Insight Meditation on the Turkish Mediterranean Coast
October 30 - November 6, 2025
A Life Affirming Approach to Ancient Wisdom
Join us on the beautiful Mediterranean coast of Turkey for a week of Insight meditation. Rooted in Robert’s book "Mindfulness for a Happy Life" this retreat integrates traditional Buddhist meditation with modern understanding of psychology and well-being. You'll learn practices that don't ask you to avoid life's challenges, but to meet them with greater wisdom, compassion, and yes—even joy.
Rather than seeking to transcend your humanity, this approach celebrates your full human experience as sacred territory. You'll return home not only rested and renewed, but equipped with practical skills for transforming your relationships, work, and daily life into opportunities for awakening.
This retreat offers both beginning and experienced meditators the opportunity to deepen their practice while discovering how mindfulness can create genuine happiness and resilience in daily life.
Giving yourself this retreat time to turn inward will be a profound relief, not only from the inevitable struggles of daily life, but also for that quiet pain of dissatisfaction that endures even when life is unfolding rather well. If you are willing to turn inward with love and mindfulness you will discover that in addition to the suffering of life there are also great gifts of love, beauty, mystery and relationship.
Rather than seeking to transcend your humanity, this approach celebrates your full human experience as sacred territory. You'll return home not only rested and renewed, but equipped with practical skills for transforming your relationships, work, and daily life into opportunities for awakening.
This retreat offers both beginning and experienced meditators the opportunity to deepen their practice while discovering how mindfulness can create genuine happiness and resilience in daily life.
Giving yourself this retreat time to turn inward will be a profound relief, not only from the inevitable struggles of daily life, but also for that quiet pain of dissatisfaction that endures even when life is unfolding rather well. If you are willing to turn inward with love and mindfulness you will discover that in addition to the suffering of life there are also great gifts of love, beauty, mystery and relationship.
What to Expect on Retreat
Over the last thirty years Robert has led more than 150 retreats. He will create an environment that will be safe, loving and compassionate. He will provide detailed instructions for sitting, walking and movement meditation. We will practice noble silence which will create space for deep inner reflection and authentic presence with everything that arises. Robert will also offer dharma talks articulating the key understandings of the Buddha’s Eightfold Path and there will be ample opportunities to ask questions for clarifying what you are learning. He will be available to meet individually with each person to provide personal guidance.
There will be ample time to rest, take long walks on the beach, swim and experience the quiet your heart and mind are longing for. You will go home from this retreat nourished, rested and much wiser. You will navigate your relationships with more presence and compassion as well as being more skillful in dealing with your emotions. You will really understand how to meditate and to bring awareness into all corners of your life.
There will be ample time to rest, take long walks on the beach, swim and experience the quiet your heart and mind are longing for. You will go home from this retreat nourished, rested and much wiser. You will navigate your relationships with more presence and compassion as well as being more skillful in dealing with your emotions. You will really understand how to meditate and to bring awareness into all corners of your life.
This retreat isn't about becoming a perfect meditator—it's about discovering how to live with greater wakefulness, love, and authentic happiness in the real world.
Robert Beatty
Author of "Mindfulness for a Happy Life"
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Robert brings five decades of Buddhist practice and teaching to this work, having guided over 150 meditation retreats in the United States, Canada, and Europe. Trained in the Theravada Buddhist tradition under Ruth Denison for 44 years, he combines traditional wisdom with Western psychology from his lifetime of counseling individuals, couples, and families.
At 77, having navigated a challenging personal transformation, Robert offers what he calls "life-affirming Buddhism"—an approach that sees awakening as becoming lovingly and compassionately engaged with life rather than seeking escape. His integration of contemplative practice with therapeutic insight creates a unique capacity to support both spiritual development and psychological healing. Robert's teaching emphasizes that our interpersonal relationships, creativity, emotions, and capacity for joy are not obstacles to enlightenment but pathways to it. His warm, authentic presence and decades of experience create a safe container for deep transformation. |
In his life journey, Robert has spent years living in different cultures around the world. His own inner exploration and development allow him to meet people in the places of their deepest suffering, where he is able to help them find the tools and strength to face the task of setting themselves free. Robert's teaching is multi-dimensional and engaging—in addition to dharma talks and intimate personal interviews, he uses movement, music, and poetry to illuminate the way.
Robert is married with children and grandchildren with whom he is deeply engaged.
Robert is married with children and grandchildren with whom he is deeply engaged.
Elif Ledrön
Interpreter and Cultural Bridge
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Elif Ledrön is a writer, cranio-sacral therapist, simultaneous interpreter, and Dharma translator. She is a recent graduate of Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach's two-year Mindfulness Teacher Training Certification Program.
Elif was introduced to meditation at age fifteen. In her twenties, she met the Buddha Dharma in the Wat Kow Tahm Monastery in Thailand, where Steve and Rosemary Weissman became her teachers for the next three years as she taught English in Bangkok. Elif then moved to Nepal for eleven years, worked as a trainer in project proposal writing and conflict resolution workshops for NGOs. She studied Dharma under Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche and Nagpa Kunzang Dorje Rinpoche. Elif’s son Tenzin Kunga was named by His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Elif studied translation and interpretation at Bosphorus University. She is aspiring to become a Dharma teacher, currently training with Robert. |
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Join Us in Ekincik on Turkey's Mediterranean Coast at the Perfect Time of Year.
The Heat of the Summer is Over.
- Daytime highs 70 - 75F
- Nighttime lows 55 -60F
- Sea temperature 70F Excellent for swimming!
Retreat size is limited to 15 to ensure an intimate environment and to provide personal attention.
Retreat date: October 30 - November 6, 2025