Meditation Courses, Retreats & Events
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Public Talks, London Sat 10 May 2025
Early bird discount ending on 10 April | BOOK NOW !
The Power of a Calm Mind: 11am to 12.30pm
The Science of Peace: 2.30pm to 4pm
Logan Hall, 20 Bedford Way, London, WC1H 0AL
Discover the Power of Meditation: Finding Inner Peace in a Chaotic World – A Day with Gen-la Kelsang Dekyong

MEMBERSHIP OPTIONS
Enjoy weekly and weekend classes and courses with memberships from £29 a month.

A Buddhist Perspective on Life and Death
Friday 21 March 2025
7:30pm to 8:45pm
At Heruka Kadampa Meditation Centre, Golders Green
With Kadam John McBretney
Beyond Birth and Death: Exploring the Continuum of Existence"
Buddha’s teachings offer profound insight into the meaning and process of death and dying, helping us to develop an awareness of our own mortality in a way that enriches and transforms our life. Though gaining familiarity with certain special ways of thinking, we can live a meaningful life and meet our death joyfully as we transition into our next life with grace, clarity, faith and fearlessness.
Kadam John will explain and guide meditations that bring meaning to life, enable us to accept the certainty of death and move into the future with peace and positivity.
Subjects on the evening will include:
- What is the meaning of life?
- What can we do to help those who are dying?
- Coming to terms with impermanence and death
- A Buddhist explanation of the process of dying
Schedule
- Registration - 7pm - 7.30pm
- Teaching and practice - 7.30pm - 8.45pm
- Refreshments and discussion - from 8.45pm

Freedom from Painful Emotions
Saturday 22 March 2025
10am to 1.15pm
At Heruka Kadampa Meditation Centre, Golders Green
With Kadam Ai Peng McBretney
'Just as there is room in the sky for a thunderstorm, so there is room in the vast space of our mind for a few painful feelings; and just as a storm has no power to destroy the sky, so unpleasant feelings have no power to destroy our mind. When painful feelings arise in our mind, there is no need to panic.' Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso
In this half day course, Kadam Ai Peng will explore how it is possible to stay calm and positive when things do not go our way. Instead of feeling overwhelmed and immediately wishing to escape from painful feelings, we can learn the meaning of patiently accepting them and see how this is a great way to free our mind from tension and anxiety.
This course will be based on the book 'How to Solve our Human Problems' by Geshe Kelsang Gyatso and is suitable for everyone.
You will learn how to:
- Free your mind from negativities and find freedom from pain
- Build inner resilience
- Solve your daily problems through the power of patience
Kadam Ai Peng McBretney is the Resident Teacher of Duldzin Dragpa Kadampa Buddhist Centre. She has studied and practised Kadampa Buddhism for many years under the guidance of Geshe Kelsang Gyatso.
Everybody welcome!
Schedule
- Session 1 - 10am - 11.15am
- Break - 11.15am - 11.45am
- Session 2 - 11.45am - 1.15pm
- Lunch - 1.15pm
Free for Silver, Gold & Platinum members.
Available live-streamed on Zoom for members

The Happiness Hour
Saturdays 22, 29 March 2025
3pm to 4pm
At Heruka Kadampa Meditation Centre, Golders Green
With Richard Batty
Ease into Your Weekend - The Happiness Hour
Ease into your weekend with a gentle hour of calm and contemplation. These Saturday afternoon sessions offer uplifting guided meditations and thoughtful teachings to help you discover the true source of happiness—inner peace.
Shantideva’s timeless poem, Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life, offers profound insights into living with wisdom, compassion, and kindness. The Happiness Hour draws inspiration from this cherished Buddhist text, offering practical ways to bring peace and meaning into our daily lives.
Perfect for beginners and experienced practitioners alike.
Free for Silver, Gold & Platinum members.
Available live-streamed on Zoom for Silver, Gold and Platinum members

Offering Our Faith
Commemorating the Founder of NKT–IKBU
Saturday 5 April 2025
The first Saturday in April is set aside to commemorate the founding of the NKT–IKBU by Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso Rinpoche in 1991.
The occasion is marked by special events and by pujas and dedications at Kadampa centres worldwide. Prayers are made for the flourishing of Kadam Dharma throughout the world so that all living beings might quickly find permanent inner peace.
Above all, we remember the extraordinary kindness of Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso in founding the NKT–IKBU. At Heruka KMC we will be engaging in a special day retreat reciting Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso’s name mantra and concluding with Wishfulfilling Jewel with Tsog prayers.
For the first three sessions we will use the prayer booklet The Hundreds of Deities of the Joyful Land According to Highest Yoga Tantra with time for visualizations and mantra recitation as explained in the booklet. We have some copies of the sadhana to borrow, or you might like to consider buying your own.
Session 1: 9:00 - 10.30am
Session 2: 11:15am - 12.45pm
Lunch: 12.45pm
Session 3: 2:15 - 3.45pm
Wishfulfilling Jewel with Tsog: 4:30 - 5.45pm
This is an in-person event.
FREE. Everybody welcome!

