WThe meaning of a spiritual retreat can be different for different religious communities. Spiritual retreats are an integral part of many Hindu, Buddhist, Christian and Sufi (Islamic) communities.
WThe Abbey in Sutton Courtenay is a medieval courtyard house in the English county of Oxfordshire. It is located in the Vale of White Horse near the River Thames, across the road from the twelfth-century Norman Hall and the Manor House. The Abbey has been recognised as a building of outstanding historic and architectural interest and is considered to be a ‘textbook’ example of an English medieval manor house. It has been a Grade I-listed building since 1952.
WThe Abode of the Message is a Universal Sufi community founded in 1975 by Vilayat Inayat Khan. The Abode is the central residential community of the Inayati order, a conference and retreat center, and a center of esoteric study. The Abode is located in the eastern heights of the Taconic Mountains in New Lebanon, New York, and housed in historic Shaker buildings built between 1834 and 1870.
WDe Krijtberg Kerk is a Roman Catholic church in Amsterdam, located at the Singel. The church was designed by Alfred Tepe and was opened in 1883.
WAnishinabe Spiritual Centre is a Roman Catholic centre for Ignatian spirituality and training in ministry run by the Society of Jesus in Espanola, Ontario, specifically for the local First Nation people in the area. It is situated to the south of Espanola, on the shore of Anderson Lake, just off Ontario Highway 6. Since it was founded, it has been the only place in northern Ontario that has offered Roman Catholic ministerial training to Aboriginal peoples in Canada.
WShanti Ashrama is a spiritual retreat located in the Upper San Antonio Valley in unincorporated Santa Clara County, California, United States as a branch of the Ramakrishna Mission. It is approximately 40 miles (64 km) east of downtown San Jose.
WBishop's House is a retreat house for the Scottish Episcopal Church, located on the island of Iona, off the west coast of Scotland.
WThe Buddhist Retreat Centre is an inclusive resort and meditation centre located near Ixopo, in Kwazulu-Natal Province, South Africa. Since opening in 1980, the BRC has provided a tranquil space amid 300 acres of rolling hills and supported the development of the Buddhist community throughout the country. The BRC hosts regular retreats and welcomes independent visitors who want to visits its facilities, without promoting one form of Buddhism over others. The BRC has received recognition for the quality of its vegetarian cuisine, which it has recorded through four popular cookbooks.
WChristiansbrunn is the name of two communities established in Pennsylvania.
WJohn Hurrell Crook was a British ethologist who filled a pivotal role in British primatology.
WDrongen Abbey, or the Old Abbey, Drongen, is a monastic complex on the River Leie in Drongen, a part of the city of Ghent in East Flanders, Belgium.
WChristian de la Huerta is an author, public figure, spiritual and LGBTQ leader.
WThe Kaivalyadhama Health and Yoga Research Center, founded by Swami Kuvalayananda in 1924, is a spiritual, therapeutic, and research center with a specific aim to coordinate ancient yogic arts and tradition with modern science; he founded the journal Yoga Mimamsa at the same time. Kaivalyadhama is located in Lonavla, Maharashtra, India, with smaller branches elsewhere in India, France, and the United States.
WKalani Oceanside Retreat, also known as Kalani Honua or Kalani, is a non-profit retreat center located on the Big Island of Hawai'i. It was established in 1975 and focuses on natural and holistic living, yoga and relaxation, and spiritual retreats. Kalani has historically been staffed by a core group of administrators, managers, and coordinators, plus volunteers from around the world.
WThe Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health is a non-profit organization that operates a health and yoga retreat in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. Its 160,000-square-foot (15,000 m2) facility is a former Jesuit novitiate and juniorate seminary built in 1957. When it was founded by Amrit Desai, it had a traditional guru-disciple structure. Desai left in 1994, and in 1999 Kripalu became secular. The center has described itself as North America's largest residential facility for holistic health and education. With 2013 revenue of $34.7 million, it employed about 626 people as of 2008 and can accommodate more than 650 overnight guests.
WLama Foundation is a spiritual community founded in 1967, located in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains of northern New Mexico, seventeen miles north of Taos. The original commune was co-founded by Barbara Durkee, Stephen Durkee, and Jonathan Altman.
WLoyola House or its full name Loyola House Retreat and Training Centre is a Jesuit spirituality centre in Guelph, Ontario. It moved to Guelph in 1964 and was the centre of a renewal in Ignatian spirituality in the 1970s. It is within the grounds of the Ignatius Jesuit Centre situated on Woolwich Street to the west of Riverside Park. In the 1960s and 1970s it was the centre of a significant shift in Ignatian spirituality.
WManresa House is a retreat centre run by the Society of Jesus next to Saint Anne's Park in the Dollymount area of Clontarf in Dublin. In the 19th century it was home to Robert Warren and Arthur Guinness and is a protected structure in Dublin.
WManresa Jesuit Spiritual Renewal Centre is a centre for Ignatian spirituality run by the Society of Jesus in Pickering, Ontario. It was founded in 1924 and was built in 1945. It is situated next to Pine Ridge Secondary School just off Finch Avenue in north Pickering.
WManresa Spirituality Centre or Villa Manresa is a centre for Ignatian spirituality in the Sainte-Foy area of Quebec City. It was founded in 1891 by the Society of Jesus originally on Chemin Sainte-Foy. In 1921, it moved close to Parc des Braves. It is now situated on Louis Fréchette next to St. Charles Garnier College
WOmega Institute for Holistic Studies is a non-profit educational retreat center located in Rhinebeck, New York. Founded in 1977 by Elizabeth Lesser and Stephan Rechtschaffen, inspired by Sufi mystic, Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan and his ecumenical spirituality, today it offers classes to over 25,000 people a year, at the 190-acre (0.77 km2) campus.
