Originally 5 books of self-discovery from January 2024 we've made an edit to include 5 more! Is there anything better than reading a book that deeply flavours your life, if only for a while? I can almost connect the dots of my journey - by the books, films or stories...
Don't the mornings carry a crispness now? The days are golden and still warm, but the heavy heat of summer has shifted (and there is a quiet relief in that). If you've been outside lately, you'll know this feeling. That particular quality of the autumn sun, the...
Ever noticed how time slows down a little up here? The mountain air feels cleaner, the stars a little brighter, and the mind... a little quieter. If you’ve ever left Happy Buddha Retreats thinking, “I wish I could bring more of this into my everyday life,” you’re not...
When Daniela reached out to us earlier this year, she described her stay at Happy Buddha as “one of the kindest things I’ve ever done for myself.” Recovering from knee surgery and deep in burnout, she arrived at the retreat seeking stillness—and found more than she...
Why host a retreat? Imagine sharing your knowledge and passion with motivated individuals in a serene setting, seeing firsthand their profound shift in thinking and mindset. That’s the power of a retreat. When you host a retreat, whether it’s around art, yoga or...
Many of us move through life at a pace that we ourselves can barely keep up with. We focus on our desires or next steps, losing sight of what's right in front of us. But when we live our lives this way, contentment becomes an unattainable goal: a receding finish line…...
A Culture of Shortcuts Our modern society places a huge focus on efficiency and pace. This applies to fitness and unfortunately our bodies too; as reflected by fad diets, pills, and crash exercise programs. When our objectives become too narrow, for example 'to lose...
Hello, Autumn. This week officially marks our first equinox of the year. Throughout history, cultures across the world have honoured this annual event; the moment when day and night are of equal length. Marking the transition into the winter months of the year, the...
Letting go. It’s a gentle, soft sounding idiom that floats frequently from the lips of yoga teachers, weaves itself through the texts of ancient yogis, and has no doubt made an appearance or two on your social media feed. But what does it really mean? Let go of what,...
The term 'digital detox' is buzzing around more than ever. Why? Perhaps because our lives are becoming increasingly impossible to detangle from technology. From our phones and laptops, social media to Netflix - we're constantly being surrounded by screens vying for...
While it is a shorter leap year... it does seem like just yesterday that we were setting intentions and celebrating the start of the year! Yet, here we are, three months in. We’ve experienced some successes and "failures." We’ve stayed true to some of our...
The world can be a stressful place, and we all feel overwhelmed at times. It might seem as though there’s simply too much to do, and not enough time. Curve balls can arise out of no where, and we feel stretched in opposite directions. Yoga teaches us that life isn't...
Creating everyday magic is about embracing simple tools and practices that allow you to see the extraordinary in the ordinary… From gratitude journals to nature exploration, music to meditation, there are countless tools which can infuse our days with extra meaning,...
(Image credit: Brene Brown) It would be somewhat surprising if you haven’t yet heard of Brené Brown. A mother, research professor, storyteller, and author, Brené has dedicated her career to exploring themes like vulnerability, courage, empathy, and shame. Grounded and...
Meditation is a practice that we’ve either heard of, or know is good for us. People have been practicing it for centuries to seek calm, wisdom, and compassion. Science has also found many health benefits to meditating regularly: More self-awareness Reduces stress and...
Here’s how to experience the benefits of meditation without sitting in a quiet room…
Completed a silent retreat? Here are five things you can do to help hold onto some of the mindfulness magic your experienced!
As humans, our connection to nature is key to our sense of peace, contentment, creativity, health… you name it. Yet, as we move through the hustle and bustle of our lives, evoking stillness in nature can start to feel like a faraway dream. The answer: a Sit Spot. Sit...
A guest & writer details her silent retreat experience and is surprised at how impactful this tech-free retreat is.
One of the most profound tips I’ve ever heard is: to set an intentional morning ritual. Annie Dillard once famously said ‘how we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.’ This might seem simple, but try stay with it for a moment. Given that each of our...
Inspired from a recent newsletter we sent out, we wanted to remind you that winter is our warmest season at our Blue Mountains retreat!
