5-Day Silent Retreats at Easter and Pentecost

You will be staying at Landhaus Meingast, a historic, very quiet guesthouse within walking distance of the ZEN_raum. Since the number of single rooms is limited, it’s a good idea to make your reservation early. If this accommodation does not meet your needs, we can offer you other suggestions.

The meals are Ayurvedic, vegetarian, and vegan. All ingredients are fresh and organic. We can also accommodate personal dietary restrictions. Please let us know about these when you register so we can take them into account. We will also make eating a part of the meditation. Eating mindfully and consciously has fallen by the wayside due to time constraints. Convenience food has taken precedence over sensory enjoyment. We want to explore this aspect and reflect on it within ourselves.

CONTENTS

Participants spend more than two-thirds of the seminar time in silence. At specific times during the seminar, there will be
periods set aside for sharing and exchanging experiences. In addition, one-on-one conversations will take place, during which
questions and topics that arise during the silence and meditation can be addressed and explored in greater depth.


Key Components

seated meditations in the Vipassana tradition
exercises to cultivate self-compassion
the body scan
walking meditation
active meditations
METTA meditation

The individual practice sessions (sitting, lying down, and mindful yoga exercises) rarely last longer than 45 minutes.
The morning active meditations last 60 minutes, during which movement,
breathing, and silence alternate.

Talks

In addition to detailed instructions for each meditation, short talks
addressing the everyday challenges of our lives
will enrich this seminar.

Sample Daily Schedule

7:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. Morning meditation (active)
8:30 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. Breakfast
9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. ZEN meditation structure with short breaks
1:00 p.m. to 1:45 p.m. Lunch
2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. Break and individual one-on-one sessions
4:15 PM to 4:30 PM Tea ceremony
4:30 PM to 7:00 PM MBSR meditation session with short breaks
7:00 PM to 7:30 PM Evening vespers
7:30 PM to 8:15 PM Walking meditation
8:15 PM to 9:00 PM Evening meditation (Metta, Tonglen, Nadabrahma, Heart meditation)
9:15 PM RETIRE TO BED

Seminar Leaders:
We are Marion and Bernhard Hötzel, and we each have 45 years of meditation experience, 20 of which we have spent working as meditation teachers.
We teach at our own institute, as well as serving as guest instructors at other institutes and as lecturers on NEURO-Meditation at the TH-Campus Vienna. We have received traditional training in Asia, the U.S., and Europe, and are very familiar with humanistic psychology and the approaches of NEURO-Meditation.

You’ll arrive in Salzburg by train and take the Postbus 140 to Mondsee, which runs hourly. From the bus station in Mondsee, it’s just a few minutes’ walk to the ZEN Room and your accommodations. The nearest airport is also in Salzburg. From there, the city bus runs every 10 minutes to the main train station. From there, you’ll take the Postbus 140 again.