Four Foundations of Mindfulness Retreat

31 July - 6 August 2026 | Sangsurya Retreat Centre, Byron Bay, N.S.W
With Mary McIntyre and Nadav Avny

This 7 day silent retreat is suitable for anyone wishing to deepen their practice and cultivate further understanding of the wisdom teachings underpinning mindfulness practices. The practices and teachings will provide an opportunity to become familiar and explore the four foundations of mindfulness.

This retreat will offer periods of exploring your embodied experience of the four foundations of mindfulness through alternating sitting and walking meditation as well as mindful movement practices. Whilst this retreat is a silent retreat, there will also be opportunities for group and individual discussions with the teachers in order to explore the personal experience of the practice and cultivate mindful communication.

The emphasis will be on creating together a safe, supportive and connected space for you to cultivate heart qualities such as compassion to self and others, courage, patience, authenticity and trust.

The retreat will take place at St Francis Retreat Centre, Hillsboroughl, which is immersed in glorious nature and offers the opportunity to practice within the surrounding environment, explore bush walks and look after the body with nutritious and delicious vegetarian food.

Who is it for?

This retreat welcomes also people who are new to the practice. However as this is a silent meditation retreat with an intensive schedule of practice, it will be particularly beneficial for people who have some experience of mindfulness meditation (e.g. having completed the 8 week Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction or Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy course). Do be in touch if need be to check your suitability before enrolling.

This is a device free retreat

In order for your heart, mind and nervous system can re-find its natural capacity for settling, we invite you to relinquish electronic devices and a constant state of being on and doing. Thnis allows for deepening. We'll ask that you refrain from using electronics, including phones, internet connected smartwatches, tablets, laptops etc during the retreat. Program staff will be happy to hold and safeguard your devices for the duration of the retreat if this is helpful to you. There will be of course an emergency contact number to give to your family should the need arise.

A regular wristwatch to keep time will be useful for the week.

Who is this retreat for?

This retreat is for anyone wishing to deepen their practice and cultivate further understanding of the wisdom teachings underpinning mindfulness practices.

What the retreat offers

This traditional insight meditation retreat will offer silent periods of sitting and walking meditation, yoga as well group and individual teacher meetings..

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Details

Prices excluding teachers fees

Single Room
Price - AU$1695 base fee plus Dana*
Shared Room + All Meals
Price - AU$1195 base fee plus Dana*
Budget Single Room + All Meals
Price - AU$1185 base fee plus Dana*

Date sand Times

Dates
31 July - 6 August 2026
Times
Arrive from 1:30pm Friday for the 6pm start and concludes 1:30pm Thursday

Venue and Catering

Sangsurya is an exceptional, secluded retreat centre nestled in the peaceful hinterland of Byron Bay. It was founded as a social enterprise by the late Mona and Tony Kruger, and built on values of love, pure intention and service to others. It offers a natural, environmentally conscious sanctuary designed for reflection and meditation with beautiful hand built Eastern inspired bungalows and forest and ocean views.

Our retreat will be catered by the wonderful Claude Perey https://claudesfood.com.au/gallery/

What is a dana based retreat?

Teaching on this retreat is offered through Dana—a generosity-based approach rooted in the Buddhist tradition.

Instead of a set teaching fee, you choose what you’d like to offer the teachers once the retreat finishes. It’s up to you to decide an amount that suits your circumstances and feels fair to you. It will be placed into a single pot and divided equally.

What you will pay in advance at registration is your accommodation and all meals which is fixed; everything else runs on trust and generosity.

How to get there

Sangsurya Retreat Centre
95 Old Bangalow RoadByron Bay NSW 2481Australia

Refund Policy

A 90% refund will be issued if cancellation is received up to two months before the event.

A 50% refund will be issued up to one month before the event.

However, in either of those two circumstances, if a substitute person can be found so that MTI is not impacted financially there will be a full refund less 10% admin fee.

No refunds will be issued after 6 July, 2026 except in extenuating circumstances.

If you are in any doubt about your suitability for the retreat, do be in touch in advance before enrolling to avoid cancellation fees.

Notice of cancellation must be provided to MTI via email and will be confirmed via reply email. MTI cannot accept responsibility for correspondence that is delayed or for failure of delivery.

In the unlikely event the retreat is cancelled by the organisers, registration fees will be fully refunded. No liability will be accepted for travel, accommodation or other costs / expenses incurred by participants.

Teachers

Mary McIntyre

B.A (Bus) Dip. Counselling MACA II , Internal Family Systems 1, Somatic Experiencing (SEP), Cert. Expressive Therapies, Circle of Security Educator

Mary is delighted to bring her care and attention to assisting MTI students as they make their way through pre and post Level 1 training. Her personal meditation practice comes from the Insight tradition. She spent much of her adult life in France and then lived seven years in Sri Lanka before settling in Australia in 2004. Mary is passionate about human change, post-traumatic growth and healing through development of our inner resources. She is based in Brisbane working in private practice as a counsellor/psychotherapist and has a particular interest in somatic psychotherapy.

Nadav Avny

New Zealand Psychologists Board #90-04410
UK Council for Psychotherapy Registered Psychotherapist (UKCP reg.) #07159199

Nadav is a certified teacher and approved supervisor of MBSR and MBCT. He is Co-Director of the Mindfulness Training Institute: Australia & New Zealand.

Nadav’s clinical psychology training was psychodynamic. He later completed training in Integrative Psychotherapy (focusing on Gestalt and Existential Psychotherapy), and he has been a UK Council for Psychotherapy Registered Psychotherapist (UKCP reg.) since 2007. Over the years, Nadav developed knowledge also in other therapeutic modalities, including Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing), Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and Family Therapy.

In Nadav’s most recent role of nine years in the public health system, as a Consultant Clinical Psychologist at the Adult Acute Mental Health Inpatient Unit, Auckland City Hospital, he founded and led a mindfulness project that involves a sustainable implementation of Mindfulness at the Mental Health Services, including MBSR.

What is a secular retreat?

Secular means "of our age".

We offer retreats that are open to people of any and no faith. Our retreats are informed by both ancient knowledge and contemporary understandings about human flourishing, including scientific findings about health and well-being.

While mindfulness is a natural human capacity, we draw explicitly on the very practical teachings of the Buddha, which describe experiences that are shared by all humans. We bring understandings from Buddhist psychology to inquire into the nature of suffering and how to incline the mind towards freedom. We bring an interest in the the fields of neuroscience and psychology which continue to expand our understandings of how to live a fulfilling life with less struggle, and to make links to practical teachings that have existed for thousands of years.

Our retreats makes the practical learning from Buddhism, as well as modern science, available in an ordinary, secular and accessible way that is applicable in your everyday life.

Awake. Alive. Present.