounds. The retreat will finish after lunch and a closing conversation on Sunday.

Early morning practice

Saturday and Sunday begin at 6:30 am with meditation practice. Early morning meditation is a wonderful way to greet the day together. While we very much encourage everyone to attend this session, if this is difficult for you for any reason please don’t worry. It is always enough to do what we can – or what our life allows.

One-to-one spiritual counsel meetings

One-to-one spiritual counsel meetings are offered during the times set aside in the retreat for private practice. These times are not counselling or coaching, but provide a dedicated opportunity for someone to explore a question or two about their meditation practice, or how practice relates to what they have heard during a talk or to daily life. Lasting approximately 15 minutes, meetings are deliberately short to provide focus.

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Being on retreat is a precious opportunity to be still, to be silent, to practice living simply and peacefully and cultivate the gift of loving-awareness as we devote ourselves to the depth-dimension of faith and life.

The focus of the retreat is silent meditation practice and we will practice bringing loving-awareness to all our daily activities – while sitting, while walking or eating, when we are simply enjoying a glass of water. We will practice living each moment deeply.

The practice of silence will commence when the retreat begins at 16:30 on the Friday and continue until after lunch on the Sunday.

Although the practice of silence may be new to some, most people find this a powerful and wonderful experience. Maintaining a quiet and peaceful environment – walking, moving, and doing things quietly – is important for our practice and a gift we can offer to each other.

The last session of each day will be an opportunity for conversation together, to reflect on the content of the talks and what we have experienced in our meditation through the day.

The retreat timetable includes periods of private practice time for sitting and walking meditation. Some people find it helpful to bring a craft activity to accompany times of private sitting meditation. If you decide to do this, the craft should be very simple and not likely to stimulate thoughts. The Desert Fathers and Mothers were famous for weaving baskets!

You may wish to bring warm, comfy clothes and a waterproof jacket/umbrella for walking meditation in the event of inclement weather. A notepad and pen will also be useful.

Retreat Leader

Chris Whittington is the Founder of The School of Contemplative Life. He was introduced to contemplative practice during several years of formation when he lived at the Benedictine monastery of Prinknash Abbey. Chris’ monastic teachers, including Sylvester Houedard OSB, taught meditation as a universal wisdom found within all the great spiritual traditions, a pathway to peace and solidarity with people of all faiths and none. Following an introduction by the Abbot of the Prinknash community, Chris subsequently studied at the Dalai Lama’s monastery in Dharamshala, India. Chris regularly delivers talks, workshops and retreats and has introduced the practice of meditation in the Christian tradition to thousands of people in the UK and abroad.

For information about the School of Contemplative Life, please visit: www.schoolofcontemplativelife.com OR https://www.youtube.com/@schoolofcontemplativelife 

Retreat price: £350 (standard room) or £380 (character room)
EARLY BIRD RATE: £330 (standard room) or £360 (character room) if booked by 5th September 2025!
Price includes en-suite accommodation, all meals, and all retreat resources. It may be possible for you to extend your stay with us by adding an extra night before or after this retreat. Please contact the Abbey directly if you would like to extend your stay.

Click here to book your place on this retreat now:

For any questions, or queries or if you’d like to know more, please call  01572 717254 or alternatively email us: [email protected]