Avalokiteshvara Fasting & Purification Retreat ~ Nyungnay
With Kadam John McBretney
Saturday 12 to Sunday 13 April 2025
This special fasting and purification retreat is performed in conjunction with the meditation practice of thousand-armed Avalokiteshvara, the Buddha of Compassion. Engaging in this retreat is very powerful for purifying negative karma of body, speech and mind and for pacifying strong delusions such as desirous attachment and hatred. It is also a special method for receiving the blessings of Buddha and improving our experience of love, compassion and bodhichitta.
On both days Kadam John will grant Mahayana precepts at 6.30am where we take vows to abstain from certain actions for 24 hours. Everyone attending the retreat will need to take precepts at 6.30am. For Mahayana precepts we use the sadhana called A Pure Life, available from Tharpa UK.
On the first day it is customary to abstain from all meals apart from lunch. On the second day we engage in a complete fast, abstaining from all food and drink for 24 hours. On both days, we will do three sessions of meditation, combining prostrations with chanted meditation. Those who are unable to engage in a complete fast can still participate in the sessions on the second day by abstaining from all meals apart from lunch.
For each session we will engage in the Drop of Essential Nectar sadhana with time for visualizations and mantra recitation as explained in the sadhana. We have some copies of the sadhana to borrow, but you might like to consider buying your own.
Session times, both days
Mahayana Precepts: 6.30 to 7.15am
Session 1: 8am – 9.15am
Session 2: 10.30am – 11.45am
Session 3: 3.00pm – 4.15pm
This is an in-person event.
Free for Silver, Gold and Platinum members. Become a member.

Cultivating Gratitude
Friday Focus 25 April 2025
7.30pm to 8.45pm
At Heruka Kadampa Meditation Centre, Golders Green
With Kadam John McBretney
Feeling grateful is a kind of happiness superpower. It helps us enjoy our lives immensely. It helps us feel happy, whole, enriched, and confident. Instead of focusing on the things that are wrong with our life, and of course we can all come up with a long list, we focus on the things that are right.
Choosing to be grateful is choosing to be happy. And gratitude is not something we either have or don’t have – we can deliberately cultivate it until it becomes a strong, natural habit that inspires us every day.
Kadam John will explore the many benefits of cultivating gratitude.
Followed by refreshments.
Schedule
- Registration - 7pm - 7.30pm
- Teaching and practice - 7.30pm - 8.45pm
- Refreshments and discussion - from 8.45pm

Stop Overthinking, Find Stillness Within
Saturday 26 April 2025
10am to 1.15pm
At Heruka Kadampa Meditation Centre, Golders Green
With Kadam John McBretney
Do you find it hard to quieten your mind and just let go? While we all need to think – to reflect, understand and make decisions – sometimes we can end up overthinking. Our thoughts become repetitive, negative, unclear or stuck. We find it hard to ‘switch off’, which can be exhausting and unproductive.
Buddha’s insight into the nature and function of the mind can help. Certain meditations in particular can help us to balance our thoughts and feel calmer as we navigate our busy, modern world with all its stress and stimulation.
You will learn how to:
- Identify unhelpful thoughts
- Learn to stay relaxed, peaceful and calm
- Protect your mind from stress and worry
Led by Kadam John McBretney, our Resident Teacher. Includes teachings and guided meditation, with time for Q&A.
Schedule
- Registration - 9.30am - 10am
- Session 1 - 10am - 11.15am
- Break - 11.15am - 11.45am
- Session 2 - 11.45am - 1.15pm
- Lunch - 1.15pm
Free for Silver, Gold & Platinum members.
Available live-streamed on Zoom for Silver, Gold and Platinum members