WRichmond Hill is an ecumenical fellowship, residence and urban retreat center. The St. John's Church Historic District in Richmond, Virginia includes several churches of various denominations, including this former Catholic convent and school which is a contributing property that continues to address the area's spiritual and educational needs.
WSan Francisco Zen Center (SFZC), is a network of affiliated Sōtō Zen practice and retreat centers in the San Francisco Bay area, comprising City Center or Beginner's Mind Temple, Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, and Green Gulch Farm Zen Center. The sangha was incorporated by Shunryu Suzuki Roshi and a group of his American students in 1962. Today SFZC is the largest Sōtō organization in the West.
WSpirit Rock Meditation Center, commonly called Spirit Rock, is a meditation center in Woodacre, California. It focuses on the teachings of the Buddha as presented in the vipassana, or Insight Meditation, tradition. It was founded in 1985 as Insight Meditation West, and is visited by an estimated 40,000 people a year. The San Francisco Chronicle has called it one of "the Bay Area's best-known centers for Buddhist meditation."
WThe Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola, composed 1522–1524, are a set of Christian meditations, contemplations, and prayers written by Ignatius of Loyola, a 16th-century Spanish priest, theologian, and founder of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits). Divided into four thematic "weeks" of variable length, they are designed to be carried out over a period of 28 to 30 days. They were composed with the intention of helping participants in religious retreats to discern the will of God in their lives, leading to a personal commitment to follow Jesus whatever the cost. Their underlying theology has been found agreeable to other Christian denominations who make use of them and also for addressing problems facing society in the 21st century.
WSpringwater Center is a retreat center located in Springwater, New York. Founded by Toni Packer in 1981, Springwater Center is located in the Finger Lakes region of the upper state, an hour south of Rochester. It was originally named the Genesee Valley Zen Center, but the name was changed to Springwater Center as Packer moved increasingly away from the traditional and dogmatic practices of formal Zen training.
WSt Beuno's Jesuit Spirituality Centre, known locally as St Beuno's College, is a spirituality and retreat centre in Tremeirchion, Denbighshire, Wales. Built in 1847 and opened in 1848, it served as home for the Victorian poet Gerard Manley Hopkins during his theology studies. In 2002 St Beuno's was categorised as a Grade II* listed building and a Welsh Historic Monument.
WThe St. Methodios Faith and Heritage Center is a 191-acre (77 ha) camp run by the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Boston and located in the town of Hopkinton, New Hampshire near the village of Contoocook. The site occupies the former village of Cloughville and had previously been home to Camp Merrimac.
WStony Point Center is one of three conference centers of the Presbyterian Church (USA). The other two conference and retreat centers are Ghost Ranch and Montreat. Stony Point Center welcomes people of all faiths and nations to discern, discover, learn, and lead.
WTapovan (Sanskrit) comes from the two root words tapas - meaning penance and by extension religious mortification and austerity, and more generally spiritual practice, and vana, meaning forest or thicket. Tapovan then translates as forest of austerities or spiritual practice.
WThe Tassajara Zen Mountain Center in the Ventana Wilderness area of the Los Padres National Forest, southeast of Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, is the oldest Japanese Buddhist Sōtō Zen monastery in the United States. The Center is very isolated, more than 16 miles (26 km) from the nearest paved road, and only accessible via a narrow, steep, one-lane dirt road. During the winter months, practitioners live alone on site. During the summer months, the Center is opened to day and overnight guests. The hot springs have been developed into Japanese-style baths. It is the first Zen monastery established outside Asia.
WThe Ursuline Academy is a historic convent and former Catholic school located at 2300 Central Avenue in Great Falls, Montana, in the United States. Constructed by the Ursuline Sisters, a Catholic religious institute for women, the building was complete in 1912. It was originally known as the Ursuline Academy Boarding and Day School, a school for children age five to 12.
WThe Vassa is the three-month annual retreat observed by Theravada practitioners. Taking place during the wet season, Vassa lasts for three lunar months, usually from July to October.
WVilla Loyola is a centre in Ignatian spirituality run by the Society of Jesus in Greater Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. It is the only Canadian French-speaking Jesuit centre outside of Quebec. As well serving as a retreat centre it is also an ecumenical and interfaith conference centre. It is situated on the shore of Long Lake off Municipal Road 80 to the south of Sudbury's urban core.
WVilla Saint Martin is a centre in Ignatian spirituality run by the Society of Jesus in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It was the first residential spirituality centre in Canada. It was founded in 1913 and opened by the Archbishop of Montreal, Paul Bruchési. It is situated in the east of Pierrefonds-Roxboro next to Saint-Laurent in Montreal on the shore of the Rivière des Prairies.
WThe Walk to Emmaus or Emmaus Walk is a three day movement that came out of the Roman Catholic Cursillo Movement. It started in the 1960s and 1970s when Episcopalians and Lutherans, and Tres Dias offered Cursillo. In 1978, The Upper Room of the General Board of Discipleship of the United Methodist Church trademarked Emmaus and adapted it into a primarily Protestant version.
WThe World Fellowship Center is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, retreat and intergenerational conference center located in Albany, New Hampshire, United States. It is open between June and September, with most of its scheduled summer program commencing shortly after June solstice and concluding on or shortly after Labor Day weekend. A few workshops and other events take place before or afterwards. Nestled at the southeastern edge of the White Mountain National Forest, directly east of Mount Chocorua off Route 16 in Albany, it currently comprises approximately 455 acres (184 ha), including a conference room and dining lodge, nature trails, soccer field, several cabins, campsites and additional lodging facilities, as well as boating and swimming access on a large pond. At capacity it can host approximately 150 guests and features speakers, groups, organizations, activists, artists and entertainers from around the world.