Price and donations
The base price for the retreat is 290 € (includes 24 % VAT). The base price covers the travel expenses of the teachers and the managers, the food expenses and some other practicalities. The bus from Rovaniemi to the trekking area is included in the price; train tickets and meals during the travelling are not included.
We feel that financial situation should not prevent anybody from participating, so we are willing to offer the retreat for a reduced price, if needed. If the base price is too high for you, please contact us at retriitit2@nirodha.fi and let us know how much you are able to pay.
The teachers and organizers do not receive any payment for their services, but offer these freely, so that as many as possible have a possibility to benefit from the teachings regardless of their financial situation. This principle of generosity is very central in the teachings of the Buddha, and has made it possible that we can still practice meditation 2500 years after him.
The retreatants may support the teachers and organizers by donations after the retreat; we ask you to take a payment card or cash with you for this. The teachers live primarily on donations.
Registration and cancellations
You can sign up for the retreat by filling in the registration form. Once you have registered, you will receive an invoice for the 35 euros registration fee. Please pay the invoice using the reference number by due date. The registration fee cannot be transferred to another retreat.
Before the retreat we will send you a second invoice for the rest of the retreat fee. Make sure you pay the invoice by due date, or your place will be given to the next person on the waiting list.
If you wish to pay via Paypal, please choose ”Registration with PayPal invoice” on the registration form AND contact us via email at retriitit2@nirodha.fi. We will create a Paypal invoice for you then.
In case you need to cancel the retreat, we kindly ask that you tell us as soon as possible, so we can give your place to the next person in the queue. In case of cancellations, the registration fee is not refundable. If you have already paid the second invoice but need to cancel, we will unfortunately be able to refund you only if we can find another participant to fill in the empty place. The payment also cannot be transferred to another retreat.
If you are coming from abroad, please note that we are not able to provide any documents for visa applications because of limited resources.
Time, place and travel arrangements
The retreat starts on Friday the 2nd of August. Our bus leaves from Rovaniemi railway station at 7:45 a.m. and takes us to the Pöyrisjärvi wilderness area, where we start trekking in the afternoon. The trek ends on Friday the 9th of August. The bus picks us up so that we are back at Rovaniemi railway station by 8.30 p.m.
A good way to travel from Southern Finland to Rovaniemi is by taking a night train from Helsinki. The recommended train leaves Helsinki on Thursday, 1st of August at 19.29 and arrives in Rovaniemi at 7:20 the following day. For the return trip, we recommend the train that leaves Rovaniemi on Friday, 9th of August at 20:57 and arrives in Helsinki at 9:15 in the morning.
Train tickets are not included in the retreat price. You can purchase the train tickets from vr.fi. Some time after registration we will share you the list of participants so if needed, you can share a cabin with another participant (since it is required to book the whole two-person cabin while reserving a ticket in the sleeping van). It may be worthwhile to buy the tickets as early as possible to get the lowest price.
If you are coming by other means, please let us know! We will give you instructions.
We will arrange a place close to the trekking area where it will be possible to store some equipment (like spare clothes for the journey back) for the duration of the trek, and have a sauna and lunch (lunch price 14,80 € not included in the price of the retreat) after the trek.
Trekking conditions
We will walk partly on paths and partly outside of them. In some places the terrain may be wet or stony. We will wade across streams and small rivers. Nights are spent in shared tents, and food will be cooked with portable stoves. There will be no toilets available. Washing is possible in cold streams and lakes; it is also possible to spend a week without washing oneself. If clothes get wet, it may not be possible to get them dry immediately.
The conditions in August vary a lot from year to year. There may be big swarms of mosquitoes and other biting insects, or almost none; in any case, it is good to bring a mosquito hat and maybe even a mosquito jacket, too. The weather may vary from hot to cold; most probably daytime temperatures will be between 5 and 25 degrees. The temperature may go below zero at night.
Pöyrisjärvi wilderness is a remote area, and we will be mostly on our own there. Mobile phones will not work everywhere. The organizers will be carrying a phone for possible emergencies.
Equipment needed
The equipment needed for the trek can be found in the equipment list.
If you do not have everything on the list, please try borrowing from your friends or use a rental service (e.g. Hygglo). Good equipment is rather lightweight, as we will have a lot to carry, anyway.
We do not have insurance for the participants. It may be good to have your own personal insurance, which also covers trekking in Lapland.
Food
On the trek we will eat trekking type of food. We eat three meals a day, and there will also be some common snacks (4 snackbars and ca. 500g nuts for each and other snacks). It is good to bring personal snacks as well. All the food will be vegan. You can bring non-vegan supplements for yourself if you wish. Please tell us about your food allergies in the registration form. If you have very specific requirements, please contact us beforehand to ensure that we can accommodate your needs.
We will get the drinking water from the streams and lakes; the water is safe to drink as such. The trek is a drug-free event and we also encourage people not to smoke during the trek.
Lastly
We will send the participants other useful information closer to the retreat.
If you have any questions, please contact us (info below). We hope this retreat will be a unique and beautiful experience for all!
You are warmly welcome,
Elli Alasaari (retreat manager, ellialasaari@gmail.com, +358 440 427 077)
Marianne (Nella) Woodbury (registrations) retriitit2@nirodha.fi, phone (only Whatsapp, Telegram & iMessage): +1 470 641 7056