RED LADDER STUDIO NEWSLETTER

Dear Subscriber First Name,

Me again! I don’t usually write every week, but there’s so much happening right now — things that might be of interest to you.

In this email I want to share our plans for The Guesthouse, including a new meditation space and a sauna (!), tell you about a new monthly online gathering called The Dharma Geeks, and remind you that you’re warmly invited to spend Valentine’s Day on retreat with me and my friend Katie, exploring creative ways into an experience of love.

We’re surrounded by deep snow here — and it’s still falling. Not only that, it’s been windy for days, so the snow is drifting: some places are almost bare, others completely impassable. Luckily, we don’t need to go anywhere just now.

We’ve finally settled into a lovely routine — almost monastic. We meet for meditation around 7:30 am and, within minutes, the birds start arriving. Either they know that’s when we wake up, or they see the candle lit on the shrine in the window. This morning I opened my eyes to find a blackbird inches from the glass, staring at me as if willing me to come out and feed him. Later, I opened my eyes as two mallard ducks swooped low over the house. On other mornings we’ve seen a buzzard and red kites, deer, red squirrels, and all kinds of birds — goldfinches and hawfinches among them. It’s so beautiful it’s almost distracting. We may need to find somewhere less lively to meditate! 😂

We’ve known for a while that to run small retreats here we’d need a dedicated meditation space. There’s simply not room in either house — and we want it to feel separate from the living areas. Our original idea was to build a small meditation house in the western corner of the land. It’s a beautiful spot where you can see both the sunrise and sunset. But neither of us could quite imagine a building sitting there.

So we’ve decided on a tent instead.

I’m ridiculously happy about this decision. We’re having a large wooden deck built and have ordered a 6-metre-wide canvas tent — nearly 30 square metres — complete with a wood-burning stove. I’ve always loved meditating in tents and marquees, being close to the elements, hearing the wind and rain, opening it all up on sunny days.

If you fancy meditating together with us in this, check out our little retreat programme.

It feels slightly surreal to be making summer plans while it’s still so cold here — we could really have done with the sauna now. We ventured out through a blizzard (the car needed servicing), and while we were waiting we went into a sauna shop and ordered a bastuvagn — a sauna on wheels. It solves two problems at once: we didn’t know where to place a permanent sauna, and this way we don’t need planning permission. It should arrive by Easter, and in plenty of time for the first retreat — our May gardening retreat.

I’m laughing as I write this, imagining that if this whole venture doesn’t work out, we’ll simply pull up the tent pegs, hitch the sauna to the back of the VW Caddy, and head somewhere warmer.

We had our first Dharma Geeks gathering last week. The idea began with me asking myself what I could offer that I would genuinely enjoy (see Buddhism for hedonists!).

Lots of people came along, and the format seemed to work really well. The first hour was an informal Dharma talk, with space for reflection and two short guided meditations woven in. After a 15-minute break, those who wanted to stayed on for a creative conversation around the theme. Afterwards, I sent out a recording of the first part of the session, along with quotes and a few additional links. For the next gathering, I’ve scheduled two different dates and times — partly to make it accessible to more people, and partly to keep each session smaller for the conversation element.

This month’s theme is Experimenting.

Can the Dharma path be understood as a path of experiments? The Buddha spoke of vīmaṃsā — often translated as investigation or inquiry — as one of the Bases of Power. It can also be translated as experimentation. There are so many teachings and practices available. Rather than trying to do everything or searching for the “right” approach, what if we treated practice as a series of experiments? We try something, observe the results, keep what genuinely helps, and let go of what doesn’t.

If this kind of gathering appeals to you — thoughtful, curious, a little bit geeky — you’d be very welcome to join us. Whether you come simply to listen or to explore in conversation, there’s room for you.

Details are here -
Saturday morning session, March 1st
Tuesday evening session, March 3rd

Last — but by no means least — a reminder that you’re warmly invited to join me and my friend Katie Sollohub for an online Valentine’s Day retreat.

You can read all the details on the website, where we share a little about one another and how we came to be collaborating. But I realised I haven’t really painted a picture of how the day itself will feel.

Chances are there won’t be a rigid plan — the theme is creative meditations on love, not overly worked-out meditations on love. And yet, I do have a strong sense of the atmosphere.

I’m imagining the two sessions being quiet and spacious. Although we’ll be gathered together online, we’ll be following a series of reflections, exercises, and gentle prompts that allow each of us to explore in our own way, in our own homes. There will be opportunities to share, but no pressure to “come up with” anything.

In the morning, we’ll be turning toward ourselves: what does it mean to love ourselves? How do we even begin?

In the afternoon, we’ll turn toward the world — exploring how we might meet it with love without becoming overwhelmed.

There’s an intentionally long break between the sessions, and we encourage you to treat it as a Valentine’s date with yourself: a special lunch, a walk somewhere you love, or perhaps even a candlelit bath.
If that sounds nourishing, we’d love to share the day with you.

Details are here -
Creative Meditations on Love, Saturday 14th February, 10.00 till 16.00, UK time

A quote I’m thinking about:

“The residual purpose of art is purposeless play. This play, however, is an affirmation of life – not an attempt to bring order out of chaos nor to suggest improvements in creation, but simply a way of waking up to the very life we are living, which is so excellent once one gets one’s mind and one’s desires out of its way and lets it act of its own accord.”

- John Cage

Love to you all,
Vajradarshini

P.S. If you got to the end of this epic email send me a message and you’ll get a prize!

Hello, I’m Vajradarshini — a British Dharma teacher living in the south of Sweden with my Swedish wife, Dhammasiri. Our home, The Guesthouse (named after Rumi’s poem), is a place for creative, down-to-earth Dharma practice. From here, we run retreats and workshops, and I also teach internationally, both online and in person. I’m glad you’ve found your way here.

Links
Instagram | Blog posts and articles | Retreats and events

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