Price and donations
The base price of the gathering is 160€ for adults and children aged 13 years or older. For younger children, the price is 100€, or 60€ if the child does not need a bed (can for example sleep on a mattress on the floor in a room with two adults). Children aged 2 years or younger, without their own bed, can participate for free.
This price covers the travel costs of the teachers, the rent of Friendship Inn, and food expenses.
We feel that financial situation should not prevent anybody from participating, so we are willing to offer the Dharma Gathering for a reduced price, if needed. If the base price is too high for you, please contact us at retriitit@nirodha.fi and let us know how much you are able to pay. If you would like to support those in a difficult financial situation, you can pay more than the base price.
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 join and 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 participants may support the teachers and organizers by donations after the gathering; we ask you to take cash with you for this. The teachers live primarily on donations.
Registration and cancellations
You can apply for the gathering by filling in the application form and by paying the registration fee. We will confirm your place on the gathering after we have received the form and the payment. Each adult needs to fill in their own form; a maximum of 3 children can be added to an adult’s form. (There is no space for more children at the moment; if you wish to come with children, we can add you to waiting list. In this case, fill in the application form, but do not pay the registration fee.)
The registration fee is 30€ per person and is paid to the following account:
Bank name: S-Bank
City where bank located: Helsinki
Swift code: SBANFIHH
Name of bank account holder: Nirodha ry
Address: Vetehisenkuja 3, 00530 Helsinki
Account number: FI83 3636 3010 8888 24
Reference number: 720160
You can also use PayPal. The recipient’s email address is talous@nirodha.fi. Mention the reference number in the PayPal message. If you send money by PayPal, you also need to pay the PayPal fee, adding it to your payment. For the registration fee, the addition is 1,40€, and for the rest of the fee, as follows: 5€ for 130€ payment, 3€ for 70€ and 1,40€ for 30€.
The rest of the fee (130€ or 50€ in case of the base price) should be paid by May 30th 2016, to the same account with the same reference number. The reserved places which are not paid for by the due date will be given to others on the waiting list. If you pay from an account which is not with your own name, please inform us about this to retriitit@nirodha.fi. The information needed is the name of the participant, the name of the account owner, and the date of transaction.
In case you need to cancel your participation, 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 the cancellation takes place before May 30th, we will return the rest of the fee. If the cancellation takes place later than this, money will be returned only if we can find another participant to fill in the empty place.
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 of the gathering
The gathering starts on Friday 1st of July at 4-5 p.m, and ends on Wednesday 6th of July at around 3 p.m. The gathering must be attended in full.
The venue
The gathering is held in Friendship Inn, in Kruusila near Salo, about 100 km from Helsinki towards Turku. The address is: Friendship Inn, Kalkkilantie 74, 25110 Kruusila. The closest bus stop is approximately 9 km away in Suomusjärvi.
We will send more information about how to get to the place approximately one week before the gathering. Then we will give more information about recommended bus connections and the driving route. We will also help to coordinate liftshare.
Accommodation, food and daily schedule
In Friendship Inn there are places for 50 participants, 10-15 of these children. Accommodation is usually in shared rooms of 2-4 people, family members sharing a room. The rooms will be assigned to participants in the order in which they arrive. As you fill in the application form, please mention if you have special needs regarding accommodation. Please note that in Friendship Inn there may be cats and/or dogs, which do not have access to the meditation hall or bedrooms, but might be a problem if you suffer from a severe allergy.
During the gathering we offer three vegetarian meals a day: breakfast, lunch and a light supper. In addition, there will be snacks for children. At breaks there will be tea and instant coffee on offer. Please do mark any food allergies you have on the registration form.
The daily schedule will include periods of sitting and walking meditation, guided yoga or other type of movement, Dharma talk, discussion around topics related to Dharma, and other kind of activities, also some that are offered by the participants themselves. There will be a possibility to go to sauna every other day. Also, each day there will be a 1-hour work period, during which there’s different tasks, for example cleaning the house or chopping vegetables for meals. A possible task may also be to take part in child-care during a time when there are other programs on offer for adults.
For children we will offer both different guided activities and free time to play under the supervision of adults, altogether 4-5 hours per day. A preliminary plan is that in addition to other activities there will be creative movement and some mindfulness practices for kids. Participation in the activities is voluntary; children can also spend the time with their parents. The Dharma Gathering will also include some activities where children and adults can participate together.
The days will be spent partly in silence, partly talking. For families, silence means whatever is possible and reasonable for the children.
The Dharma Gathering is a drug-free event. Smoking is possible only in a special area assigned for it.
Equipment
Please bring your own bed-linen or a sleeping bag, unless you travel from abroad and bringing these is difficult for you. Also bring your own towel, and possible medications you may need. The managers will not be able to bring you items you miss during the gathering.
In sitting meditation, it will be possible to use either a chair, or on a cushion on the floor. There is one set of cushions (zafu and zabuton) for each, and quite a few meditation benches. If you need extra cushions, e.g. to support your knees or hands during meditation, please bring these with you. If you get easily cold during meditation, it may be good to bring your own blanket.
Meditation hall is in a separate building from some of the rooms, so shoes that you can put on quickly may be handy. Also indoor shoes could be useful. If possible, you can bring your own yoga mat, if you need one. We will tell in more detail about the equipment needed closer to the gathering.
Finally
If you have any questions, you can contact us at retriitit@nirodha.fi. We hope this will be a fruitful and meaningful event for everyone!
Warmly,
Tuulikki Hukka (+358 50 432 9241)
Anna Backholm (+358 40 536 2946)