The Buddhist Retreat Centre, Ixopo, South Africa, The Buddhist Retreat Centre, P. O. Box 131, Ixopo (2026)

22/05/2026

Are you ready to stop forcing change and start working with your biology instead of against it?

Join our retreat:

Baby Steps To Living Your Brilliance: Neuroscience, Gratitude, And The Art of Sustainable Transformation

Teacher: Patti Good
Cost: 2 days accommodation + R350 surcharge
Dates: Tuesday 26 May 2026 - Thursday 28 May 2026

This two-day gratitude retreat is designed for people who want real change, not through force or fixing, but through gentle, steady, sustainable transformation. Blending contemporary neuroscience with grounded spiritual practice, this retreat focuses on micro-habits that gently rewire the nervous system while deepening your capacity for presence, gratitude, and self-trust. Rather than aiming for dramatic breakthroughs, we work with small, precise shifts that the brain can actually integrate, changes that continue unfolding long after the retreat ends.

Over two days, you will learn how gratitude functions not just as a mindset, but as a biological and energetic practice that supports emotional regulation, clarity, and resilience. Through guided experiences, reflection, and simple daily rituals, you will begin installing habits that feel natural, authentic, and aligned with who you truly are. This retreat is for those who sense their brilliance isn’t something to achieve, but something to remember, patiently, kindly, and step by step.

Total cost of the retreat depends on the type of accommodation selected. Please email bookings@brcixopo.co.za for more information and to make your reservation.

21/05/2026

Wisdom of Wintering - A Yoga Retreat

Teacher: Carey Would and Christie Holt
Cost: 2 days accommodation + R400 surcharge
Dates: Friday 19 June 2026 - Sunday 21 June 2026

Join Carey and Christie as we return home to the essence of our beings. Through meditation, yoga, and talks exploring the themes of rest and ritual, we will remember what it means to live in a rested and rooted state. As the winter solstice draws us into the quiet heart of the year, we invite you to join for a soulful yoga retreat to restore. Held during the longest night and the turning point toward light, this retreat offers a pause, a time to slow down, reconnect with your inner landscape, and honour the wisdom that emerges from stillness.

We will offer grounding yoga practices such as fireside yin and mindful slow flows as well as mindful meditation practices and a winter solstice circle, honouring the ritual of being with the season as it is. We will also offer a Rituals for Radiance workshop to explore how we can tend to ourselves in our day to day. This is a space to exhale, to retreat inward and reflect on the first half of the year and what is yet to come.

Whether you’re feeling depleted, curious, or simply called to pause, Wisdom of Wintering offers a deeply supportive container to restore your body, quiet your mind, and rekindle your inner light.

Total cost of the retreat depends on the type of accommodation selected. Please email bookings@brcixopo.co.za for more information and to make your reservation.

21/05/2026

Recovery To Self - How Free Do You Want To Be From Your Addictions?
Teacher: Warren Shaw
Cost: 2 days accommodation + R400 surcharge
Dates: Friday 22 May 2026 - Sunday 24 May 2026

Why do we need to Recover to our true Self?

Often we may find ourselves using various substances or strategies addictively which can include everything from food, alcohol, recreational or prescription drugs, social media, or where we are in abusive relationships. When this affects our daily lives and more importantly the relationships that mean the most to us, we have lost our true nature of self.

Our karma and shortcomings can be removed only by ourselves. We are personally responsible for their creation, and we are responsible for their elimination.

This retreat will be helpful to people in need of recovery and speaks to any aspect of ourselves that needs to heal.

Warren Shaw holds an Addiction Treatment accreditation from Yale. His journey to recovery started at the BRC. He has had long term sobriety and is passionate about helping others to deal with any addiction that may be causing them suffering. He also runs workshops with his wife Natascha at the BRC exploring the nature of a successful, happy relationship. They live in Johannesburg, with Smokey Joe their Dachshun and travel extensively around our beautiful country and enjoy the gifts of Recovery.

Total cost of the retreat depends on the type of accommodation selected, please email bookings@brcixopo.co.za for more information and to make your reservation.

