Fri 14 Aug
|Rivendell Buddhist Retreat Centre
The Higher Hedonism: Sub35s Summer Retreat
A young people's meditation retreat where we'll go into the practice of dhyana - how to develop joyful, pleasurable and blissful states of mind.
Time & Location
14 Aug 2026, 19:00 – 21 Aug 2026, 10:00
Rivendell Buddhist Retreat Centre, Chillies Ln, High Hurstwood, Uckfield TN22 4AB, UK
Details
At the heart of the Buddha’s teaching lies a surprising truth: to live a deeply meaningful life, we need to learn how to truly enjoy ourselves.
The Buddha taught that freedom from craving, restlessness, and attachment comes through cultivating inner joy. Again and again, he pointed to the importance of dhyana—states of stillness, rapture, and ease—as essential to the path.
This retreat explores what we’re calling a “higher hedonism”: moving beyond fleeting pleasures toward more fulfilling and lasting forms of happiness. Through meditation, nature, and community, we’ll discover how joy can become a stable foundation for insight and freedom.
We’ll work with two core practices we teach—the mindfulness of breathing and the metta bhavana (loving-kindness)—and learn how to deepen them into sources of profound inner happiness. We’ll also draw on the beauty and peace of the natural world to support our practice.
Expect silence, friendship, forest stillness, good food, and a…