The Power to Change: Peace is Possible
Saturday 17 May 2025
10am to 1.15pm
At Heruka Kadampa Meditation Centre, Golders Green
With Kadam John McBretney
Build authentic optimism. Pessimism drains our energy and makes it impossible to change. A fake optimism would be pretending everything is positive when it’s not. Authentic, true optimism comes from understanding what we can change and making an effort to do so.
If we want peace in the world, we need peace in our communities. If we want peace in our communities we need peace in our own mind. Through practicing meditation, we build a wise optimism based on our capacity to change our own mind and find peace from within. This then contributes to peaceful interactions and relationships, and this eventually will lead to a peaceful world.
In this half day course, we will see how to use meditation to tap into this happy, peaceful feeling and how to use this to uplift our mind to an encouraged, hopeful, energized place. Everyone welcome!
Led by Kadam John McBretney, our Resident Teacher. Includes teachings and guided meditation, with time for Q&A.
Schedule
- Registration - 9.30am - 10am
- Session 1 - 10am - 11.15am
- Break - 11.15am - 11.45am
- Session 2 - 11.45am - 1.15pm
- Lunch - 1.15pm
Free for Silver, Gold & Platinum members.
Available live-streamed on Zoom for Silver, Gold and Platinum members

Why meditate?
Friday Focus 30 May 2025
7:30pm to 8:45pm
At Heruka Kadampa Meditation Centre, Golders Green
With Karla Sandoval
Meditation is a way to cultivate positive mental states and overcome negative habits. It can help you feel happier, more peaceful, and more confident.
The benefits of meditation
- Stress reduction: Meditation can help you deal with stress, worry, and anxiety.
- Improved concentration: Meditation can help you focus and be more mindful.
- Better relationships: Meditation can help you feel more warm and open towards others.
- Inner peace: Meditation can help you discover a deep inner peace.
- Positive outlook: Meditation can help you develop a positive outlook on life.
- Improved self-esteem: Meditation can help you feel more confident and self-esteem.
- Improved mental and physical wellbeing: Meditation can help you improve your mental and physical wellbeing.
On Friday, you will have the opportunity to explore the many benefits of Kadampa meditation.
Schedule
- Registration - 7pm - 7.30pm
- Teaching and practice - 7.30pm - 8.45pm
- Refreshments and discussion - from 8.45pm

The Joy of a Quiet Mind / Deep Silence: A Journey Within
Guided Silent Retreat
Saturday 31 May 2025
10am to 3pm
At Heruka Kadampa Meditation Centre, Golders Green
Unplug for a day of silence at Heruka Kadampa Meditation Centre and enjoy developing some mental peace.
This day retreat will include guided meditations and advice for taking care of your mind. The break times will be silent throughout the centre and there is space for you to relax with a book or a cup of tea.
Participants are encouraged to take a day out of their busy lives by switching off their devices so as to make the most of the time to rest and reflect.
“If we train in meditation, our mind will gradually become more and more peaceful, and we will experience a purer and purer form of happiness. Eventually we will be able to stay happy all the time, even in the most difficult circumstances.” Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso
You will learn how to:
- Gain mental peace and freedom
- Quieten the mind and enjoy the stillness
- Rest, unwind and relax
Schedule
- Registration - 9.30am - 10am
- Session 1 - 10am - 11am
- Break - 11am - 11.45am
- Session 2 - 11.45am - 12.45pm
- Lunch - 12.45pm
- Session 3 - 2pm - 3pm
Free for Silver, Gold & Platinum members.
Available live-streamed on Zoom for Silver, Gold and Platinum members

Inner Calm, Inner Strength
Saturday 7 June 2025
10am to 1.15pm
At Heruka Kadampa Meditation Centre, Golders Green
With Kadam John McBretney
Being able to keep calm and balanced takes practice. When things go wrong without warning, it is hard to control feelings of upset, disappointment and often anger. However, by training in meditation it is possible to develop the skills to remain calm and undisturbed regardless of what life throws at us.
In this course you will be guided in meditation methods that will give you the confidence and inner stability that will enable you to avoid painful reactions when things don’t work out as you wanted.
You will :
- Learn practical meditation techniques to remain calm, controlled and peaceful at all times
- Understand how you can stay strong and grounded in times of uncertainty and turbulence.
- Gain confidence in transforming the unexpected challenges
Led by Kadam John McBretney, our Resident Teacher. Includes teachings and guided meditation, with time for Q&A.
Schedule
- Registration - 9.30am - 10am
- Session 1 - 10am - 11.15am
- Break - 11.15am - 11.45am
- Session 2 - 11.45am - 1.15pm
- Lunch - 1.15pm
Free for Silver, Gold & Platinum members.
Available live-streamed on Zoom for Silver, Gold and Platinum members






