Note that for this weekend, it will be assumed that participants will already be familiar with basic mindfulness and meditation, and have an established daily practice, so that this weekend is not suitable for beginners.

Please book your accommodation and meals for the weekend directly with Samye Ling by emailing bookings@samyeling.org. They will need to know the dates that you would like to stay, what room you would like (please click here to see the room types and prices), your name, and the name of the second person if you are booking a twin room, your address, phone number and preferred email address for the booking. No room bookings can currently be made via the Samye Ling website.

Tonglen is an ancient Indian Buddhist meditation practice, which is at the heart of the Compassion training offered within the Mindfulness Association.  “Tong” means “sending out” or letting go”, and “len” means “receiving” or “accepting”.  With this practice, we imagine ourselves breathing in the suffering and pain of others, and sending them out all of our joy, happiness and well-being.  While at first this might appear counter-intuitive, this goes to the root of our self-preoccupation, and is a practice that helps us learn to open our hearts to the difficulties in our lives. Tonglen invites us to open up to not only feeling the pain, but also to feeling the joy, of being alive.

An important aspect of this practice is that we don’t actually absorb other people’s suffering; we start by connecting with our own innate potential for limitless compassion, which transforms suffering into any positive qualities that we, or other people, need.

This weekend will be an opportunity to explore the Tonglen practice in more depth, starting with engaging with difficulties in our own lives, before moving on to doing Tonglen for other people.

Tutor: Heather Regan-Addis

Dates: 24-26 October 2025

Price: £165.00

Times: 19.00-20.30pm on the Friday evening (after soup at 18.00pm) in-between 8.00am and 20.00pm on the Saturday and in-between 8.00am and 15.30pm on Sunday.

Booking: To book this course please click the ‘Book here’ button.

Location: Samye Ling