Meditation Retreat 2023

Meditation Retreat:
Discovering the Spiritual Heart

23 - 27 June 2023 | with Peter Bampton

A 4-day immersion in meditation and non-dual contemplation in a beautiful secluded valley of Awakened Life Project Ashram.

Join!

23 - 27 June 2023

Location: Awakened Life Project Ashram, Portugal
Price: 340€ for Portuguese | 400€ for everyone else*
* If you have financial difficulty in coming to one of our events we offer a gift economy program. Please read more here.

Reserve your spot

Guided by
Peter Bampton

Peter is a co-founder of the Awakened Life Project and author of "The Fire of the Heart - True Meditation as a Direct Doorway to Spiritual Awakening". He has practiced meditation for almost 4 decades and has been teaching Meditation Retreats since 2009.

Watch Pete teaching

What to expect

Who Am I? The most essential spiritual question of them all. In this 4 day Retreat Peter will guide you into a discovery of an answer to that perennial question that completely transcends your historical identity and potentially begins to live "your" life. The answer is not a "thing" that "you" can have or understand for it is the discovery of the Spiritual Heart that you always already ARE here and now.

If you come to this Retreat with an open mind and a strong intention to Awaken then the Mystery of your True Nature, prior to the appearance of body, mind and world, will reveal Itself. This Revelation is the Source of True Happiness, Peace, Freedom and Love. This retreat will be held in silence in a beautiful nature with the addition of qi gong and breathwork sessions in the morning and open dialogue sessions in the evening.

Register for the retreat

Where is it

The retreat is set in the beautiful environment of Quinta da Mizarela in the mountains of Central Portugal, which is the heart and the Ashram of the Awakened Life Project. You will spend 4 days in a charged spiritual atmosphere of transformation with Peter and the residents of the Ashram.

Explore the Ashram

On this retreat
you will explore and experience:

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4 days of Silence, Guided Meditation and Q&A sessions on Awakening to Transcendent Consciousness here and now
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Daily Qi Gong Sessions
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Delicious Vegetarian Meals
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Walks in beautiful mountains of Central Portugal, dips in wild waterfalls
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Massage available (at extra cost)

"
Doing a retreat with Pete is the BEST decision I ever made in my life. Really, I am not just saying it to say it! When I came to Portugal for the first time in November of 2020 I was feeling completely lost, without any purpose, no energy to live, no enthusiasm to be in in this world. My life was pretty good though, I had a lot of good friends and a very beautiful and loving girlfriend. I had just finished my university course, with a pretty good results and there were also many other reasons to be happy and satisfied. But I couldn't enjoy all of that. Something was missing. I've never been very into what conventional life has to offer, deep down in my heart I felt there should be something more than just having a career, a family, work and die. So I decided to take my backpack and start traveling, looking for alternative lifestyles and for some mysterious reason I ended up in a small community in the middle of Portugal, with people who are part of the Awakened Life Project. So I decided to go to my first retreat over New Year. And it totally blew me away!

The power of Pete's transmission was just speaking directly to my heart, while I was realising that I finally found what I have been searching for my entire life, without even be aware of it. The teachings were so simple and down to earth, everybody in the room could relate to them with their own experience and we were able to feel ourselves being guided in a collective process, in which all our apparently individual questions or issues were actually seen as completely impersonal. And all of them were answered, by the powerful revelation of Freedom, here and now. Nothing to seek, we are always already happy and free! And this existence is a process of constant recognition of that truth and a process of learning how to express that recognition in every single moment of our daily lives.

I remember feeling like falling in love for the first time, realising that I want to give my life to this process. Sometime later I eventually joined the Awakened Life Sangha (the committed spiritual community of Pete and Cynthia's students). And I made many other amazing choices, which continue to change my life, every day. But all of that would have never been possible, without making that one choice, of joining a retreat with Pete.

And almost two years after, I am writing this testimonial with the same passion I felt in that occasion, but with much more understanding and appreciation for what happened in that retreat and what incredible job Pete is doing with is work. And I am tremendously grateful to him for that. Thank you Pete, I love you.
Davide, Italy
"
I met Pete in 2009 and I have been his student since 2010! I can sincerely say that "my life" has changed enormously since and that he has been a very big part of this transformation.

