Summer Retreat:
Three yogas of tao: sit, stand walk
a rainbow of practice, a clear light of source
August 5th-11th 2025
use the button below to reserve/enquire.
prices range from 575€ per person for a shared room, 750€ for a single room with en suite bathroom
Actually, there are five, but three covers most of the affair. In practice, sitting, standing and walking meditation are three yogas - where mind and body harmonise and where extremes of acceptance and rejection are let go naturally, effortlessly.
This is the principle, arriving at yoga’s spiritual element in a harmonious association with sitting, with standing and with walking. In practice, the walking meditation - from the tradition of ba gua, eight trigrams circle walking- includes all kinds of postures - neigong or qigong- that will be familiar to yogis of any persuasion or tradition. The standing meditation is the doorway to effortlessness; the sitting mediation is where we find tranquility and shelter, where the heart can open. The open heartedness is then taken into the standing and the moving and then returns to sitting so there is a constantly evolving practice that grows in time with the practitioner.
All three yogas allow natural reorganisation beyond any personal aspiration.
This is the essential point of the spiritual aspect of any yoga: the spiritual dimension is non personal, it allows our natural higher intelligence to function unobstructed by personal preferences.
These are some of the things that will be explored in the summer retreat. It’s a theme Ram has taught for many years at the Zen dojo of Lyon in France, at the London School of Capoeira and elsewhere and continues to teach on his short 4 day retreats at Tourné in Occitanie.
This longer summer retreat will provide an opportunity to explore the different modalities of tao, what is here called the three yogas of tao. It’s nothing new, it’s simply the container that is different. All authentic yoga practices point to the same doorway. Here’s an opportunity to glimpse it and maybe pass through it. At the same time, there will be laughter and time to explore nature and maybe a glimpse at the fourth yoga….
The practices
Tao Yoga
Classic hatha yoga postures executed in distinctive taoist flavour: gently, rhythmically. Relying on the body’s higher intelligence, tao yoga form flows effortlessly. Glimpse how gentle effort retrns naturally to the source of stillness.
Qigong
Experience forms from a wide range of Buddhist, taoist and more recent hybrid tradition that will move energy, enliven the mind and generate energy for meditation or any of life’s pursuits.
ba gua
A bridge between moving and sitting meditation. Ba gua practice, even at its most basic, provids strong suppiort for body-mind concentration. it energises the body when circle walking is unddertaken, it balances left and right sides of the brian and improves brain function.
meditation
Stillness, movement, awareness. practices without object with a foundation established on taoist pranayama [breathing].
Glimpses of Ba gua
All levels: First step
Learn the basics of body alignment, how to stand, how to walk, how to be at ease under effort.
ba gua supports nervous system function: step 2
learn familiarity with change at all speeds, calm in all situations through circle walking and palm change practice
Learn ba gua, experience change with clarity. Step 3
direct insight into the energy of change-heaven palm change and simple water palm as means to investigate and deepen practice
ancient taoist longevity practices. Step 4
the inevitability of change need not be feared! Letting go of habit patterns of mind-body, glimpses of all the first eight palm changes
mind is still while body moves. Step 5
constancy is heaven - I ching. Movement and stillness as an expression of the source of all phenomena, heaven as the means to perceive with direct insight.
Hard and soft: Step 6
How change and perception nourishes and is nourished by tao
Maturing, accumulating. Step 7
Ensuring accumulated energy does not transform into impetuousness or excitation-tao and compassion
Mental Clarity. Step 8, the end at the beginning
Living in reality
Enjoy a summer Tao meditation retreat
Book your place or inquire now-places are quickly claimed! Be sure to mention ba gua retreat in your message-we will get back to you within a few hours to let you know if places are still available. Subscribe to our occasional newsletter to receive details of seasonal retreat programme.
Traditionally referred to as the nine palaces, this collective practice is an example of temple dance.