Spring Equinox Retreat

Spring Equinox Retreat : Embracing Balance, Growth and Renewal

Immerse yourself in nature’s tranquillity to foster clarity, connection and well-being on Quarantine/St Martin's Island, Dunedin.

6 Day Retreat Saturday 20th to Thursday 25th September

With Kovido Maddick, Eric Chagnon and Tee Mananui

This retreat will be in the stunning natural environment of St Martin's Island, which lies surrounded by the Otago harbour and peninsula. https://quarantineisland.org.nz/index.php/about-us/st-martin-lodge/

Rest, reflect and reset. An opportunity to create balance in your life between work and play; aloneness and togetherness; activity and rest; nourishing yourself and helping others and the environment.

Set at the Spring Equinox, a time when night and day are in balance, it proposes silence to foster inner work and immersion with nature, and also gives time for doing directed activities to enhance connections with others.

So for half the day, from the end of the evening meditation to lunchtime, there will be silence. Then for the other half, from lunchtime until bedtime, there will be more talking and dialogue.

There will be yummy vegetarian food, with the choice of vegan/gluten free option on request, provided by our amazing chef, Tee Mananui.

Participants will be provided with a journal and materials to write, draw or paint their retreat if they wish. Each person will be asked to bring a picture/statue/rock/flower/poem to put on a shrine table.

After the retreat there will be an opportunity to continue meeting fortnightly through zoom to meditate together and share successes, failures,insights and skilful means.

This retreat is perfect for:

• This retreat is suitable for experienced mindfulness practitioners and those new to mindfulness and meditation. Meditation instructions will be given by Kovido and Eric.

• People desiring to create balance in their lives

• Those under stress who need a deeply restful break away from it all

• People who feel that they can't meditate

• Individuals seeking clarity about their lives, asking themselves, "Is this the life I want?" or "How can I enjoy life better?"

• People wanting to quieten their busy minds and develop a kinder relationship with themselves

• People at a junction in their lives who want to contemplate the way forward

• People wanting to spend 5 days in a stunning natural environment, benefiting from daily mindfulness and gentle physical activities

• Individuals seeking peace and quiet, but also wanting meaningful connections with others

The Facilitators

Kovido Maddick

Kovido has over 40 years experience in mindfulness and meditation and spent 10 years training as a Buddhist Monk, in the Thai Forest Tradition, under Ajahn Sumedho.

He has been teaching Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction programmes since 1996. He is a certified teacher and coach with Mindfulness Works whose courses he has taught for 10 years. He is co-facilitator of the Dunedin Men’s group and is a Hakomi Graduate.

Although his training is primarily Buddhist he is very eclectic, drawing on the wisdom of many different traditions and contemporary teachers including Rumi, Osho, Ajahn Chah, Ram Dass, Jeff Foster and Thich Naht Hanh. Probably his greatest teachers have been his two foster children, Mason and Savannah, who could take him from love, joy, delight to rage and frustration and despair on a daily basis.

For many many years, Kovido tried to get enlightened, improve himself, get better at meditation but constantly failed. Gradually his focus has changed to more self-acceptance, trusting his own intuition and being with life as it is on this wonder-full and mysterious journey as a human being.

Recently he walked the Camino de Santiago, an ancient pilgrimage route in Northern Spain, which has greatly affected his attitude to meditation practice and life.

Kovido says" I have done many silent retreats myself and I spent many years living in a retreat environment and noticed two things. Firstly, on a retreat, we can sometimes achieve some peaceful state although often we dont . However even if we did get that peace, when we returned back to "normal life" within days or sometimes hours that peaceful state would go. And secondly that although we were with like minded people for a week or 10 days, we only spoke to each other for the last hour or two, so we didnt make any lasting connection or develop any sense of community.

So in creating this retreat I wanted to do two things. First make the meditations and the experience more like "normal life." So because at home we dont sit meditating all day we have a variety of "meditations" which include walking, lying down, eating, being in nature, working and movement.

Secondly on the retreat, for half the day we can talk sometimes in a structured dialogue but also just normal conversations like we do at home.

So with these two factors, rather than trying to get to some place, to get peaceful or enlightened we are developing an attitude that allows us to live wholeheartedly and compassionately with life as it unfolds. This enables people to come alive, to reconnect with their own inner wisdom and to realise their own unique human-beingness whilst being in relationship with their community and environment."

Eric Chagnon

Eric’s journey of self-discovery began more than 30 years ago during a backpacking trip in Western Canada. There, he felt a profound connection with nature and the people he encountered. This experience led him to explore meditation and mysticism through the Rosicrucian Order Amorc for about five years.

Life’s responsibilities shifted his focus when he started a family and embarked on a corporate career. Having climbed the ladder of professional success, Eric understands the pressures and stresses of working in competitive and often toxic environments. Ten years ago, he decided to leave the corporate world to spend more time with his young family. This experience gave him first hand insight into the challenges of raising children and managing a household.

In Canada, where he is from, Eric embraced teaching functional fitness in nature as a Movnat Certified Trainer and Personal Trainer Specialist. Although he no longer operates this business since relocating to New Zealand, he continues to train in Dunedin’s urban bush twice a week, sharing his passion with friends.

Currently, Eric's days are filled with making pavlovas at a local manufacturer, while his evenings are dedicated to teaching mindfulness. His discovery and immersion into mindfulness meditation culminated in obtaining a Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certificate from renowned instructors Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield, through the Greater Good Science Center at the University of California Berkeley and Sounds True.

