Practice Library

One Week Retreat - Shamatha and the Four Immeasurables

The full 2025 annual online retreat: thirty-three sessions over seven days, shamatha in the mornings and the four immeasurables in the evenings.

Shamatha is the practice of developing single-pointed concentration in order to find a calm, clear and focused mind. This is a one-week retreat on shamatha and the four immeasurables, recorded live in 2025. The mornings work through the shamatha methods one at a time: settling body, speech and mind, then mindfulness of breathing at the whole body, at the abdomen and at the nostrils, then the Dzogchen approach, taking the mind as the path, and shamatha without a sign. As the morning sessions turn us inwards, the evenings turn us outwards through the four immeasurable qualities of the heart; loving kindness, compassion, empathetic joy and equanimity. Each of the evening sessions ends with questions from the room and from the people watching online. Manu's morning yoga, a guided body scan for rest, and the group's own silent practices at seven in the morning and quarter past three are all included, so you can follow the week as it ran or dip into whichever part you want.

What this course covers

• The shamatha methods in sequence, from settling the body to awareness of awareness
• The four immeasurables: loving kindness, compassion, empathetic joy and equanimity
• Morning yoga with Manu, and the group’s own silent practices
• Thirty-five hours, taught over seven days in August 2025

Sessions

1. D1S1 - Welcome, Noble Silence and the Shape of the Week 82 minutes
2. D1S2 - Body Scan: The One Practice That Is Only About Rest 30 minutes
3. D2 Morning Practice - Settling Body, Speech and Mind in Their Natural States 49 minutes
4. Morning Yoga - 19 August 2025 37 minutes
5. D2S1 - Motivation, and the Fourfold Vision Quest 87 minutes
6. D2S2 - Mindfulness of Breathing at the Whole Body, and Why Relaxation Comes First 75 minutes
7. D2 3.15pm Silent Practice 46 minutes
8. D2S3 - Loving Kindness, Beginning With Yourself 87 minutes
9. D3 7am Silent Practice 46 minutes
10. Morning Yoga - 20 August 2025 32 minutes
11. D3S1 - Stability, and Counting the Breath at the Abdomen 89 minutes
12. D3S2 - The Classic Method at the Nostrils, and Vividness 72 minutes
13. D3 3.15pm Silent Practice 45 minutes
14. D3S3 - Loving Kindness Through the Classic Sequence, and Its Near Enemy 90 minutes
15. D4 7am Silent Practice 44 minutes
16. Morning Yoga - 21 August 2025 33 minutes
17. D4S1 - The Dzogchen Approach to Mindfulness of Breathing 86 minutes
18. D4S2 - The Buddha's Instructions to Bahiya, and the Stages of Attention 75 minutes
19. D4 3.15pm Silent Practice 51 minutes
20. D4S3 - Compassion, and Choosing Someone You Can Work With 92 minutes
21. D5 7am Silent Practice 44 minutes
22. Morning Yoga - 22 August 2025 31 minutes
23. D5S1 - Taking the Mind as the Path: Watching Thought Without Following It 88 minutes
24. D5S2 - Taking the Mind as the Path: Doing Even Less 75 minutes
25. D5 3.15pm Silent Practice 45 minutes
26. D5S3 - Empathetic Joy, and Delighting in the Good Fortune of Others 91 minutes
27. D6 7am Silent Practice 42 minutes
28. Morning Yoga - 23 August 2025 35 minutes
29. D6S1 - Shamatha Without a Sign: Awareness of Awareness 90 minutes
30. D6S2 - Seeking What Is Aware, and the Nine-Round Breathing 75 minutes
31. D6S3 - Equanimity, and the Four Immeasurables Complete 93 minutes
32. Morning Yoga - 25 August 2025 34 minutes
33. D7S1 - The Whole Sequence in One Session, and Carrying It Home 128 minutes