Mindfulness and Vipassana Winter Retreat

Step into a week of profound meditation and mindful practice, where the stillness of Dharma Mountain’s winter landscape invites you to connect deeply with yourself. This retreat provides a unique opportunity for meaningful self-reflection, guided by an experienced meditation teacher and supported by a community of like-minded individuals. It’s a chance to reconnect with your inner being, unwind, restore balance, and cultivate clarity and insight.

About the Retreat

This retreat will delve into the ancient practice of Vipassana meditation alongside the modern approach of Mindfulness, both rooted in loving-kindness and complemented by gentle mindful yoga. Through these practices, you will be gently guided to relax deeply, cultivate self-awareness, nurture positive habits, and discover the peace and balance of resting in your natural state.

Instructions will cover attentional stability (samatha) and insight meditation (vipassana), using both traditional and modern methods. These techniques help you make wiser, more compassionate choices in daily life while fostering an inner calm free from suffering. The retreat integrates seated and walking meditation, mindful yoga, and compassion practices, creating an embodied, open-hearted experience.

This retreat balances periods of silence with opportunities for connection (sangha), while also offering the option to remain in silence for the entire week if you choose. Mornings will be spent in silence until lunch, fostering deep reflection and mindfulness, with two full days dedicated entirely to silent practice.

Your Teacher: Jonathan Weber

Jonathan Weber is an authentic and integrated meditation and yoga teacher with over 35 years of experience in Vipassana and Classical yoga. Since 2006, he has been dedicated to teaching mindfulness and compassion, leading retreats with a genuine, heart-centered approach. As a certified instructor of Mindful Hatha yoga and trained in MBSR (Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction), Jonathan’s extensive experience and warm, integrated teaching style foster a safe and welcoming environment for deep practice and personal growth.

About Vipassana
Vipassana, meaning “insight,” is a foundational Buddhist meditation practice introduced by the Buddha over 2,500 years ago. It aims to awaken insight into the true nature of self and reality, helping us free ourselves from suffering. While often associated with the 10-day retreat popularized by S.N. Goenka, Vipassana has many traditions. This retreat offers a compassionate approach, with shorter meditation sessions (20-30 minutes) and a focus on clarity, inspired by the Tibetan Buddhist tradition.

About Mindfulness
Mindfulness is a modern meditation practice rooted in Vipassana and Zen, and it has been developed for therapeutic applications based on scientific research. Pioneered by Jon Kabat-Zinn, it emphasizes greater well-being in everyday life and offers a practical, evidence-based approach for Western students.

About Compassion Practices
Compassion and loving-kindness meditations are essential complements to mindfulness, balancing the intellectual with heart-centered practice. Meditations such as Metta, Tonglen, and Forgiveness are designed to cultivate a gentle, loving approach to ourselves and others, leading to genuine freedom from suffering.

About Mindful Yoga
Mindful yoga is a gentle, therapeutic practice that blends mindfulness, compassion, and Hatha yoga. Accessible to most people, it emphasizes listening to your body’s needs and limitations without judgment. This form of meditation in motion is a perfect complement to sitting meditation, deepening the experience of vipassana.

Schedule
Mornings will be held in silence until lunch, promoting deep reflection and mindfulness. Meditation sessions will be shorter, 25 minutes, according to the Tibetan Buddhist approach to meditation. Sitting sessions will be supported by movement afterwards, such as walking meditation or mindful yoga. There will be instructions before the meditation sessions, and the meditations will be guided. Personal time can be spent in the sauna, reading, or enjoying one of the therapies provided by the staff. Evening sessions will include Dharma talks, which will provide further guidance and time for questions.

General Schedule:

January 19th – 25th
Sunday
16:00 – 17:00 Arrive/ Registration
17:30 – 18:30 Introduction meeting/orientation
18:30 – 19:30 Dinner
20:00 – 21:30  Evening session

Monday – Friday
07:30 – 08:30 Morning meditation/ movement
08:30 – 09:30 Breakfast (silent)
10:00 – 10:30 Instruction
10:30 – 11:00 Meditation
11:15 – 12:15 Mindful yoga
12:15 – 12:45 Meditation
13:00 – 14:00 Lunch
14:00 – 16:00 Personal time/ Sauna (optional)
16:00 – 16:30 Instruction
16:30 – 17:00 Meditation
17:15 – 17:45 Walking meditation
17:45 – 18:15 Meditation
18:30 – 19:30 Dinner
19:30 – 21:00 Evening session

Saturday
07:30 – 08:30 Morning meditation
08:30 – 09:30 Breakfast
10:00 – 12:30 Closing session
13:00 – 14:00 Lunch
14:00 –            Depart after lunch

Requirements
It is highly recommended that you have some previous experience with meditation practice to attend. If you are new to meditation, please contact Jonathan with your intention to join: jonathan.rigpa@gmail.com

Prices/Booking

NOK 11.000 for program, meals and shared room or attic in a cabin
NOK 12.800 for program, meals and single room in shared cabin

All meals will be vegetarian, you can order gluten free, lactose free or vegan when you book your place. Bedlinen/towels costs NOK 260 to rent or you can bring your own.

When you book you can choose to pay everything now or a deposit of NOK 1.000.
The remaining fee must be paid by mid December.

Jonathan Weber
Jonathan Weber is one of Norway’s leading teachers of Mindfulness and Mindful Yoga, with over 35 years of experience in Vipassana meditation and yoga. Originally from the USA, he has been teaching mindfulness and compassion practices in the Oslo area since 2006. Jonathan is known for his pioneering work in blending mindfulness and compassion with yoga practice. He is a 500 E-RYT yoga teacher and trained in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR/MBCT) through the IMA.

In 2018, Jonathan founded the Mindful Yoga Teacher Training at Oslo Yoga. His practice is deeply rooted in the Dzogchen and Mahamudra traditions of Indo-Tibetan Tantric Buddhist yoga, which he has been studying since 1990. He has learned from many respected teachers, including Ram Dass, Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche, Allan Wallace, Lama Surya Das, Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche, and Ani la Tsering Chodron. Jonathan’s experience also spans a wide range of other traditions, such as Jnana yoga, Bhakti yoga, Advaita Vedanta, Sufism, and Christian Mysticism.

With his natural warmth, deep wisdom, and calming presence, Jonathan brings a special energy to his teachings.