Working Meditation Weekend, Gaia Forest — October 2nd-5th 2026

Following the suggestion of sangha friends in Armidale, we recently held our first official working meditation weekend at Gaia Forest. Spring rains threatened to necessitate postponing, but in the end we went ahead in perfect conditions.

The event took place over a long weekend, with some volunteers arriving and setting up camp on Friday, others staying in accommodation in nearby Dorrigo. Mornings consisted of a session of qi-gong mindful movement and a silent sit. Working tasks included pruning trees and spreading gravel for the floor of our rainforest revegetation nursery. Meanwhile others were planting strawberries, weeding orchards, and preparing delicious food. On Sunday we were joined by Dorrigo Sangha members for a silent sit, followed by a walk in the rainforest. I gave a Dharma talk on the topic of “Silk Road Buddhism,” and then we shared a delicious lunch. The consensus seemed to be that the format was a success, and we’ll be holding more like it soon. To find out about such events, please subscribe to our newsletter.

For follow-up resources from the weekend, see the write-up on gone to the forest.