Two-week International Deepening Retreat

A deepening retreat is suitable for Acem meditators who already have some experience with long meditations and who want to practise meditations of more than six hours.

Long meditations

A deepening retreat gives you an opportunity for daily long meditations of at least six hours. The retreat will focus on how to enhance your meditation. All activity in the course of the day is designed to stimulate the deeper meditative process.

Guidance groups

The long hours of silence are followed by daily process-oriented guidance groups led by experienced meditation guides, in order to maximise the results of long meditations. Guidance groups in English and Scandinavian.

Seminars

The retreat includes interactive seminars based on questions from participants. These seminars will resolve challenges from the long meditations and discuss the experience from meditative, psychological, and existential angles. All seminars will be in English. In the first week, the seminars will be by Acem’s founder Dr. Are Holen, Dr. Holen is a highly respected lecturer and meditation guide, known for his ability to speak directly to the needs of the audience. He is the main driving force behind the development of Acem’s unique psychology of meditation. By training, Dr. Holen is both a physician and psychologist. An internationally renowned stress researcher, he is professor emeritus at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.
In the second week, the seminars will be with Øyvind Ellingsen and Halvor Eifring.

Walk and talk

There will be ample time for walks in the beautiful surrounding areas. Some of the walking time is combined with one-on-one discussions of themes and issues from your meditation.

Yoga

Daily sessions of basic Acem Yoga have a refreshing effect and facilitate the practice of long meditations.

Typical daily programme

0730 - 0830: Breakfast, exercise 
0830 - 1530: Silence for meditation
1530 - 1600: Pause
1600 - 1730: Process guidance 
1745 - 1830: Yoga
1845 - 1945: Dinner 
2000 - 2130: Seminar
2130 - 2200: Technical group
2200 - 2300: Walk and talk

In order to take part in a deepening retreat you need to: 

• have regular meditation habits
• have at least 20 hours of long meditations above the three-hour limit from a weeklong retreat of Acem Meditation 
• intend to take part in the entire retreat, from beginning to end

Halvorsbøle

Halvorsbøle is situated beneath the Onsberget mountain close to the town of Jevnaker, with a gorgeous view of the lake Randsfjorden, splendid walking areas, and a small idyllic beach. All participants are accommodated in single bedrooms with en suite bathrooms. The seminar room, dining hall, lounge, and group rooms are of high quality. The place has centuries of history. In the 1990s, the Oslo Accords between Israel and Palestine were negotiated here. For many years, this was the venue of the Norwegian government’s annual budget conferences. A good hour’s drive from Oslo City or Oslo Airport Gardermoen.

Other retreats

For other retreats, see the dates on our calendar.

For people with ample experience from deepening retreats, Acem also arranges advanced deepening retreats.