The Higher Hedonism: Sub-35s Summer Retreat for young people

At the heart of the Buddha’s teaching lies a surprising truth: to live a deeply meaningful life, we need to learn how to truly enjoy ourselves.

The Buddha taught that freedom from craving, restlessness, and attachment comes through cultivating inner joy. Again and again, he pointed to the importance of dhyana—states of stillness, rapture, and ease—as essential to the path.

This retreat explores what we’re calling a “higher hedonism”: moving beyond fleeting pleasures toward more fulfilling and lasting forms of happiness. Through meditation, nature, and community, we’ll discover how joy can become a stable foundation for insight and freedom.

We’ll work with two core practices we teach—the mindfulness of breathing and the metta bhavana (loving-kindness)—and learn how to deepen them into sources of profound inner happiness. We’ll also draw on the beauty and peace of the natural world to support our practice.

Expect silence, friendship, forest stillness, good food, and a powerful encounter with the deeper potential of Buddhist meditation.

RETREAT CATEGORY:TRIRATNA

This retreat is suitable for those who have a regular meditation practice and who regularly attend retreats, a centre or a group within the context of the Triratna Buddhist Community. You will also need to be familiar with, and happy to participate in, Triratna Buddhist devotional practice and ritual (puja), be comfortable with extended periods of sitting meditation and the possibility on some retreats of periods spent in silence.

Please read our booking and cancellation policies and FAQs before booking.