"Spiritual awakening is like unfollowing who you think you are." - Frode Gåsland
Solo travellers looking for spiritual direction can find their opportunity in the UK.
With all of the rolling hills of countryside and perfectly moody days, the United Kingdom serves as the perfect place to deepen your spiritual practice.
Soak in the natural beauty and take a quiet day to finally focus on your health and well-being.
If you're coming from the hustle and bustle of daily life in London, then you'll find plenty of weekend retreats to choose from. Many people take the time over the weekend to improve their meditation practice or attend spirituality workshops. Other people prefer silent retreats so that they can reconnect with themselves before heading back to the grind.
Solo travellers moving through Europe can escape to the UK for a healing spiritual retreat. Yoga and meditation retreats are pretty popular and make for a great yoga holiday. Others will focus more intensely on spiritual healing, if that's what you need in your life right now.
Whether you stay in a monastery, meditation center or a luxury resort, attend a mindfulness retreat, healing retreat, solitary spiritual retreat, residential retreat or one of the many private retreats, set your spiritual growth off on the right foot.
Top Spiritual Retreats in the UK
There are many different types of spiritual retreats. Some will be highly focused on God and include Bible workshops, prayer, and fellowship. Others will be much more fluid, open to all spirituality, and simply provide you the place to explore your own spiritual journey.
If you're not sure where to begin, then take a look at the popular types of spiritual retreats currently happening in the UK. Try to imagine yourself in each and see what feels right for you.
Mindfulness Meditation Retreats
Mindfulness meditation is not a spiritual practice in and of itself, but it can certainly make the spiritual journey a whole lot better. Train your brain to truly focus on what is most important to you with guided meditations. You can hop into weekend meditation retreats every once in a while to keep your brain sharp or attend local meditation classes to improve your meditation practice. As you learn to change the way that you think, you will learn how to experience daily life with a lot more ease.
Buddhist Retreat
To take your meditation practice to the next level, look for a Buddhist meditation retreat. There you will learn about Buddhist meditation and the lessons taught in Buddhism. Depending on the retreat center, you will be able to work with a spiritual director during your retreat. Get some spiritual direction while surrounded by like-minded people this year on a Buddhist retreat. If you'd really like to build a community of like-minded people for the long-run, then look for a retreat hosted by the Triratna Buddhist Community. You'll meet them at the retreat and be able to grow together from there.
Weekend Retreats
For a quick tune-up on your spirituality, check out nearby weekend retreats. The weekend is the perfect amount of time for silent retreats, where you can explore your inner workings with a quiet yoga and meditation practice, prayer, and vegetarian meals. Then head back to daily life with a totally renewed sense of wellbeing.
Mind, Body, Spirit Detox Retreats
Detox retreats allow you to completely reset yourself, mind, body, and spirit. Many of these detox retreats will serve vegetarian meals with the option for a juice detox. They will often have daily yoga and meditation classes so that you can push the toxins out of both your body and mind. You can even get massage spa treatments with your juice detox to facilitate the entire process.
Wellness Retreats
Wellness retreats can be incredibly spiritual in nature as they tend to focus on the health and wellbeing of the entire person (spirituality included). Some will have workshops on how to stay on the path of wellness and others will have thought-provoking activities. Most will offer yoga meditation sessions with a certified yoga teacher each day to support your healing from the inside out.
Consistent meditation practice offers a whole list of benefits such as emotional healing, relaxation, inner peace, a general state of wellbeing and more.
All it takes is dedicating a few minutes into everyday life for our own ongoing meditation sessions.
Of course, if your "everyday life" is like mine, other things can get in the way and before one knows it we're not being "mindful" about our mindfulness practice. That's why going to a proper wellness retreat explaining spiritual exercises can be so very beneficial. You will learn Buddhist teachings and wellness tools to keep your own solitary spiritual retreat effort continuing when at home.
These days we all need a break to focus on healing by cultivating compassion and loving kindness.
Inner peace, relaxation and a well deserved spiritual retreat is close at hand.
Just read on for the very best spiritual retreats UK 2023.
Women's Meditation Spiritual Retreat UK
Meditation classes at a women's yoga residential retreat or silent retreat offer healing with special support, and the UK has some wonderful ones.
Detox Meditation Retreat UK
A well run detox retreat offers meditators a special kind of healing holiday. A detox retreat mindfulness teacher can provide breathwork, Buddhist teachings, Vipassana silent meditation and an array of yoga practice styles.
