Our experience of reality is largely dominated by the conceptual structures held in our minds. We live within a world that is continuously shaped and filtered by the ideas, beliefs, and assumptions through which we interpret what is real. We do not live in reality as it is; we live in a limited perception of reality.
Beyond our familiar perceptions, vast invisible dimensions are waiting to be illuminated. We see only a small fraction of what is actually here. We can respond only to what we are aware of, and our responses are necessarily constrained by the limits of that awareness. What remains unseen remains unavailable to us.
This retreat will include clear instruction in meditation along with extended periods of shared silence. Together we will gently redirect our attention away from conceptual understanding and toward a direct, immediate experience of reality itself. As habitual conceptual overlays begin to soften, awareness reveals itself as intimate, present, and self-luminous.
We will establish this foundation of open awareness each morning of the retreat during sessions that will include teachings, meditation and silence. Our morning sessions will allow us to establish a stable ground of experience. From that ground, we will then turn our attention toward the spontaneous emergence of mystical insight and realization.
For a mystical breakthrough to occur, we must relinquish control. We cannot guide ourselves into inner landscapes that are still invisible to us. To enter higher dimensions of our being, we must be willing to leave our familiar sense of self behind and open into what lies beyond it. What we discover is that the person we have taken ourselves to be is only a small expression of who we truly are. Mystical breakthrough experiences arise each time we cross a threshold into a higher dimension of ourselves and encounter the mysterious world that exists there. These are not imagined realms. They are domains of being that have always been present, waiting to be recognized.
During our afternoon sessions, we will engage contemplative and inquiry-based practices that support the development of mystical vision. This is not about acquiring extraordinary abilities or cultivating altered states for their own sake. It is about allowing perception itself to expand beyond its habitual limits.
As mystical vision awakens, we do not discover new potentials so much as remember what has always been true. We are not becoming something other than ourselves; we are recovering the fullness of who we are. When we release our familiar psychological lenses and stop filtering experience through old assumptions, a wider reality begins to reveal itself. This is the reality that has always been the home of the soul.
Breakthrough experiences are profound and often beautiful, but they become truly transformative only when what is revealed is integrated into our lived experience. Integration requires that we reinterpret our understanding of reality so the mind can make room for new possibilities. Without this process, mystical breakthroughs can remain isolated events limited to nothing more than anomalies that the mind may consciously or unconsciously reject.
As our understanding of reality changes, the breakthrough experience begins to reorganize our inner landscape. This reorganization allows our internal structures to come into alignment with what we now recognize to be true. Gradually, old perceptual filters lose their hold, and awareness becomes more consistently open to the higher-dimensional realities we have touched.
The evening sessions of the retreat will be devoted to this process of integration. Through silent contemplation, reflective journal writing, and shared dialogue, we will gently reshape our inner landscape so that mystical insight begins to inform our waking life during meditation and even more importantly throughout the day.
Our aim is not to escape the familiar world, but to transform how we inhabit it. As integration deepens, we begin to live as mystics in an expanded reality, carrying the depth, clarity, and openness of our breakthroughs into the ordinary moments of life.
This in-person retreat led by Jeff Carreira, runs August 24th - August 28th, 2026 (4:00pm Monday to 12:00pm Friday), and has a format of mornings devoted to meditation practice and afternoons to contemplative exercises.
The structure of the retreat allows for focus and concentration, as well as individual and group activities and inquiries.
Each day will begin with silent meditation, followed by breakfast, and a session of spiritual teachings and silent meditation with Jeff.
Each afternoon will be devoted to inquiries, contemplations and exercises that give us the opportunity to explore the spiritual realities that are illuminated during the morning session.
Each evening we will have a Q and A session along with meditation if time allows, that will allow you to explore your experience and ask any questions that come up during the day.
- 7:00am to 7:45am Silent Meditation
- 8:00am to 9:15am Breakfast
- 9:30am to 12:45pm Teaching and Meditation
- 1:00pm to 2:45pm Lunch
- 3:00pm to 5:45pm Paradigm Shifting Explorations
- 6:00pm to 6:45pm Silent Meditation
- 7:00pm to 8:00pm Dinner
- 8:15pm to 9:30pm Q & A and Meditation
The location for this retreat is Pendle Hill, 338 Plush Mill Rd, Wallingford, PA You can find their website here. The centre is located on 24 tranquil acres, and offers a relaxing “world apart” in a beautiful wooded setting.
Accommodation options include simple private rooms with private and shared bathroom options.
All meals, snacks and tea and coffee will be provided. Pendle Hill serves nutritionally balanced meals with a sense of joy and good taste. Most foods, including bread and other staples, are homemade, and they make extensive use of organic fruits and vegetables from their garden. Many dinners are vegetarian, others include free-range meat or poultry, or fish. All meals include gluten free and vegetarian options.
"We were able to only do three days of this event. But the impact for me was most profound. On our day 4, integration day an awareness of the Truth arose in me and left me totally flummoxed. Just what I have been working for, for so many years. I am truly a different person than the one who started the retreat last Friday. Profound gratitude to Jeff and the team."
~ W. Francis.
"The daily teaching, Q&A's and and meditation sessions were so powerful , they brought such calm and flow to me and in turn to my family. Jeff's teaching enabled me reach greater depth in my meditations as each day passed."
~ T. Bird.
"The retreat was eye opening and life-changing, giving me a new understanding of me as a soul, and deepening my relationship with it. Giving all day to meditation for a few days, rather than an hour a day for a prolonged period, has brought changes in me that are indescribable. I did not want it end!"
~ J. Aebi.
"This retreat was a wonderful and profound experience of sinking into the depth of Being. Experiencing blissful happiness and liberation, just abiding there, without needing anything. Even in the face of challenges from outside, like a noisy neighourhood."
~ J. van den Bogaard.
"The retreat came at the perfect time in my life. It was the calm at the end of an internal and external storm that led to deep insights and deepening Awareness of my True Self. Jeff has an ability to transmit deep truths that find a home in soul."
~ M. Earlenbaugh.
"Jeff’s instructions and felt his passion to lead us into a available view of the world and ourselves. My life is so completely different. I’m looking out with Cosmic Eyes now... Wow So simple and so wonderful. Thank you Jeff"
~ N. Torrence.
This is a unique opportunity for up to 30 participants. The retreat prices includes all food (breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks) and accommodation during the entire retreat.
Cancellations made on or before May 31st, 2026 will receive an automatic 50% refund. In the event that the retreat sells out and we are able to sell your place, you will receive a full refund minus $100 administration fee.
Cancellations made on or between June 1st and 30th, 2026 there is no automatic refund. In the event that the retreat sells out and we are able to sell your place, you will receive a full refund minus $100 administration fee.
For cancellations made on or after July 1st, 2026 no refunds will be available.