Chaos and Order - Holotropic Breathwork with Zen Meditation / 18.-23. March 2025, BergZendo Hohe Wand, Austria
This five-day retreat offers a unique opportunity for inner work and self-exploration. Each day you will engage in two powerful practices that complement each other perfectly: The mornings we dedicate to guided Zazen and Kinhin, the traditional Zen forms of walking and sitting mediation. In the afternoons, one of four Holotropic Breathwork® sessions will take place.
During the workshop, you can explore the depths of your psyche by doing Zazen and Holotropic Breathwork®, a technique developed by Christina Grof and Dr. Stanislav Grof, carried on by Tav Sparks and numerous facilitators worldwide. This well-defined, substance-free protocol builds on Stan Grof's clinical experience with psychedelic therapy and uses breathing, assistive bodywork, and evocative music in a non-directive group setting to access deeper, non-ordinary states of awareness and consciousness. The safe space encourages participants to surrender to their inner processes and the guidance of their inner healer to explore their inner world.
The Holotropic Breathwork® experience of non-ordinary states of consciousness is complemented by traditional Zen mediation each morning. This simple yet profound form of meditation has been practiced for centuries in Zen Buddhism to cultivate self-awareness, peace, and presence. The practice involves Zazen, that is sitting upright and focusing on the breath, alternating with indoors and outdoors Kinhin, a form of walking meditation, chanting. Participants will learn posture, breathing, and how to sit, let go of distracting thoughts and emotions, and have the possibility for individual consultations with the teacher.
In evening sharing circles, participants share their experiences in a safe space and integrate their experiences in both practices.
This approximate module/sesshin-length retreat offers a nurturing and supportive environment for anyone seeking personal growth and transformation. It includes four breathwork sessions, experienced two times as a breather and two times as a sitter by each participant, and - optional - up to 26 sits in Zazen. Whether you are dealing with past traumas, seeking greater self-awareness, or looking to deepen your spiritual practice, this workshop may help you on your journey to overcome blockades and establish a practice for integration.
The workshop will take place at Bodhidarma BergZendo Hohe Wand, a peaceful and serene location with beautiful views in an old mountain inn above the cliff of Hohe Wand, a nature park near Vienna. No prior experience with Zen or Holotropic Breathwork® is required. The alternating practice of the complementary techniques opens up the possibility for advanced practitioners of both practices to overcome blockages and develop further with each visit.
Zen is considered as philosophy, applied psychology and spiritual practice; this workshop is neutral to religious beliefs.
Seigaku Kigen Oshō, Zen Teacher
William Ekeson began studying Zen Buddhism at the Cambridge Buddhist Association, a center co-founded by Shin’ichi Hisamatsu and D.T. Suzuki in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. He started practicing koans under Myo-on Maurine Stuart Rōshi in 1987.
A year later, he settled as a resident Tathagata Zen practitioner at the Rinzai-ji Temple in Los Angeles and underwent formal koan study under Kyozan Joshu Sasaki Rōshi. This Japanese Zen master was known for his uncompromising approach to practice and was one of the few masters of the Tathagata Zen tradition to teach in the West.
In 1990, Kigen moved to the Mount Baldy Zen Center and was ordained as a monk.
After nine years of training at Mt. Baldy, Kigen was appointed Oshō and assigned to return to the Rinzai-ji temple in Los Angeles as vice abbot and teacher. Rinzai-ji is the main temple of the Tathagata Rinzai Zen lineage, which was brought to the United States by Kyozan Joshu Sasaki Rōshi.
Four years later, Kigen founded the Hollywood Zen Center to meet the needs of Zen practitioners in the Hollywood area.
In 2010, the founder and abbot of Bodhidharma Zendo, Seiun Genro Oshō, passed away. Seigaku Kigen Oshō was invited to work as a Zen teacher in March 2012. In this role, he leads meditations, gives Dharma talks, and offers his students guidance in practicing Zen. Seigaku Kigen Oshō has been abbot of the Rinzai-ji Order Austria since November 2019.
The workshop is held partly in German and in English, translation is provided.
Registration: Please fill out the linked Form and Medical Sheet here.
If you have any questions, please send us an E-Mail to registration@holotropic-breathwork.art
Facilitator
Location
Payment Policy
Workshop Costs:
Early Bird - 580€ - payment before 5th of March 2025
Regular Price - 650€ - payment after 5th of March 2025
Rooms:
Doubleroom - 370€
All rooms are doublerooms with a sink. Showers and WCs (Man and Woman separated) are on the floor and shared. If there is any reason, you really can not share the room, please contact us directly to see, if we can provide a single room for you (depending on the group size; aditional costs: €50).
Cancellation Policy
The cancellation fee is € 100,- any time you cancel the workshop.
If you cancel the workshop within 15 days before the starting date, the whole workshop amount will not be refunded, but after deducting the € 100,- cancellation fee, the rest could be applied to any other workshop during the following 4 years.
If you cancel the workshop more than 15 days in advance the total amount (minus the 100 Euro cancellation fee) will be refunded.
In case of cancellation of the workshop, we will refund you the full registration fee.
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