Tara Rokpa Centre

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Tara Rokpa Centre

A peaceful healing centre, situated in a wooded Marico valley, bounded by perennial streams, and surrounded by rolling hills, on 280 hectares of land.

A peaceful retreat centre, situated in a wooded valley, bounded by perennial streams, and surrounded by rolling hills, on 280 hectares of land.

22/03/2026

Family Easter Camp 2026
2 April (5pm) – 6 April (1pm) SAST

Join us for a heartwarming Easter weekend at Tara Rokpa Centre — a family-friendly retreat in nature, where “family” means everyone.

Easter Camp has always been a joyful, come-as-you-are gathering. Parents and children, solo travellers, friends, community members, urban tribes — all are welcome. Whether you arrive with little ones in tow or simply with a longing to reconnect, you’ll find a place here.

This year, our time together will be gently guided by the Tibetan understanding of the Five Elements — earth, water, fire, air and space.

🌍 Earth — grounding and stability
💧 Water — flow and feeling
🔥 Fire — warmth and vitality
🌬 Air — movement and clarity
🌌 Space — openness and possibility

Through reflections, visualisations, creative play with art materials and natural objects, guided relaxations from the Tara Rokpa Therapy toolbox, and gentle mindful movement, we’ll explore how these elements live within us and around us. As we begin to notice their shifting balance, we cultivate greater harmony — in body, mind, relationships, and our connection to the natural world.

A Relaxed & Nourishing Weekend

Set in the wide-open bushveld, this is a space to rest, breathe and simply be.

✨ Meditation (optional)
✨ Walks in the beautiful surroundings
✨ Swimming, mountain biking, birding
✨ Star-gazing under vast skies
✨ Singing around the campfire
✨ Or just… sleep

Children are warmly welcomed. If numbers allow, there will be a special morning programme just for them — with creative activities and the much-loved Easter Egg Hunt on Easter Sunday. (Babies and toddlers remain in the care of their parents or caregivers; discounted caregiver rates available on request.)

We begin with supper on Thursday (guests may also arrive for Friday lunch) and close with lunch on Easter Monday — a long weekend of simplicity, connection and joy.

🌿 Come to breathe.
🌿 Come to play.
🌿 Come to rest.
🌿 Come to reconnect with what truly matters.

Inquiries:

retreat@tararokpacentre.co.za

https://tararokpacentre.co.za/event/family-easter-camp-2026/

16/03/2026

Beneath an autumn sky so wide and luminous, the Tara Rokpa Centre held us in its quiet beauty this past weekend.

A small circle of people gathered here for a Tara Rokpa Therapy weekend — arriving with open hearts, leaving with a little more gentleness toward themselves and the world. Between the stillness of the land, the clear light of the sky, and the warmth of shared presence, something subtle but profound unfolded.

As the poet Rainer Maria Rilke wrote:
“Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror.
Just keep going. No feeling is final.”

We're grateful for the courage, honesty, and kindness that filled this space. And grateful for this sky — vast, quiet, and perfectly holding it all.

03/02/2026

A gentle weekend of coming home to ourselves at the Accepting Yourself, Finding Peace retreat at Tara Rokpa Centre, beautifully guided by Vera Hey.

Through mindfulness, meditation, gentle yoga and time in nature, we explored self-acceptance and self-forgiveness—learning how to soften the inner critic and become our own best friend.

As Rumi reminds us, the path is not about seeking love, but removing the barriers we’ve built against it.
Grateful for the openness, courage, and quiet moments of connection shared together.

19/01/2026

Vera Hey is a mindfulness practitioner and an experienced mindfulness facilitator. She applies the insight and awareness gained from her mindfulness practice to both her personal life and her career as a psychological counsellor. She is a student of Rob Nairn, an international Mindfulness and Meditation teacher, and has completed his facilitator training course.

Vera will be facilitating a weekend retreat at Tara Rokpa Centre 30 Jan to 1 Feb on the theme of Accepting Yourself, Finding Peace: Cultivating inner peace through self-acceptance and self-forgiveness.

Many of us built an inner prison of beliefs about our deficient selves. The biggest threat to our happiness and well-being is when we turn on ourselves with blame, based on a chronic sense of not being enough or not being good enough. Our inner critic can be so harsh and unforgiving!

It takes a conscious commitment to befriend ourselves and cultivate self-forgiveness! Self-forgiveness is about becoming your own best friend. It is about building a connection with yourself that is more real and true than any personality traits we may have.

During this retreat, we’ll explore how to cultivate self-acceptance and self-forgiveness. We’ll also consider goals one may choose for this year to build a relationship with oneself.

For more info:
retreat@tararokpacentre.co.za
Web: https://tararokpacentre.co.za/event/accepting-yourself-finding-peace/

11/12/2025

Anton Krueger helps to run a Kagyu Buddhist centre in Makhanda (formerly Grahamstown). His passion lies in facilitating creativity, improvisation, and mindfulness workshops. A member of Mindfulness Africa, he has presented internationally on Mindfulness and Creativity, sharing his work in China, the USA, India, Sweden, Scotland, and Italy. Anton is also a creative writer and Head of the Department of Literary Studies in English at Rhodes University.

