Rains Retreat 2021: Gems of the Plum Village Tradition

Most sessions can be followed between Fridays and Sundays, with some Mindfulness Trainings Recitations early on Tuesday mornings. Please note that the live-streamed opening ceremony will take place on Thursday 9th September.

Ideally, it is best if you can reduce your other commitments on the weekends and the Tuesday mornings so you can fully participate and savor the peaceful energy of the Rains Retreat. On many Sundays, we’ll be offering a morning and afternoon program. We encourage you to transform it into a “day of mindfulness”, and organize your time so you can practice walking meditation, mindful eating, and deep relaxation in between the live-streamed sessions. We recommend you always arrive a few minutes early for each session to set up your computer connection. 

Please note that you can choose to opt-in or opt-out of the six “Dharma Sharing” sessions via the additional form at the end of registration. If you opt-in, we ask that you commit to join all six sessions and arrive on time, so the group can have a strong collective experience. To avoid disturbing the group, we will not be able to admit people to the Dharma Sharing sessions once they have started.

Please also organise some time before the retreat starts, to familiarise yourself with the videos and information in the “The Secret to Enjoying Your Retreat” package on the retreat platform when available, and set up a peaceful corner of your home where you can have a stable internet connection.

We hope that this immersive and interactive experience will help you strengthen your mindfulness practice and establish the spirit of Plum Village right in your home.

We encourage you to attend as much of the retreat as possible to get the greatest benefit from the practice. Please note that if you wish to join the six Dharma Sharing sessions, you will need to follow the Dharma Talks on Friday and Sunday mornings in order to participate in the Dharma Sharing sessions. To support the collective shared experience, it is not possible to join the Dharma Sharing if you have not attended the Dharma Talks.

Yes, we try to live-stream all sessions to our retreat platform so you can follow both there and on Zoom. The recording of these live-streams will remain available afterwards for up to six months.

In this retreat, the Dharma Sharing is a smaller break-out group of 20-25 participants, led by a monastic. It gives us a chance to listen deeply, to speak from the heart, and benefit from each other’s insights and experience of practicing mindfulness. We can share our experiences, our joys, our difficulties, and our questions relating to the teachings in the retreat, and the mindfulness practices we are following together.

Please organise your time and commitments, so you have some space before the online retreat program starts on September 5th to prepare your retreat space and go through the pre-retreat resources that we offer on the retreat platform. Before the retreat starts, you’ll receive a digital package with information and resources on how to prepare yourself and your environment so you can really enjoy the retreat. You’re invited to prepare a room or corner in your home where you can be online, undisturbed. It is important that you are not interrupted during the various sessions, so you may like to communicate with loved ones, or other people you live with, to ask for their support in this. If you are participating in the Dharma Sharing groups, it will be important for you to log-on from a private space where you can share without others hearing you.

The Dharma Sharing break-out groups are the ideal time to ask questions from the heart about the teachings you have heard and practices we are following together. The “Dinner Hangouts” scheduled on Saturdays could also be a space for questions, as well as the two Question and Answer sessions with a panel of monastic dharma teachers. You can also write a question in the comments below the video of a particular talk in the retreat platform.

The Dharma Sharing groups offer a rare opportunity to join a circle facilitated by a monastic. If you are interested in connecting with the monastics, we strongly encourage you to make the commitment to opt-in to the six Dharma Sharing sessions. Our teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh, taught us that Dharma Sharing groups are the most powerful way to learn and grow in our mindfulness practice. Please note that these sessions are not direct question-and-answer sessions, but a group where questions are addressed collectively.

Additionally, we will host “Dinner Hangouts”, a chance to eat a meal (or snack) mindfully together in silence, followed by a chance for informal discussion and questions with monastics. There will also be three live Question & Answer sessions on Sundays, open to all of the retreat participants, where a panel of monastic dharma teachers can receive your questions.

Yes, you do not need to be in a hut on a mountain to enjoy this retreat. So long as you have a quiet corner or room where you can be undisturbed, and perhaps have space to stretch and do the mindful movements, you will be able to enjoy the retreat fully. You may need headphones, and if you are joining Dharma Sharing, somewhere in the house where you can speak without being heard by others.