Pete has also changed a lot since we met and I can say that he is definitely not a conventional teacher. This is one of the things that I found most difficult to deal with in the beginning, because of the many ideas I had about how a Spiritual Path should look, but with time I learned to appreciate that his responses are tailored to each individual and put us directly in contact with what is Real! Today I recognise that his honesty, fearlessness and relentless passion for freedom here and now, truly give him the capacity to pierce through the hard shell of the ego and touch the deepest and most profound spark of Truth in our Hearts. I have been witnessing many radical transformations in many other men and women, that like me value his leadership, experience and uncompromising devotion to what is most Sacred in Life.
Ricardo, Portugal
"
Coming together as men and women within the Awakened Life Sangha has been a truly profound journey. When I ask myself why that is, I can only say because we don't stop at what we know. We are constantly looking beyond conventional norms and because of that we are discovering each other and ourselves always new and fresh. The way I look at masculinity and femininity today has nothing to do with the way I looked at it 10 or even 2 years ago. I am so relieved to let go of a false sense of strength and superiority towards men. Through that I have been discovering a softness and power that is not controlling but rather surrendering and that can embrace the qualities that men have to offer.

Pete has been instrumental in facilitating that shift within our collective Sangha and also within me personally. He is holding a space where we can explore pretty much everything without taboo. This is very important to get to the root of things. I have witnessed countless times how through that something is set free collectively and we are all lifted beyond limitation and separation to a higher level of consciousness.
Sandra, Germany
"
Peter is an extraordinary teacher and a human being with a lot of depth, humor, integrity and most importantly, unique capacity to transmit the profound spiritual truth and the joy of awakening. First meditation retreat guided by Peter that I attended in 2019 radically changed my life, i got in touch with the quietness of my own being and happiness of being alive like never before. Attending retreats and talks with Pete always brings me to the inherent recognition of fullness, expansion and freedom, sparks curiosity, and challenges all my limiting beliefs. I'm very grateful for having Peter's guidance in my life, while discovering who I truly am and fully living it in manifestation – in a woman's body, in a messy world today, prior to all conditioning and free from it all!
Alexandra, Russia
"
Working with Pete is akin jumping of a cliff, it is a deep dive into the unknown. In the process my ideas about pretty much everything, my sacred cows, my inherited belief systems, are being shattered. In that radical deconstruction I am left with little but the intensity of Life and Consciousness Itself. It can, at times, be an ordeal of excruciating pain, but also it is also humorous and joyful as I find myself overwhelmed by a deeply liberated Happiness sourced in Love itself.

Pete is a daring and unconventional teacher, a fiercely fearless man whose passion for freedom has been tested over and over through an extraordinary life of spiritual practices and challenges. He is in love with the spontaneous flow of the creativity of Life and it is through that surrender that he lives and teaches me.

Pete is also an elder who offers a desperately needed raw model of masculinity that guides me and many others to reclaim their true and authentic masculinity.
Bernard, Belgium
"
I met Pete 3 years ago and it was the best thing that could have happened to me. I was struggling with different issues and listening to Pete just made everything crystal clear. I understood what my challenges were and with his help I found a way to take responsibility for the wrong choices I was making. Since then I've been changing my life in a radical way. If I have to describe Pete in a few words I would say he is a sensitive, strong and radical wise man that sees the best in you and is not afraid to push you to see the truth, no matter what it takes. He is surrendered to live in freedom and to guide others in that process. He definitely walks his talk and lives the mystery the best he can. I am very happy to receive his teachings and to be his friend. I hope more people will have the privilege to meet him and take this ride to infinite Happiness, Love and Freedom.
Rui, Portugal
"
Pete is a passionate teacher with a sharp and eclectic mind. He loves to go deep into the topics and questions that move his students. What I find truly exciting from being in many sessions with him is his ability to explain the complexities of reality with very simple and alive examples. This often guides us to enter a collective field in which we both understand and feel the truth of non-duality. I can therefore recommend this retreat wholeheartedly!
Nina, Switzerland

Join the retreat

How to find us

Quinta da Mizarela
3305-031 Benfeita Portugal
40.216554, -7.937210

+351962764570
info@awakenedlifeproject.org

When you arrive
Please park just off the road near the sign for the Quinta da Mizarela. Pease do not drive down the dirt track, there is limited space to turn around. If you have a lot of things to carry down please contact us ahead of time and we will come and get you with our jeep. If you prefer walking, just follow the track downhill for about 500 m.