The MLE Retreat was first organised by Mind & Life Europe in 2019, in tandem to the European Summer Research Institute (ESRI), with the aim of supporting young scholars in the area of contemplative studies.
ESRI 2027 and the MLE Retreat 2027: “Opening in the Midst of Uncertainty: Deepening Connection”
Applications are not yet open. Stay tuned!
What is the MLE Retreat?
The annual MLE Retreat offers an opportunity to systematically explore our individual trajectories, motivations, challenges, and opportunities using contemplative practice and other tools for self-exploration and self-development. What choices and circumstances have brought us to where we are? What is it we are striving for and why? How might we move forward towards this goal? What might be the cost, and are we willing to pay it?
Emphasising both individual and group work, and employing an intensive contemplative and dialogic approach, the retreat is facilitated by experienced scholar-practitioners. As contemplative practice will be a key element of the retreat, younger and/or early-career academics and professionals who have an established, regular meditation practice are encouraged to apply. The MLE Retreat is open to all, but it is preferable if one has already participated in one or more Mind & Life Institute or Mind & Life Europe events.
Two of our previous retreat facilitators, Dr Marieke van Vugt and Dr Martijn van Beek, explain the history and thinking behind the MLE Retreat.
We are very happy that for the past few years, ESRI and the MLE Retreat have been sponsored by the Italian Buddhist Union’s Research Center and the Rangjung Yeshe Gomde, Austria.
Previous MLE Retreats
MLE Retreat July 2026: “Making Time for Practice: Contemplative Living in the Full Flow of Existence”
For those of us who do not live a “professional” contemplative life as monastics, a significant challenge is how to nourish and deepen our practice while recognising and taking care of our other commitments in daily life — responsibilities towards our families and friends, our jobs, and towards our life dreams. While there appear to be ever more suggestions and offerings in the spiritual marketplace that promise better results with less investment of time and effort, the reality according to wisdom traditions is that there are not really any shortcuts, and that contemplative living is an existential pursuit involving the entirety of our being, rather than a matter of techniques or having certain kinds of experiences. Moreover, the contemplative life demands real choices and trade-offs that can be difficult.
During the 2026 MLE Retreat, we explored how we may integrate a contemplative dimension into more aspects of our lives, developing habits that we can maintain even when our life gets busy or, inevitably, poses major challenges. We spent time experimenting with deceptively simple practices, creatively involving our body, breath, heart, and mind. We sought ways of fostering a sense of confidence to emerge, in our choices, priorities and, indeed, our practice. Making a commitment to practice in a broader sense, on and off the cushion, in ways that are feasible for us given our present circumstances and our longings for the future, is a powerful means of making time meaningful and allows us to adapt more freely and creatively as circumstances change. We examined what choices and trade-offs we are willing to make at this particular time to integrate contemplative values into our lives.
MLE Retreat July 2025: “Down to Earth: Exploring Meaningful Ways of Living, Together”
In the 2025 MLE Retreat, we drew upon many of the same tools of inquiry as in previous retreats — seated meditation, gentle movement, journaling, and dialogue — but with an eye to how we might bring our practice more fully into the brambles of our everyday lives. How might our contemplative practice more intimately inform our ways of relating to the world(s) at hand? What alternative pathways open up when we approach these worlds with a mind of inquiry and a capacious heart? How can we set robust aspirations for ourselves while still remaining “down-to-earth” in our expectations? What might it look like to live together meaningfully in a world in which we are witnessing increasing fragmentation and polarisation? How do we form a reliable sense of meaning when the grounds beneath us feel volatile and precarious?
True to the title, we placed our focus this retreat on exploring openly some of these questions together, using the tools we have at our disposal from contemplative practice and dialogical inquiry.
MLE Retreat August 2024: “Opening Up the Space Between Us”
In August 2024, there was an in-person retreat connected to the European Summer Research Institute 2024, which took place at The Lama Tzong Khapa Institute in Pomaia, Italy, from 31st July – 2nd August, 2024.
