Plum Village Monastics visiting Edinburgh May 2025

Join six monastics from Plum Village, France — the internationally respected mindfulness practice centre founded by Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh — for a talk with in-depth teachings, and a full guided practice day.

With decades of collective experience leading retreats and mindfulness programmes around the world, these full-time practitioners offer practical tools and insights for living with clarity, compassion, and resilience.

Evening Dharma Talk

Start the weekend with an evening of teachings and personal insights from the monastics. Drawing on lived experience and Buddhist psychology, they will explore how mindfulness can help us find joy and stability amidst uncertainty, and how we can stay connected to ourselves and others in times of challenge.

Day of Mindfulness

Spend the day immersed in guided practice and embodied learning. The programme includes:

  • Sitting and walking meditation
  • Deep relaxation
  • Mindful eating
  • Small-group workshops
  • Practical tools for integrating mindfulness into study, work, and daily life

Whether you’re feeling overwhelmed, curious, or simply seeking deeper connection, this day offers space to pause, reflect, and reconnect with what matters most.

Please wear comfortable clothing, and bring a meditation cushion or mat if you prefer (chairs will be provided) Please bring a thermos of your favourite tea or coffee, or a cold non-alcoholic drink as well as a packed vegetarian or vegan lunch. There will not be time to go to the shops to get food during the lunch break.

Open to everyone — including students, researchers, professionals, and experienced mindfulness practitioners. No prior meditation experience is necessary.

Day of Mindfulness: Cultivating Peace – Saturday 3rd May 2025

Come and enjoy a day immersed in mindfulness as we cultivate our innate capacity for living a peaceful life. We will sit, walk, rest and eat together in stillness and friendship, generating peaceful, healing energy for the benefit of ourselves, our families and for the world.

Open to everyone, of all faiths and none.

Please arrive from around 9:45 for a 10am start and bring some plant-based food to share for lunch.

St Mark’s Unitarian Church, 7 Castle Terrace, Edinburgh EH1 2DP

Any questions? Use the contact form and we will get back to you as soon as we can.

19th (20th really) Annual Mindful Peace Walk, 30th March 2025 @ The Botanics

Please join us at Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, John Hope Gateway, Arboretum Place, Edinburgh, EH3 5NZ on Sunday 30th March 2025 at 10am. The gardens open at 10am. Remember the clocks change that day!

This is the 20th year of run we’ve run these walks but the 19th walk – because we didn’t have one during Covid. A lot has changed and has not changed since 2005.

This silent walking meditation is an open event. Before the walk begins there will be a brief introduction to mindful walking as a meditation practice. We should conclude by 11:30am.

This is not a protest or a campaigning event, so please do not use any banners. Our silence and togetherness in nature says it all at this time.

Children are welcome when accompanied by adults. It is Mother’s Day so bring your mum!

Please remember to wrap up warmly and note that no animals except Registered Assistance Dogs are permitted within the Garden.

This event is organised in collaboration with the Edinburgh International Centre for Spirituality and Peace who organise events throughout the year.

Peace walk on the meadows
Previous peace walk on The Meadows.

Day of Mindfulness: Reverence for Life – Saturday 1st March 2025

A Day of Mindfulness with The Wild Geese Sangha of Edinburgh on Saturday 1st March 2025 10am to 4pm. Please arrive at 9:45am for a prompt start at 10am.

Come and enjoy a day immersed in mindfulness. We will contemplate the first mindfulness training, “Reverence for Life”, and, as always, we will sit, walk, rest and eat together in stillness and friendship.

Open to everyone, of all faiths and none.

Please bring some plant-based food to share for lunch.

St Mark’s Unitarian Church, 7 Castle Terrace, Edinburgh EH1 2DP. For further details or to contact us using the form.

Peace is the Way – Monastic Retreat Scotland 2025

There is a wonderful opportunity to join a monastics lead retreat at Stirling University between Wednesday 28th May and Sunday 1st June 2025.

The wisdom of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh teaches us to find a sense of peace within ourselves and serenity in the face of suffering. In a supportive community of like-minded people, supported by six monastics led by Sister Tam Muoi from Plum Village, together we will experience developing more kindness and compassion. In the sister’s words, we will be:

Learning how to cultivate peace, joy and non-fear in ourselves, even in the heart of great difficulty, we develop the clarity to know how to act with compassion, solidity and resilience from a place of love. Knowing how to be fully present for our joy and pain, we can heal and offer our presence to the world .— Sister Tam Muoi.

Full details are available from the ticketing website here.

We are expecting this to be a popular retreat with people attending from across the UK and abroad so book early to avoid disappointment!

Day of Mindfulness: “Seeds” – 1st February 2025

Come join us on Saturday 1 February 2025 10am – 3:30pm. Please arrive from around 09:45 for a 10am start.

We will reflect on seeds – those still resting in the ground and those within us, holding both uncertainty and potential. Together, we’ll embrace this space of not knowing, nurturing, patience and growth.

Bring some real seeds if you have any tucked away somewhere.

Please also bring some plant-based food to share for lunch.

St. Mark’s Unitarian Church, 7 Castle Terrace, Edinburgh, EH1 2DP

This practice is open to everyone, of all faiths and none. Use the contact form if you have any questions.

Midwinter Meditation – A Solstice Day of Mindfulness 2024

A full day of mindfulness practice supported by the collective energy of the sangha at this dark turning of the year. We will sit, walk, rest and eat together in friendship, generating peaceful, healing energy for the benefit of ourselves, our families and for the world.

21st December 2024. Arrive from 9:45 for a 10am start – 4pm. St Mark’s Unitarian Church, 7 Castle Terrace, Edinburgh EH1 2DP. Open to everyone, of all faiths and none.

Please bring some plant-based food to share for lunch. Non-alcoholic spiced cider will be provided.

Please use the contact form if you have any questions.

Morning of Mindfulness: Saturday 16th November 2024

A full morning of mindfulness practice supported by the collective energy of the sangha. We will sit and walk together in stillness, generate peaceful, healing energy for the benefit of ourselves, our families and for the world.

Open to everyone, of all faiths and none.

St Mark’s Unitarian Church, 7 Castle Terrace, Edinburgh EH1 2DP.

Please arrive at 9:15 for a 9:30 start. We will finish at 12:00.

A Day of Mindfulness: ‘Sangha as a Refuge’. 16th March 2024 10am to 4pm

We will enjoy the collective energy of the sangha and explore together five aspects of sangha which contribute to it to being a refuge: Being safe, being seen, being heard, being held and being here.

The day will include guided meditation, walking meditation, readings, a mindful lunch, deep relaxation and sharing in groups.

Please bring some plant-based food to share for lunch.

St. Mark’s Unitarian Church, 7 Castle Terrace, Edinburgh, EH1 2DP – 10am to 4pm

This practice is open to everyone, of all faiths and none.

Save the date: On the morning of the 31st March we will enjoy our annual peace walk at the botanic gardens. More details to follow.