A Mind at Ease
Auckland meditation and yoga retreat
28 - 30 August 2026
Invest in happiness
The Invitation
Join Retreats NZ for this urban meditation and yoga retreat in Ponsonby, central Auckland. Meditation is a journey of discovery; this practice cultivates understanding of how your mind works and offers the possibility of flourishing in this world.
This is a non-residential retreat where participants have the flexibility to find their own accommodation, coming together each day for learning and practice.
Suitable for beginners and advanced practitioners.
Rather than learning off an app or a book, come and receive personal instruction at this North Island retreat facilitated by one of NZ’s most experienced teachers, Susan Allen.
At this meditation and yoga retreat you will:
– Learn a structured meditation practice that you will be confident and inspired to continue on your own at home.
– We start from the beginning. If you have never meditated before or if you have a busy mind, don’t worry, this is the most common starting point!
– Understand what meditation is and how it can be used in your life to decrease stress, to cultivate ease of mind, and as a tool for flourishing in your life.
– Gain an understanding of the common obstacles to meditation and how to overcome them.
– Ask questions and receive personalised advice on how to progress in your practice.
– Have 2.5 days immersion in meditation and yoga, recharge and get clear on a path moving forward.
– Learn from one of NZ’s most experienced and competent meditation teachers Susan Allen. Rather than learning of an app Susan will give you personalised support appropriate to your own experience.
– Take home a collection of meditation audio recordings that you can continue to use to progress your practice.
2.5 days of inspiring practice and learning, setting a new direction for yourself
Location and Venue
- The Life Centre, Ponsonby -
Beautifully presented and set in a tranquil garden with rare, energy enhancing crystals, The Life Centre is an urban sanctuary in the heart of Auckland city.
A converted villa, full of light, timeless character, spacious and quiet – this is the perfect inner city retreat venue. This is a non-residential retreat. Participants need to find their own accommodation locally. Price includes all meditation and yoga instruction as well as audio recordings of selected practices to take away.Pricing
A Mind at Ease – 2.5 days retreat (non-residential)
Investment – $680
What’s included
* All practices as well as refreshments in the breaks
* Audio recordings of all practices to take home
Schedule
28 – 30 August 2026
Friday 1 – 6pm
Saturday 9am – 6pm
Sunday 9am – 5pm
All retreat participants are required to attend all of the meditation sessions as we will build on the information each day. This Auckland meditation retreat also includes optional daily yoga classes.
1 – 6 pm Welcome, Opening Circle,
and Introduction to Retreat Content
8 – 8.45 am Yoga practice (optional)
9 – 10.30 am Meditation practice and discussion
10.30 – 11am Break
11 – 12.30pm Meditation practice and discussion
12.30 – 2.30pm Lunch break
2.30 – 4pm Meditation practice and discussion
4 – 4.30pm Break
4.30 – 6pm Meditation practice and discussion
(Sunday finish 5pm)
Meditation approach
The meditation practices and discussion will have a particular emphasis on cultivating quietness and steadiness in the mind as well as cultivating insights that bring freedom and peace of mind into our everyday life. Tibetan Buddhist meditations value an intelligent and structured approach to investigating ‘What is the mind?’ and consequently frame meditation in a practical and methodical way. The meditation practices will be taken from the Mahamudra and Dzogchen Tibetan Buddhist tradition. These will be presented in a secular, practical fashion.
The primary offerings on this Auckland retreat are:
1. Attention training practices specifically to quieten the busy mind; this cultivates tranquility and stability of mind. This aspect of the meditation helps decrease stress, reduce overwhelm and improves sleep.
2. Insight practices that liberate the mind from its conditioned patterns. This causes our habitual reactive emotional states to decline, we feel more connected to others and we begin to operate more from a spacious, ease-ful awareness rather than from the obsession with thought.
3. Quiet time to nourish and gain inspiration on a path forward.
Meditation will change your life, it is a tool for developing a calmness of mind, a poise of character. Through the practice we gain insight into how our mind works; we find a path that facilitates the flourishing of all positive mental traits.
Testimonials
What they say about us
About Susan Allen
Susan Allen is the founder of Retreats NZ and the leading facilitator on this meditation and yoga retreat.
Susan’s mission is to play a part in the awakening of human consciousness where all people experience ease, feel connected, and can flourish to their fullest potential. She is inspired to demystify meditation and yoga by sharing accessible, transformative practices that cultivate ease, expand the heart and restore our sense of connection and belonging.
Susan has been teaching yoga and meditation for over 25 years and hosts around 7 retreats/year for Retreats NZ. Originally a mechanical engineer, meditation has been a lifelong passion of Susans. She has been lucky enough to study under some of the great living meditation masters in India and across the world, and knows firsthand how meditation can transform one’s mental and emotional state at a foundational level of being.
As well as an in-depth knowledge of these age-old practices, Susan also has a distinct talent of delivery, communicating complex sophisticated ideas in a way that is easily digestible and clear.
Susan also runs a yoga teacher mentorship service The Yoga Transition and the online yoga platform Entering The Stream.
Absolutely! Usually around 60% of the group are complete beginners or people who have tried meditation a few times with an app or similar.
Many of the skills, such as training attention to be steady and not distracted to thinking, is a skill beginners or experienced meditators continue to progress on no matter what their current level.
Each person is provided with a chair, and cushions to sit on the ground. So whatever your preference is you can use.
A substantial component of anxiety and stress is the habit of over-thinking. We worry, we ruminate, we get caught up in repetitive, often negative thought patterns. In meditation we learn skills around not doing that. Rather than always indulging in thoughts that make us anxious or stresed, we learn to quieten the mind so we feel less overwhelmed by the content of the mind. This changes how we feel as a person. We become less identified with and less consumed by these negative habits of mind.
When we learn from a teacher in-person the teacher can give you feedback on what parts of the practice you’re doing correctly as where you need to make adjustments. This enables you to progress rather than staying plateaued or practicing bad habits in your practice.
With apps it’s not always clear the overall map of where you’re at and where you’re going. Learning the right skill at the right time is crucial to moving forward. A teacher can provide you that feedback. Plus best of all you get to ask questions rather than wandering around hoping for the best.
Scroll up the page to check out our schedule for this Auckland meditation retreat.
The day is a mixture of yoga in the morning then 4 meditation sessions which are 50% discussion and 50% practice.
This Buddhist tradition has very clear markers of progression. It offers very clear strategies to guide the practitioner in their development.
On a short-term scale you know meditation is working because you feel calmer and the mind more at ease. On a longer term scale the only measure of if meditation is working is your conduct in the world.