Starting at Zero
Nobody teaches you how to start at zero. Five or seven days near Chiang Mai with Kane Lorh, learning how to meditate, breathe, walk, eat and sleep like a yogi. Then two days in a forest monastery under Ajahn Tawan, a hut to yourself and a fast the first night. Then a fire. The seven days go further, with a ceremony and a morning to make sense of it. For serious beginners who want to understand their own consciousness. Comfortable where you sleep, austere where it counts. US$1,080 for the five days, US$1,800 for the seven.
- Intensity
- Pace
- Social
- Comfort
- Approach
What you leave with
- A meditation practice you can keep at home, taught properly from the first sit
- A body that holds a calmer mind: how you breathe, walk, eat and sleep
- A direct look at your own consciousness, in the forest and at the fire
Retreat highlights
- Learn to meditate properly from the first afternoon: the space, the posture, the practice, the first sit together
- The body from zero: how to breathe, walk, eat and sleep so consciousness has something to stand on
- A full breathwork session on the second afternoon, the power of the breath taken all the way
- Two days and two nights in a forest monastery under Ajahn Tawan, a hut to yourself, the first night a fast
- A fire meditation the night you come back, each person with the fire in front of them
- On the seven days, a ceremony and a morning with the group to integrate it
- Phones in on arrival, fifteen minutes a day with a journal, meals where people talk
- A beautiful place to eat and sleep between the hard parts. Twenty places
About this retreat
You have tried to meditate. An app, a class, a quiet ten minutes that never became a practice, because nobody showed you where to begin. Kane's first line to every group is that nobody knows how to start at zero. This week is the start. He teaches it from the body up: how to sit, how to breathe, how to walk, how to eat, how to sleep, and what the mind is doing while you do each one. Walking meditation into the sunset every evening. A circle every night where you say what you found.
Then it gets real. On the third afternoon you go into a forest monastery and Ajahn Tawan takes over. A hut, a fast the first night, the monastery's hours, his teaching. Two days of it. You come back to the retreat, eat, and sit with a fire in front of you until late.
The five days end there. The seven go on: a ceremony on the sixth day and a morning on the seventh to make sense of it with the group before you leave. What the ceremony is, we talk about on the call. It is optional, and the five days are complete without it.
The space is secular. Kane draws on the yogic path and on Theravada Buddhism, and two of the days are in a Buddhist monastery, but nobody is asked to believe anything. You are asked to show up, hand in your phone, and sit.
The seven days
Every session, counted
The five days, item by item. The seven add what is listed underneath.
The seven days add
Schedule
A retreat day. The forest keeps the monastery's hours.
Who this is for
- You are a serious beginner. You have tried, it never stuck, and you want to be taught properly
- You want to understand your own consciousness, not collect another technique
- You want comfort where you sleep and none where it matters
- You did the Deprogram or the Reset and want the practice that holds them
Who it is not for
- You want a silent retreat. People talk here, at meals and in the circle. The silence is in the forest
- You are in acute distress. The forest and the fire can open things that need a clinician, and we will say so on the call
- You cannot hand over your phone for a week. It goes in on arrival and comes back on the last morning
Accommodation and meals
At the retreat, a beautiful room, shared or your own, and good food three times a day, eaten with attention and in company. In the forest, a hut, the monastery's meals and the first night a fast. The contrast is the design. Venue to be confirmed: Insda or another resort near Chiang Mai.
Shared room
A room to yourself
What is included
Included
- Five or six nights, two of them in the forest, the rest in a shared room at the retreat
- Every teaching and practice with Kane
- The breathwork session
- Two days in the forest monastery under Ajahn Tawan, and the transfer there and back
- The fire meditation
- On the seven days, the ceremony and the integration morning
- Three meals a day at the retreat, the monastery's meals in the forest
- A cushion, a mat, a shawl and a journal
- Both airport transfers, Chiang Mai to the venue and back
- The call before you book
Not included
- Airfare into Chiang Mai
- Travel insurance, which is required
- Visa, where your passport needs one
- A room to yourself, which adds US$40 a night
You will be working with
Kane Lorh
Ajahn Tawan
Getting here
Chiang Mai International Airport (CNX). Venue to be confirmed: Insda or another resort near Chiang Mai. Both airport transfers are included, Chiang Mai to the venue and back, and so is the transfer to the forest monastery.
Do not book flights until your place is confirmed. Once it is, you get every logistical detail in writing.
Every place is by application.
Nothing is charged until the call. After it, a US$300 deposit holds the place and the balance is due a fortnight before you arrive. The dates are held and the venue is to be confirmed.
You pay for the days at the retreat, US$360 a day. The two days in the forest monastery are not charged. A room to yourself adds US$40 a night.
Select your options
Twenty places per cohort, every one by application. The venue is to be confirmed.
Shared room
Change the dates or the room in the panel and this updates with them. Your selection travels with the enquiry, so the first reply already knows what you asked for.
Questions people actually ask
Is this a silent retreat?
No. The silence is in the forest, two days of it. At the retreat you talk at meals and in the evening circle, and you get fifteen minutes a day with a journal.
I have never meditated. Is that a problem?
It is the point. The name is the brief.
What is the ceremony?
We talk about it on the call. It is on the seven days only, it is optional, and the five days are complete without it.
What if I cannot sit cross-legged?
A chair is fine. The practice is in the attention, not the knees.
Is there a religious element?
Kane draws on the yogic path and on Theravada Buddhism, and two of the days are in a Buddhist monastery. Nobody is asked to believe anything.
Can I leave early?
You can. Tell Kane first, because the moment you want to leave is usually the moment the practice is working.