Inspired by the 2024 MLE banner theme, “Opening Up the Space Between Us” we explored how contemplative practice may help us in this process of opening up space, individually and collectively, as our lives unfold. In a world where a hardening of boundaries and deepening polarisations seem to be on the rise, living open-heartedly and cultivating responsibility, as the wisdom traditions suggest, appear as radical and necessary alternatives. What might this mean, concretely, in our personal and professional lives? What experiences do we already have with it, what are our challenges, and how might insights and practices from various wisdom traditions be beneficial? How do we bring more kindness, clarity, and insight to bear on how we live in relationship to ourselves, others, and the world at large? What inner and outer resources and competences do we already possess? How might we develop our capacity to navigate the challenges of living with groundlessness as a foundational condition of being, and as an existential horizon?
MLE Retreat August 2023: “Sentience and Responsibility in Critical Times”
In August 2023, there was an in-person retreat connected to the European Summer Research Institute 2023, which took place at The Lama Tzong Khapa Institute in Pomaia, Italy, from August 17th – 18th, 2023. It was led by Martijn van Beek and Marieke van Vugt.
Through contemplative and dialogical practices, the in-person retreat in 2023 invited participants to explore how their lives, experiences, and innate capacities could provide insights into how they navigate a world in which challenges abound. Wisdom traditions and science tell us that we are, in fact, inextricably embedded in webs of relationships that at once constitute us and which we ourselves shape. What does it mean to be a human being in these times of uncertainty? How might we balance responsibility for ourselves, for other sentient beings, and for the planet as a whole? How can we cultivate the kindness, clarity, and insight that are necessary to care for life in ways that are sustainable both for ourselves and for the worlds of which we are a part?
The retreat took place over two days and included silent and guided meditations, dialogical exercises, journaling, and gentle movement practices. There was periods of silence throughout the two days together.
MLE Retreat August 2022: “Contemplating Connection”
The August 2022 retreat was connected to the European Summer Research Institute 2022, and was led by Martijn van Beek and Anne C. Klein. The world’s wisdom traditions emphasise the interconnectedness of humans and other species, our planet, and the cosmos beyond. Science shares this perspective. Albert Einstein referred to the idea of a human being as somehow separate from everything else as a kind of optical illusion of our consciousness. Realising this insight as a way of being in relationship with ourselves, with others, and with the world is at the heart of contemplative life. And although each of us walks our own path, the unfolding of the journey is always in and through connection – with fellow students and practitioners, with teachers, and with the lineages of realisation and wisdom that reach across time and space.
This Mind and Life Europe Retreat seeks to provide inspiration and tools for (re)discovering our innate resources for orienting ourselves, for recognising how we arrived at where we are in our lives at present – standing at the edge – and how we might take a next step.
MLE Retreat March 2022 (online): “Standing at the Edge in Contemplative Life: Integrating personal, professional, and spiritual aspects of our path”
The March 2022 online retreat was led by Martijn van Beek and Hanneli Ågotsdatter. The retreat loosely focused on the theme of “standing at the edge,” which has provided inspiration for the current year of inquiry at Mind & Life Europe, weaving itself into the various events and programs of 2022. “Standing at the edge” can be understood in a multitude of ways: in the context of this retreat, we have in mind how contemplative life involves a process of discovering, meeting, exploring and – when we are ready – crossing over edges and boundaries into unknown terrain, in an inner as well as an existential sense. Again and again, in our inner practice and our experience, as we seek to integrate personal, professional and spiritual aspects of our lives more deeply, we come to stand at the edge of the territory with which we are familiar and comfortable.
Participants explored and shared experiences of discovering, meeting and transcending these kinds of boundaries: when we find ourselves standing at the edge, where might we find help to orient ourselves? What might we rely on? And where can we find the wisdom to know whether we should pause for a while or push ahead, laying down a path in walking as we enter an unknown inner and, also most likely, outer territory? As with all shifting horizons, as we advance, we will continually find ourselves standing at some new edge, wondering what the next step will be…
MLE Retreat 2019: “Exploring Contemplative Life: Integrating personal, professional and spiritual aspects of our path”
The MLE Retreat 2019 took place directly after the Contemplative Science Symposium in Fürstenfeldbruck, Germany.
The MLE Retreat was led by Martijn van Beek and Hanneli Ågotsdatter. More than thirty participants from eighteen countries made these two days a unique experience.