Boundless Heart Retreat with Grant Rix

Boundless Heart

A mindfulness and compassion retreat exploring the Four Brahmavihāras

What would it take to practice uncompromising loving-kindness in an increasingly polarised world? What might it mean to heal our relationship with ourselves, with one another, and with the living world around us? How do we cultivate compassion for all beings, including those we struggle to understand or feel do not deserve our care?

More than 2,500 years ago, the Buddha offered a profound response to these questions through the practice of the Four Brahmavihāras, or “Divine Abodes”: loving-kindness, compassion, empathetic joy, and equanimity. These timeless qualities point toward a way of meeting ourselves, others, and the world with greater care and balance.

These four boundless qualities are not confined to any one school, tradition, or belief system. They are universal human capacities that soften separation, deepen connection, and allow us to remain grounded and responsive in the midst of difficulty. In a time marked by division, speed, uncertainty, and ecological imbalance, their relevance feels more vital than ever.

This retreat will explore both classical and contemporary approaches to cultivating the Brahmavihāras through meditation, embodied awareness, relational practice, mindful movement, silence, and time in nature. Together we will explore what it means to develop a heart that includes rather than excludes, that responds rather than withdraws, and that remains open without losing balance.

Held within the peaceful natural environment of Wangapeka Retreat Centre, supported by forest, river, birdsong, mountains, and silence, this retreat offers an opportunity to slow down, reconnect, and practice engaged, loving presence.

Suitable for both newcomers and experienced practitioners.

About Grant

Grant Rix has been a dedicated student and teacher of meditation for over two decades. He trained extensively under Tarchin Hearn, completing a three-year study and retreat programme at the Wangapeka Retreat Centre in the mid-2000s. He has also studied with teachers including Ven. Namgyal Rinpoche, Lama Mark Webber, and Sonia Moriceau. More recently, he has received Dzogchen and Longchen Nyingthig transmissions from Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche.

Grant is the creator of Pause Breathe Smile, New Zealand’s own curriculum-aligned and secular mindfulness in schools programme, which has now reached over 550 schools, 10,000 educators, and 170,000 children nationwide. He currently serves as Chair of the Pause Breathe Smile Trust and as its Director of Mindfulness Training and Development.

Grant has a clear understanding of the distinctions between secular and Buddhist approaches to mindfulness. He values both, recognising that each can be beneficial depending on a person’s background, beliefs, and needs. Known for his grounded, open teaching style, Grant creates a welcoming atmosphere free of pressure or expectation. His approach helps people from all walks of life connect with timeless wisdom in ways that feel natural and accessible.

He has presented at conferences nationally and internationally and contributed to multiple research publications* on mindfulness in education. Grant is also the resident teacher at the Queenstown Dharma Centre, offering weekly classes.

Interview with Grant Rix (7 min)

Costs

Costs include accommodation, food, cooks fee and a resource fee. It does not include Dana to the teacher.

Rooms and Huts
$805 Members
$875 Non Members

Camping
$658 Members
$679 Non Members

Dana

Dana means a gift freely given and generosity.  Generosity is at the heart of the Teachings on Buddhadharma.  Dana opens the heart to receive the blessings of the Teachings.

Grant offers these teachings freely.  You are invited to offer Dana to Grant.  This supports him to continue offering the teachings. It is traditional to make a Dana offering at the start of the retreat.  There is a Dana box on the shrine in the Main Hall, where you can place your Dana anonymously.

Information and Registration

For more information, contact one of the Course Managers,  Denise Quinlan denise@nziwr.co.nz or Lexi alexis.salmond.dejara@gmail.com

Registration

To register please fill out our online registration form

Register now

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Payment

Payment details are included on the Registration Form. Thank you.

If using Paypal please add 5% of the total cost and include with your payment to cover Paypal’s fees.

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Image Credit: Toedor Drobota on Unsplash

*Publications

Krägeloh C, Medvedev O, Taylor T, Wrapson W, Rix G, Sumich A,Wang G, Csako R, Anstiss D, Ranta J, Patel N, Siegert R (2018) A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial for a Videoconference-Delivered Mindfulness-Based Group Intervention in a Nonclinical Setting Springer US. View

Devcich D A, Rix G, Bernay R & Graham E (2017). Effectiveness of a mindfulness-based program on school children’s self-reported well-being: A pilot study comparing effects with an emotional literacy program. Journal of Applied School Psychology

Rix, G. (2017). Mindful Aotearoa: Promoting the Benefits of Mindfulness Grounded in Local Context and Understanding in Ditrich, Wiles & Lovegrove (Eds.), Mindfulness and Education: Research and Practice (pp.103-124). Newcastle upon Tyne, U.K.: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

Bernay R, Esther Graham, Daniel A. Devcich, Grant Rix & Christine M. Rubie-Davies (2016): Pause, breathe, smile: a mixed-methods study of student wellbeing following participation in an eight-week, locally developed mindfulness program in three New Zealand schools, Advances in School Mental Health Promotion, DOI:10.1080/1754730X.2016.1154474.

Rix, Grant, and Ross Bernay. 2014. “A Study of the Effects of Mindfulness in Five Primary Schools in New Zealand.” New Zealand Journal of Teachers’ Work 11(2): 201-220.

Rix, Grant, Ross Bernay, and Daniel A. Devcich. 2014. “Mindfulness as a core strategy for promoting mental health and increasing positive (flourishing) states of well-being.” Proceedings of the New Zealand Population Health Congress 2014: 228-230.