As a writer and scholar of South African literary and performing arts, Anton is an NRF-rated researcher with 27 scholarly articles and more than 100 reviews to his name, covering topics from indigenous dance to the role of mindfulness in the creative process.

From 23 December to 2 January, Anton will be leading a retreat at Tara Rokpa Centre, with shorter stays warmly welcomed.

During this holiday retreat, we’ll explore practices from the Mindfulness-Based Living Course, designed by Rob Nairn and Mindfulness UK, offering a supportive foundation for daily meditation. Together, we’ll also make space for additional practices such as Green Tara and Chenrezig, guided relaxation with Pippa, gentle walks, enquiry sessions, journaling, painting, and even a 5 Rhythms movement experience. There may also be time for swimming and singing around the campfire.

For more info, contact us by email at retreat@tararokpacentre.co.za, WA +27 76 316 0376, or click here for more info: https://tararokpacentre.co.za/event/christmas-new-year-10-day-mindfulness-and-relaxation-retreatish/

09/12/2025

Yesterday we had our annual party for the 32 children of the Rokpa Tirasano Creche. An enjoyable time for all!

A big thanks to the sponsors.

29/11/2025

"The noble intent of the Buddha is the natural arising of compassion and wisdom."

Dónal Creedon, Returning Home, Tara Rokpa Centre, November 2025.

23/11/2025

Beautiful skies over

Photos from Colleen Lee, who has just returned home radiant, after a week's meditation retreat, guided by Dónal Creedon on the Returning Home Meditation retreat.

19/11/2025

An early morning smoke offering to appease the local spirits and to clear away obstacles on the Returning Home retreat with Dónal Creedon.

11/11/2025

✨ Returning Home on Lha Bab Düchen ✨

Today, about 17 brave retreatants are making their way to Tara Rokpa Centre — ready to take their place on a cushion and begin the Returning Home meditation retreat with Dónal Creedon. In total, 27 people will spend from one to three and a half weeks, exploring their minds.

And what a day to begin! It’s Lha Bab Düchen, the Festival of the Descent from Heaven — one of the four great Buddhist festivals marking the most significant events in the life of the Buddha.

This sacred day commemorates the Buddha’s return to Earth after teaching the Dharma to his mother, Mahāmāyādevī, and the gods in the Heaven of the Thirty-Three. It’s said that on this day, the power of our actions — positive or negative — is multiplied one hundred million times! 🌕

What better time to start a retreat of reflection, meditation, and kindness?

Here are the first retreatants who arrived this morning at the airport, beginning their journey “home” to Tara Rokpa Centre on this very special day. 💛

May their time on retreat — and all our actions today — be filled with clarity, compassion, and joy. 🙏

03/11/2025

As we prepare to welcome participants to Returning Home, our annual meditation retreat with Dónal Creedon (11 November – 4 December), we thought we’d share this beautiful poem Dónal wrote in December 2018 — a gentle reminder of the simple power of being present.

On Being Present

What does it mean?

To be present to oneself.

To be present,

To the skies and the hills,

And sunlight and shadow,

To bundles of clouds

And turbulent waters

To birds flying by

And the billowing grasses,

To the girl with the child

And the dogs rushing by

To a smile and a frown

And the wind in your hair

To your voice as you speak

And your breath come and go

To your heart drumming softly

And your thoughts as they surge

To your fear as it grabs you

To sitting in stillness

And silence and sound

To stillness in movement

And movement in stillness.

What does it mean to be present?

Now. Now. Now.

TRC December 28, 2018

08/09/2025

🌿 Mindfulness Retreat: Cultivating Equanimity & Gratitude in a Reactive World 🌿

19 to 21 September

“Between the stimulus and the response there is space… and in that space lies our freedom.” – Viktor Frankl

Join us for a nourishing retreat in the Bushveld where we’ll explore how to step off the wheel of constant reactivity and rediscover inner balance, gratitude, and ease. Through mindfulness practices—relaxation, meditation, reflection, gentle yoga, and nature walks—you’ll reconnect with calm, clarity, and presence.

🧘‍♀️ Facilitated by Vera Hey, experienced mindfulness teacher and counsellor, trained under Rob Nairn.

✨ Step into equanimity. Rediscover gratitude. Return to yourself.

For more information, click here: https://tararokpacentre.co.za/event/cultivating-equanimity-and-gratitude-with-vera-hey/

Or email us at retreat@tararokpacentre.co.za, or WhatsApp: +27 76 316 0376.

Address

Rhenosterfontein JP313, Groot Marico
Ditsobotla
2850

Telephone

+27784999927

Website

http://www.tararokpacentre.co.za/

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