Nuturing Our Body and Mind in the Pure Air of the Swiss Alps
Away Retreat at Kailash International Retreat Centre
Friday 13 June to Monday 16 June 2025
with Kadam John McBretney
and Kadam Ai Peng McBretney
Escape to the serene beauty of the Swiss Alps for a refreshing and uplifting Kadampa meditation retreat at Kailash International Retreat Centre (IRC). This unique retreat offers an inspiring blend of meditations and teachings on love, compassion, and wisdom to help you unlock the profound potential of your mind. Surrounded by breathtaking natural beauty, immerse yourself in transformative guided meditations and teachings that awaken your limitless potential for love, compassion and wisdom.
No matter your level of experience, this retreat provides the perfect opportunity to rejuvenate your mind and spirit while embracing the timeless wisdom of Kadampa Buddhism.
This special meditation retreat is open to everyone, regardless of experience. Whether you’re new to meditation or already on your spiritual journey,this retreat will inspire and empower you.
- Suitable for all – no prior experience necessary.
- Spaces are limited, so book now!
Take this unique opportunity to retreat from the busyness of daily life and reconnect with your heart and mind in a setting of extraordinary natural beauty.
The teachers, Kadam John McBretney and Kadam Ai Peng McBretney, have 30 years’ experience of teaching modern Buddhism and meditation.
Retreat address
Kailash International Retreat Centre, Goldbiel 3, 3923 Törbel, Switzerland
Book your retreat - spaces are limited
Price includes accommodation, retreat sessions and three meals a day.
The prices are for three days and three nights, arriving for supper on Friday 13 June and arriving after lunch on Monday 16 June. A packed lunch can be provided on Monday, if required.
If you would like to arrive earlier or leave later, please contact us for price and availability by emailing info@meditateinlondon.org.
Select your accommodation
Accommodation
Guests bedding, towels and shower gel/shampoo are provided in all the rooms.
If your preferred accommodation is not available, you can join a waiting list by emailing info@meditateinlondon.org, however this does not guarantee you the accommodation. Alternatively, phone 020 8455 7563.
Prices: The prices are per person, except twin rooms, which are per room, see below.
Twin rooms: The twin room prices are per room. Please give the name of both people in the Order notes textbox on the Checkout page.
Meals
All the prices include three vegetarian and vegan meals meals each day, starting with supper on Friday 13 June and finishing with lunch on Monday 16 June. A packed lunch can provided on the last day if required.
Tea and coffee making
Free tea making facilities are accessible for everyone in the dining room. After breakfast coffee is available for CHF 1 (approx 90p) from a coffee machine in the dining room.
TRAVEL SUGGESTIONS
Gatwick to Geneva, by air, about 1 hour 40 minutes. Return fare from £65-£70 at the moment.
Geneva to Visp, by Swiss train, about 2 hours 35 minutes. Return fare about £40 if booked more than 30 days in advance.
Visp to Kailash IRC, by bus about 36 minutes.

The Power of Letting Go
Guided Meditation Retreat
Saturday 5 July 2025
10am to 1.15pm
At Heruka Kadampa Meditation Centre, Golders Green
Do you ever feel like you’re swimming against the tide of life? Perhaps not living your life to the full as you are anxious about what may be lurking around the corner? We so deeply wish to experience peace of mind but do not know how to achieve this.
On this retreat we will explore how we can become flexible and go with the flow by recognizing that the things we hold onto and worry about are in a state of constant change. The more we live within the experience of the truth of impermanence, the more we can reduce our mental clinging, relax, and let go.
This half-day retreat of practical meditations is suitable for everyone.
You will discover:
- Ways of thinking that can help free the mind from worries and stress
- How to enjoy deep happiness and contentment from within
- How external circumstances do not need to change
Schedule
- Registration - 9.30am - 10am
- Session 1 - 10am - 10.45am
- Break - 10.45am - 11.15am
- Session 2 - 11.15am - 12.00pm
- Break - 12 noon - 12.30pm
- Session 3 - 12.30pm - 1.15pm
- Lunch - 1.15pm
Free for Silver, Gold & Platinum members.
Available live-streamed on Zoom for Silver, Gold and Platinum members
FAQs about meditation courses
Everyone is welcome
"Happiness is a part of the mind that experiences inner peace, or peace of mind, so the real source of happiness must lie within the mind, not in external conditions."
Geshe Kelsang Gyatso