An Intimate Unfolding is a 9-day silent retreat held in the living forest of Te Moata, where the land itself offers a simple and protected container that naturally supports deep settling, listening, and direct contact with what is already here.
Silence will hold the retreat—not as an austerity or a discipline, but as a living field. This silence invites intimacy with immediate experience and trust in the natural intelligence of awareness. Within it, nothing needs to be managed or perfected. Rather, it is a shared field that allows the nervous system to soften, the mind to rest from its usual strategies, and reality to reveal itself without pressure. In this quietude, what is subtle is given time to unfold.
The emphasis is not on achieving particular states or insights, but on recognising what is quietly already present—where clarity, tenderness, and understanding emerge in their own way and naturally guide us more deeply into presence.
Guided meditations and reflections will be offered lightly, as invitations rather than instructions. There will also be time for gentle inquiry, both in the large group and in small groups, always within the larger embrace of silence. Opportunities for individual meetings with the teachers will be available and held as spaces of attuned listening.
While rooted in long-established contemplative traditions, this retreat is offered from an integrated and mature orientation, shaped by decades of silent practice, experiential inquiry, and heart-centered relational work. Practices are simple, precise, and attuned, supporting both depth and kindness toward one’s own unfolding. This orientation assumes sincerity from each participant, with the understanding that nothing needs to be fixed, resolved, or transcended. All aspects of experience are welcome.
This retreat is for practitioners who feel drawn to extended silence, not as withdrawal, but as a deepening relationship—with stillness, with love, and with the quiet mystery that lives at the centre of every experience.
Sharda Rogell began her practice in 1976 and has been teaching worldwide since 1987. She is a Teacher Emerita at Spirit Rock Meditation Center in California. Along with her training in the Theravada Buddhist tradition, she has been influenced by many other spiritual teachers and traditions. She has been a student of A. H. Almaas in the Diamond Approach for over 20 years and her primary interest is awakening the heart/mind with embodied presence in order to live a fully awakened life.
Learn more: www.shardarogell.com
Roger lives in Nelson with his wife and two sons. He usually works full time as a kindergarten teacher, but this year is on sabbatical studying Te Reo Māori. Roger started practicing meditation in the early 1990s, living for three years at Harada Tangen Roshi’s Soto Zen temple in Fukui, Japan. Roger began practicing Insight meditation in 2008 with Sharda Rogell and Jeremy Logan. He leads the Insight Nelson sangha, offering weekly meditation meetings and annual retreats.