A meditation and yoga weekend retreat or even longer can also be enjoyed by those of us on a budget (and who isn't these days?). A healing UK yoga holiday can include guided meditation classes and daily yoga practice of everything from peaceful restorative yoga and yoga nidra to fast flowing hatha yoga sessions. Just don't skimp on a proper yoga teacher.
Try one of these mindful yoga retreats to reap the many benefits of peaceful meditation classes in the Buddhist tradition away from the hustle and bustle of stressful daily life. During a wonderful wellness meditation retreat at a serene monastery you'll finally have the precious time to breathe, relax and practice mindfulness. Choose from a mindfulness meditation day retreat, weekend retreat or longer.
Most Popular Meditation Retreat Centres in the UK
Rivendell Buddhist Meditation Retreat Centre, High Hurstwood
Welcome to a well reviewed Buddhist retreat centre peacefully located next to a quaint East Sussex village. Perfect for a mindfulness retreat and learning of course valuable Buddhist teachings.
Friday-Sunday £195, Rivendell Buddhist Meditation Retreat Centre, High Hurstwood
Alladale Wilderness Reserve, The Highlands, Scotland
Out in the exhilarating (and isolated) nature of the Scottish Highlands, welcome to your very own estate. Yoga, hiking and like minded meditators. Practice with a mindfulness teacher learning techniques to enhance your everyday life.
From €2750 weekly, Alladale Wilderness Reserve, The Highlands, Scotland
Burnham Beeches Hotel, Maidenhead
Escape to a beautiful countryside retreat for yoga class during the day and at night sleep blissfully in the comforting tranquility of Laura Ashley designer bedrooms.
3 days/2 nights retreat rate €505, Burnham Beeches Hotel, Grove Road, Maidenhead, United Kingdom
The Wensleydale Experience, Leyburn
What's a better locale for daily yoga sessions, meditation practice and an overall wellness retreat than a natural farm on a river in the heart of the Yorkshire Dales? Add in very nice and beautiful yurts for accommodation and you have one of those unforgettable yoga retreat trips for both on and off the mat.
3 days/2 nights retreat rate from €346,The Wensleydale Experience, Leyburn, United Kingdom
Balabrook Retreat Centre, South Brent
In a tranquil valley resting near Dartmoor a babbling brook gave this rustic yoga and meditation retreat centre its name. Maybe not a place for a pampered spa treatment but ideal for a mindfulness retreat and perhaps a yoga holiday with healthy vegetarian meals and a well deserved meditation session or two in quiet nature.
3 days/2 nights retreat rate from €341, Balabrook Retreat Centre, South Brent, United Kingdom
Garth Barns, Llanidloes
Luxurious yoga style barns in Wales? Say hello to Garth Barns for a stunner of a barn conversion complete with its own yoga studio for daily yoga class (hatha yoga, vinyasa, pranayama, restorative yoga and more)! Garth Barnes is for a peaceful solitary retreat with excellent guest house accommodations in relaxing nature.
4 days/3 nights retreat rate from €665, Garth Barns, Llanidloes, United Kingdom
Saint Michaels Health Club, Falmouth
Imagine a UK yoga retreat in a resort where they provide over 100 wellness classes a week. Everything from guided meditation to pranayama breathwork training, ayurveda tips, vinyasa flow, restorative yoga, detox opportunities, etc. Talk about your weekly inspiration! And a Saint Michaels wellness retreat offers a vast array of spa treatments and delicious vegetarian food to compliment your mindful yoga retreats spiritual journey as well.
4 days/3 nights retreat rate from €746, Saint Michaels Health Club, Falmouth, United Kingdom
The Lodges, West Sussex
A Grade II listed farmhouse just an hour outside central London, the Lodges offers a beautiful country hotel experience perfect for a quiet day,weekend retreat or longer. Conveniently located, it's the perfect site for time stressed guests needing a wellness break for the mind, body and spirit.
4 days/3 nights retreat rate from €685, The Lodges, West Sussex, United Kingdom
Gaia House, Devon
Ideal for a silent retreat, Gaia House experienced Dharma teachers offer guests spiritual exercises on a healing retreat in the Buddhist tradition to calm the mind, practice present moment breathwork, study Dharma and free their hearts.
Starting at €66 per night for more than 3 days, Vipassana silent meditation retreat. Gaia House Meditation Center, West Ogwell, Newton Abbot, Devon