We’ve all been there; that point in time when life is asking (or demanding!) us to pause, rest and recharge our energy. Naturally, here at Happy Buddha - we’ll be the first to advocate the power in wellness retreats… but sometimes a getaway is simply not on the cards....
A candid and thoughtful account of what it’s like to participate in Journey into Stillness silent meditation retreat. The Stillness of the Mind by Leah Burton.
We’ve all been here. That place where we want to relax, but our minds decide to race onwards instead. One beautiful antidote for such situations is aromatherapy; the art of using essential oils to shift energy and support healing. As humans, our sense of smell...
As a society, stigma around the practice of sharing our emotional and mental realms seems to be fading. Wonderfully - we’re starting to open up about personal struggles and mental health issues, with more vulnerability than ever. It’s no understatement to say the...
Some of us hear our inner voice loud and clear. We make aligned decisions quickly and seamlessly. On the other hand, some of us have the opposite experience. We struggle to know what we truly think, want or don’t want. What has happened here is that we’ve silenced our...
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if creative ideas flowed effortlessly any time we needed them? Unfortunately, for most of us this is not the reality. We often feel stuck, replaying the same situations in our minds again and again with the same results (or lack of results)....
‘We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.’ - George Bernard Shaw The world of adulting is one we're all pretty familiar with. We've all caught ourselves getting excited about cutlery sets, new sheet covers and house plants....
‘Silence is not the absence of sound, but the presence of an inward-listening awareness.’ – Maria Popova In this day and age, many of us are excessively surrounded by noise. We’re being exposed to news, entertainment and a constant stream of technological...
It seems as though time is flying... but can you believe we’re already just over halfway through the year? It's time to re-examine those New Year’s resolutions, and to take a look at how you’re tracking. It’s time to pat yourself on the back, as well as to channel...
‘Through Ayurveda you will discover all the forces of Nature working within you, and that you yourself are a replica of the cosmos…’ – David Frawley Ayurveda, or the ‘science of life’ is the five thousand year old Vedic natural healing system of India. As we...
Each one of us has a unique awareness of our own experience. We each have a beautiful, powerful sense of intuition - a gut feeling about what is right or wrong for us. Whether or not we follow this guidance system is up to us. Learning how to intuitively eat is one of...
Happy Buddha is on TV!Talk about happiness!! In the midst of winter a film crew retreated with us and here's the final result. We can't thank Angie Hilton and the crew from Destination Happiness enough for having a laugh and experiencing what it's like to...
Unfortunately it sometimes feels like life gets the better of us. There’s just too much to do, not enough time and we don’t seem to be getting any closer to our goals. But the thing is, there’s no need to wait until the weekend, or your next Christmas break to feel...
Is there anything more endearing than watching a baby bop up and down to a tune on the radio? As humans, we are born with an innate joyful response to music. We naturally tap our feet, hands and bob our heads when a good song comes on. But somewhere along the way we...
"IGNITE YOUR SPIRIT" ~ Our new tagline. But what does this mean, we hear you ask? Do you want me to set myself of fire, I hear you ask? Well, not literally, but metaphorically, YES! Come sit down with us beside our beautiful cosy Happy Buddha fireplace and we will...
When you’re feeling grounded, you’re like a big, strong tree rooted firmly into the earth. Fierce winds may ruffle your crown, and you might even lose a few leaves and branches. But still, you remain standing - and your life force helps you to recover quickly from any...
"Your attention is your currency, practice how you spend it, save it, give it." - Elena Brower Living with Intention This morning a kookaburra sat on my veranda for close to an hour. He was completely still – but far from idle – his attention never strayed from the...
What do you consider a daily ritual? It might not seem like it, but each one of us already has certain daily rituals. Each morning, we brush our teeth, without thinking, because having clean teeth is seen as a basic necessity for a good-feeling body. We also usually...
Mindfulness is very much a buzzword in our society today. People today live life at a much faster pace than every before, thanks to instant connection and instant messaging, and mobile phone technology meaning that people are somehow ‘on’ all the time. The lines...
'The Brain that Changes Itself' is a book about the neuroplasticity of the brain, published in 2007, by psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Norman Doidge. The findings reported in this book are based on his own and others’ scientific research on what happens to the brains...