You can explain to those you live with your intention in joining the retreat and ask for their support. The idea is not to cut yourself off from them, but to generate a strong energy of mindfulness, peace and presence, during the sessions, that you can bring to your in-person interactions off-screen over the course of the three months. You will be able to apply many of the teachings on deep listening, mindful eating and so on, right away!

This retreat is designed as an adult learning experience, but anyone is welcome to join the meditations, talks, movement and relaxations. Please note that in the Dharma Sharing breakout groups themes may spontaneously arise that are not appropriate for teenagers or children, and so it is not possible to register participants under 18 for the Dharma Sharing groups. We are currently exploring how we can offer a different, more tailored experience for children and teens online. Please check our events listing for future announcements.

This retreat is accessible to those new to the practice, and will be a refreshing and deepening experience for those who have been practicing mindfulness for some time. It is a precious chance to connect directly with our spiritual community, and to meet like-minded people.

The retreat will be offered in English. As we expand our experience and technical capacity, we hope to offer translation into more languages in future. Thank you for your patience and understanding.

You can check the schedule to see if it is possible in your time zone. Many activities can be done at a different time as the recordings will be available afterwards but Dharma sharing groups have to be attended live if you choose to join one.

There will be French translation for the live talks on Sundays through Zoom.

The content of this retreat will mainly be delivered through a platform by Teachable and through the Zoom application for live events. The Teachable platform requires you to create an account with an email address and password. The retreat platform is best accessed through a web browser on a computer. If you need to access the retreat platform on your mobile device, we suggest that you log in through a web browser rather than the Teachable iOS app.

You will also need access to your email account before and during this retreat, as we will send email announcements. 

 When following the live events you can choose to join via Zoom (recommended) or via the embedded video in your browser (link will be provided in advance). If you are opting-in to Dharma Sharing (the smaller breakout groups), you will need to install the Zoom software (or update it if it’s already installed) and you will need a webcam on your computer or tablet, so people can see you (just as you will see others). It is also preferable to have headphones, ideally with a microphone.

We try to livestream on 720p, but some of our Plum Village hamlets do not have strong enough internet so it may be limited to 480p. After the retreat we will upload all content in 1080p for your enjoyment.

It depends how unstable. Your viewing quality is similar to watching something on youtube. So if that is a pleasant enough experience, then yes you can join this retreat. But for Dharma Sharing others might find it difficult to hear you. You can ask permission to turn off your camera, so others can hear you better.

Yes, when you register, you will receive the link to access the retreat platform, which will contain telephone numbers to join us via Zoom for live sessions. For dialing in by phone, you will only be able to follow the live-stream sessions; it is not possible to join Dharma Sharing sessions from a phone without a camera.

Yes you can join only via audio, you do not have to start your camera, you can also choose only to watch via our platform. Only when you join the Dharma Sharing session, everybody is asked to start their camera to create a safe environment.

All the recordings (except for the Dharma Sharing sessions) will be available afterwards on our platform, for you to access for six months. You will not be able to download them. 

Please email onlineretreats@plumvillage.org and we will try our best to help.

You can choose to opt in to a Dharma Sharing group via the additional form at the end of your registration. We offer some special groups based on affinity and language that you can choose on the form, and we will do our best to accommodate your request. The groups will be assigned by the Organising Team based on our experience of creating diverse yet balanced groups. It is not possible to assign you to a chosen facilitator or to be in a group with friends.

Your contribution will go towards food, lodging, and healthcare for our community of 700 monastics in ten mindfulness practice centers worldwide. It will also enable us to invest in technical infrastructure in terms of internet, cameras, and equipment, so we can offer more teachings live online, with direct contact between monastics and practitioners. Without your support, we would be unable to sustain our community or offer the Dharma online.

We can offer a full refund within 30 days of your payment. 

We do not want the financial aspect to keep you from participating. If you want to attend an online retreat and your budget does not allow for it at this moment, please email us at onlineretreats@plumvillage.org to apply for a further reduction.   

Firstly, please check directly with your bank if there may be an issue releasing the payment. The payment for the retreat should appear as coming from “PLUM VILLAGE ON” in one’s bank statement when successful. If after contacting your bank, the issue has not been resolved, please email onlineretreats@plumvillage.org to arrange for an alternative payment method.