19/05/2026

A Personal Retreat: Rest, Reflect, and Restore – 15% discount mid-week this May

Join us for a personal retreat mid-week and some optional gentle yoga and meditation. Enjoy the tranquillity of the space and embrace the art of doing nothing – seriously. This time out offers a slower rhythm, allowing you to step back from the busyness of life and find peace within.

Accommodation costs include all meals and teas. Please email bookings@brcixopo.co.za for more information and to make your reservation.

17/05/2026

The feast of Wesak is the most important day in the Buddhist calendar, commemorating the birth, enlightenment and death of the Buddha 2,500 years ago, and is held annually on the full moon of the lunar month of Vesakha (coincidental with May).

We will mark this festival with a programme of sitting and walking meditation plus reflections on the Buddha’s life and teachings and, in union with Buddhists around the world, hold a traditional Wesak ceremony - a lantern-lit circumambulation – on Saturday evening.

Apart from a talk or two - some thoughts on the Buddha’s smile - plus discussion, the weekend will place an emphasis on meditation, the basic Buddhist practice common to all traditions – simply breathing in and breathing out – doing exactly what the Buddha did. The schedule will include time to enjoy the beautiful grounds of the Buddhist Retreat Centre.

*Please note this retreat will be held in Noble Silence.

Join our retreat: Why Does The Buddha Smile?

Teacher: Stephen Coan
Cost: 2 days accommodation + R400 surcharge
Dates: Friday 29 May 2026 - Sunday 31 May 2026

Stephen Coan has been teaching and retreating at the Buddhist Retreat Centre for over three decades. Inspired and informed by the Theravada and Zen Buddhist traditions his retreats place emphasis on the centrality of practice in living a skilful and enlightened life while also exploring the profound benefits of doing nothing, seriously.

Total cost of the retreat depends on the type of accommodation selected. Please email bookings@brcixopo.co.za for more information and to make your reservation.

17/05/2026

Traditional Hatha And Raja Yoga

Teacher: Duncan Rice
Cost: 2 days accommodation + R350 surcharge
Dates: Friday 12 June 2026 - Sunday 14 June 2026

Join Duncan for a weekend of reflection, rejuvenation, relaxation and restoration. The retreat is based on the ancient practices of hatha and raja yoga and is open to all levels of ability, including beginners, who wish to understand the fundamentals of yoga and develop, or deepen, their own practice.

In the tranquil environment of the Buddhist Retreat Centre, we will discover how shatkarmas (cleansing techniques), asanas (postures), pranayama (control of the breath), mudra (gestures to manipulate and stimulate the energies in the body), bandhas (energy locks with the body) bring us into equilibrium. These traditional practices will help us to develop awareness of body, mind and breath. As the body gently opens like a lotus flower, and we start to release our past impressions, so the mind becomes relaxed preparing us for meditation.

We will follow traditional guided meditation techniques in the meditation hall and in the labyrinth to quieten the mind, calm anxieties, recover balance in life and enhance creativity, insight and self-reflection.

Duncan Rice offers community-based yoga at "Yogam Yoga" in Durban. He has studied and lived in India for many years and has followed the teachings of Patanjali (Ashtanga Yoga), Ayurveda and Hatha Yoga which are laid down in some of the oldest texts of yoga. His yoga is rooted in ancient tradition passed down by the teachers over thousands of years teaching that we are a multi-layered being from our physical body to your subtle body. Yoga is about creating health and equilibrium in our body, calming the mind and allowing us to be in touch and at peace with our true self.

Total cost of the retreat depends on the type of accommodation selected. Please email bookings@brcixopo.co.za for more information and to make your reservation.

14/05/2026

Izwi Lika Nomkhubulwane: The Voice Of The Mother Within - A Weekend Of Rest, Sacred Sound And Ancestral Remembrance

Teacher: Buhle Mabanga assisted by Siyabonga Nsizwane & HloniphaniArt Mthethwa
Cost: 2 days accommodation + R400 surcharge
Dates: Friday 05 June 2026 - Sunday 07 June 2026

There comes a time when the silence begins to speak. It sounds like your grandmother's voice. The wind through the trees. The waters you have cried. The child within, asking to be held. This retreat is a listening.