Eric offers mindfulness courses, day-retreats, and monthly Mindfulness Nature Walks around Dunedin. He finds joy in guiding others on their paths of self-discovery and is eager to share the benefits of mindfulness with anyone keen to seek within.

Tee Manunui

"I’ve worked in and out of Hospitality for around 20 years now, starting in tearooms and cafes, then moving through restaurants, hotels, resorts, food trucks, pubs, and bars. Each space came with its own rhythm, challenges, and community, and I’ve learned to adapt quickly, lead teams with heart, and keep things flowing no matter what’s happening behind the scenes.

One of the more unique experiences I had was spending two years out in the Australian Outback, working as a Cook for a shearing contractor. That was a gritty, real, and humbling time—cooking hearty meals in remote conditions, often for big crews working long, physical days. It taught me a lot about resourcefulness, rhythm, and how to nourish people with whatever you’ve got on hand.

Right now, I’m in the process of repatterning my own hard-wired eating habits—especially those formed over years of working in fast-paced, high-stress environments—toward a way of eating that’s more aligned with frequency, vitality, and intuitive nourishment. I’m becoming more attuned to how food feels in my body, how it impacts my clarity and energy, and how I can use it as a tool to support deeper healing and aligned living. It’s a journey that’s reconnecting me to food as medicine, ritual, and remembrance—and I bring that energy into the way I cook and hold space for others too."

Tee is also a Breathwork and Empowerment Coach whose work is rooted in lived experience, intuitive mastery, and deep reverence for the body’s wisdom. Certified as a Trauma-Informed Coach, Breathwork Facilitator, and Integrative Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) Practitioner, she weaves together neuroscience, nervous system regulation, and the wisdom of ritual and ancient practices, to facilitate soul-centred transformation, guiding her clients through powerful inner alchemy.

With nearly two decades of connection to Breathwork, Tee’s deeper initiation came through lived experience—trauma, loss, and profound rebirth. What emerged is her fierce devotion to guiding others from shadow into sovereignty.

Blending nervous system education, mindset work, and intuitive insight, she holds sacred space for deep remembering—where breath becomes the bridge back to safety, self, and soul.

For more info go to https://bio.site/TransformationwithTee

The schedule will be:-

Saturday 20th September

• 5.00pm Meet at Back Beach to catch ferry to St Martin's Island
• 5.30pm Register, settle in and have some scrumptious soup and bread
• 7.30pm Welcome and formal start to retreat
• 9.00pm Silence starts and free time/ sleep

Sunday 21st September to Thursday 25th September

• 7.15am Sunrise meditation with deep breathing and gentle movement guided by Eric
• 8.00am Yoga Nidra with Kovido
• 8.30am Hearty Vegetarian Breakfast and free time
• 10.00am Karma yoga; caring for the St, Martins Island's natural environment, helping to prepare meals and looking after the retreat space.
• 11.15 Morning tea
• 11.30am Guided Sitting meditation
• 12.00pm Walking meditation
• 12.30pm Lovingly Prepared Lunch and free time/rest
• 3.00pm Dialogue meditations and discussions on meaningful connections, with oneself and others, led by Kovido and Eric.

• 4.30pm Afternoon tea
• 5.00pm Movement meditation
• 6.30pm A light meal of soup, bread and fruit
• 7.15pm Sunset meditation and nature walk with Eric
• 8.00pm Evening talk, meditation and discussion

Thursday 25th September

• 7.15am Sunrise meditation with deep breathing and gentle movement guided by Eric
• 8.00am Yoga Nidra with Kovido
• 8.30am Hearty Vegetarian Breakfast
• 10.00am Guided Sitting meditation
• 10.30am Walking meditation
• 11.00 morning tea
• 11.30pm Finishing ceremony
• 1 pm Lovingly Prepared Lunch
• 2pm clearing up
• 3 pm Ferry back to Port Chalmers

N.B. Although there is a daily schedule, except for Karma Yoga and Dialogue meditations, you can choose what you want to do. For instance if you are tired you can stay in bed. Or you might want to do some yoga or go for a walk. This is to encourage you to feel relaxed and trust your intuition, two of the key elements of meditation.

Accommodation

Accommodation will be dormitory style with one female dormitory and one male dormitory depending on numbers. Please bring your own:-

• sleeping bag/duvet/pillow case and ear plugs
• clothes and shoes/boots for outdoors and clothes and slippers for indoors.
• Yoga or sleeping mat, blanket. Cushion or kneeling rest for meditation( there will be chairs available too.)
• Also bring something of significance to you to put on the shrine ie a picture, statue, stone, poem etc

Personal Responsibility

On this retreat we will ask you to do the following:-

Refrain from taking drugs or alcohol (prescribed medicines excluded). However we will still allow coffee and tea so bring your favourite brews. Coffee,milk/plant milk, tea and herb teas will be provided.

Turn off your cell phone and keep reading to a minimum

As we will be doing many activities outside we ask you to accept responsibility for your own safety and well-being. You are free at any time to say the magic words, “No I don't want to do that”

Tickets

6 Day retreat:-

Single room $1499 Early Bird $1299

General $1199, Early bird $999,

Unwaged $999, Early Bird $799

For further info contact Kovido at 027 357 2884 or kovidomaddick@gmail.com

Photos from Kovido Maddick, Eric Chagnon,Sally Avison and St Martins Island website