So we did an 8-day retreat at the beginning of this summer. There were 7 participants altogether + 1 cook. The retreat took place in a beautiful 600 year old village with log houses. This is the first time we had a friend just to cook for us – he made very delicious, mostly macrobiotic & vegetarian meals.
We had a schedule simmilar to previous retreats: 2 + 2 sitting practices on full days, two periods of silent observation, walks, reading & journaling period. We tried to make this a silent retreat - this turned out to be a very good decision, but we weren’t able to stick to this 100% of the time (outside the sharings taking place after dinner). A good thing, which is simmilar to a dharma talk on a regular retreat with a teacher, seems to be a reading out loud of a chapter or a passage from a book of interest.
The silent concentration was best usually during morning and before noon, after that it was usually somehow dropping. Well, it’ll get better as we become more experienced in retreating 
Most of those who were not doing amaroli before the retreat started doing it afterwards. 
At this point, I’m learning to organize the retreat in a way that we can maintain high concentration, without there being a capital L Leader… Just trying to do it naturally as I feel it.
Overall, everything went smoothly and calmly Looking forward to the next one.
T.
Thanks for sharing this Tadeas… sounds wonderful!!!
…and thanks for organizing the retreats.
Hi,
I am one of the beginers with amaroli
I just confirm that it was amazing!
I met inspiring people and without doubts it motived me a lot and I need to note that I really enjoyed food!
I look forward for next retreat and thank you Tadeas and other for organization.
David
We did another short 4-5 day retreat after Christmas and over the New Year’s Eve.
There were nine participants altogether, mostly between 20-30 years old - no guru to supervise us there, except for the one in us
It was a fine retreat, we spent one day in silence, we did a bit of walking, we had three sittings per day + one hour of silent awareness/watching before evening meditation, plus optional asanas in the afternoon.
The retreats are organized with the help of my girlfriend - thanks much!
This was one of the smoothest retreats so far, I think. It’s becoming easier and more natural to organise these retreats and I always learn a lot. In 20 years, these’ll be the best retreats around! 
Thanks to all the participants
http://img11.rajce.idnes.cz/d1101/5/5883/5883533_d277d9dd858074758fca753dfa1734cf/images/1201010125.jpg
http://img11.rajce.idnes.cz/d1101/5/5883/5883533_d277d9dd858074758fca753dfa1734cf/images/1112290012.jpg
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http://img11.rajce.idnes.cz/d1101/5/5883/5883533_d277d9dd858074758fca753dfa1734cf/images/1201010120.jpg
Bravo!
nice atmosphere…nice pics
Wow! Nice!