Izwi lika Nomkhubulwane - the voice of the Great Mother - is an invitation to return. To your body. To your breath. To the memory your blood has been carrying long before you had words for it.

Over one weekend in the sacred hills of Ixopo, we will slow down enough to hear what has always been trying to reach us. The ancestral wisdom. The inner child. The dream life. The feeling we were never taught to feel. This is not a workshop. It is a remembering.

What we will move through together:

- Ubuntu Ishta Yoga — the body as the first doorway
- Guided ancestral meditations
- Dream journaling and storytelling
- Inner child healing
- Sacred sound healing rituals
- Sacred walks in nature
- Restorative silence
- Moments of stillness, song and community

Anyone who is ready to feel. Anyone who has been running and is ready to rest. Anyone who senses that their healing is connected to something older than themselves. No experience needed. All are welcome.

Total cost of the retreat depends on type of accommodation selected. Please email bookings@brcixopo.co.za for more information and to make your reservation.

12/05/2026

A Personal Retreat: Rest, Reflect, and Restore – 15% discount mid-week for the month of May

Join us for a personal retreat mid-week and some optional gentle yoga and meditation. Enjoy the tranquillity of the space and embrace the art of doing nothing – seriously. This time out offers a slower rhythm, allowing you to step back from the busyness of life and find peace within.

Accommodation costs include all meals and teas. Please email bookings@brcixopo.co.za for more information and to make your reservation.

11/05/2026

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10/05/2026

Join our Upcoming Retreat:

Liberation Within: Recovering from Addictions & Attachment
Teacher: Warren Shaw
Cost: 2 days accommodation + R400 surcharge
Dates: Friday 22 May 2026 - Sunday 24 May 2026

Often we may find ourselves using various substances or strategies addictively which can include everything from food, alcohol, recreational or prescription drugs, social media, or where we are in abusive relationships. When this affects our daily lives and more importantly the relationships that mean the most to us, we have lost our true nature of self.

Our karma and shortcomings can be removed only by ourselves. We are personally responsible for their creation, and we are responsible for their elimination. This retreat will be helpful to people in need of recovery and speaks to any aspect of ourselves that needs to heal.

Warren Shaw holds an Addiction Treatment accreditation from Yale. His journey to recovery started at the BRC. He has had long term sobriety and is passionate about helping others to deal with any addiction that may be causing them suffering. He also runs workshops with his wife Natascha at the BRC exploring the nature of a successful, happy relationship. They live in Johannesburg, with Smokey Joe their Dachshund and travel extensively around our beautiful country and enjoy the gifts of Recovery.

Total cost of the retreat depends on the type of accommodation selected. Please email bookings@brcixopo.co.za for more information and to make your reservation.

06/05/2026

THE POWER OF PRESENCE
Teachers: John Homewood and Michelle McClunan
Cost: 2 days accommodation + R600 surcharge
Dates: Friday 15 May 2026 - Sunday 17 May 2026

Step into a life‑changing journey of renewal and awakening. This powerful retreat invites you to experience the alchemy of true transformation and fresh beginnings. Through their wisdom, intuitive guidance, and over forty years of combined experience in transformational workshops, John and Michelle will lead you into a space where profound change becomes possible.

DEEPENING PRESENCE
Teachers: John Homewood and Michelle McClunan
Cost: 2 days accommodation + R600 surcharge
Dates: Sunday 17 May 2026 - Tuesday 19 May 2026

Following the transformative journey of Part One, Part Two is a continuation, going even deeper. It offers a more intimate and personalised experience integrating the 5 Golden Keys of Awakened Living. With this more select group, John and Michelle will guide you into the deeper meaning and integration of the teachings in practical ways, helping you to embody presence in everyday ways.

This second retreat is about moving beyond inspiration into application, integrating the alchemy of presence into your relationships, work, health, and daily choices.

Total cost of the retreats depends on the type of accommodation selected. Please email bookings@brcixopo.co.za for more information and to make your reservation.

The Buddhist Retreat Centre, Ixopo, South Africa

22/05/2026

21/05/2026

21/05/2026

19/05/2026

17/05/2026

17/05/2026

14/05/2026

12/05/2026

11/05/2026

10/05/2026

06/05/2026

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