FROM THE SILENCE
Meditation retreat
Time changes,
the world goes on changing,
but the experience of your inner silence, the joy of it, remains the same…
it is the one thing
that you can call your authentic being.
Are you longing for deep rest, rejuvenation, and a stronger connection to your authentic self?
From the Silence
Adult Meditation Retreat
Date:
Friday - Sunday, July 24-26, 2026
For: Adults 19+
Maximum: 14 participants
Stillness and nature — the most natural reset.
Set within the forests and coastal beauty of Gambier Island, BC, this intimate meditation and mindfulness retreat offers space to slow down, unplug, and reconnect through silence, nature, meditation, and reflective practice.
What would it feel like to trade distraction for clarity, and stress for stillness?
Research increasingly confirms what contemplative traditions have long understood: time in nature supports emotional wellbeing, lowers stress levels, and helps regulate the nervous system. Forest environments can reduce mental fatigue and overwhelm, while time near the ocean often promotes calm, clarity, and emotional restoration.
Silence and meditation offer space for the mind and body to settle, supporting greater presence, creativity, self-awareness, and inner stillness.
Your Location: Gambier Island
Located on the southeast corner of Gambier Island beside the sheltered waters of Halkett Bay, Camp Fircom offers a rare coastal sanctuary of stillness just a short water-taxi ride from West Vancouver.
Surrounded by forest, ocean, and quiet coves in the heart of Howe Sound, this nature-based retreat setting invites deep rest, reflection, and reconnection with the rhythms of land, sea, and sky. Eagles and ravens soar overhead while seals, otters, and occasionally orcas move through the surrounding waters, creating an immersive experience of the natural world.
Far from the pace and distraction of everyday life, this peaceful retreat environment offers space to unplug, slow down, meditate, and restore in nature.
You’ll be invited into practices such as:
- Sitting quietly, observing the breath
- Walking and paddling in silence
- Yin Yoga and guided deep relaxation
- Meditative stargazing and nighttime reflection
- Self-Inquiry and contemplative dyad practices
- Eating mindfully
- Meditation practices using
movement, breath, and sound
- Swimming in bioluminescent waters
- Resting in nature without devices, schedules or demands
Just BE with your breath…
From the place of the neutral observer or witness, we begin to see ourselves and our lives with greater clarity. Through meditation, self-awareness, and reflective practice, we can recognize recurring patterns, conditioned beliefs and habitual ways of thinking that may shape our experience without our full awareness.
Step into stillness. Breathe deeply with the trees. Share a weekend of forest walks, an early morning silent paddle on Halkett Bay, ocean air, and simple meditation practices designed to quiet the mind, regulate the nervous system, and support emotional clarity and presence.
Experience how meaningful connection, with nature, with yourself, and with each other, can bring ease, groundedness, and insight, and how breath and voice can become powerful tools for awareness, expression, and inner transformation.
We live in a world that constantly encourages distraction and offers solutions for what nature has always freely provided.
Calm lives in our breath and in the rhythm of walking.
Restoration emerges through presence, silence, authentic connection, and time in nature.
From the Silence Retreat is a return to what’s always been here.
This weekend is an invitation to slow down, listen deeply, and reconnect with yourself, with nature, and with others — from the quiet space within.
Details:
Fee: $545
Two Accommodation Options:
COTTAGE: double occupancy: Two twin beds per room. Bring a partner or friend, or we will match you up with a wonderful roommate (same gender). There are six bedrooms in Cottage. Maximum 12 participants.
UPDATE: 1 bedroom available (2 spots). Please contact us to open up the last spot if there are two of you registering. info@fircom.ca
WEDDING BELL TENT: double occupancy: One queen bed and wooden bed frame (bed frame not in photo). Maximum 2 participants. Update: BOOKED. Contact us if you and a partner/friend would like to waitlist for this accommodation: info@fircom.ca.
BREATH. FOREST. OCEAN.
“Although there are many meditation techniques, meditation is not a technique. Meditation is the practice of witnessing. Meditation gives you an opportunity to dis-identify from your body, mind, and emotions and experience your inner being. It allows you to step out of the chattering mind and transform your beliefs and conditionings into a purposeful life.”
- Mada Eliza Dalian
Our Facilitator:
Neerava (Sandra) Kroeger has offered yoga, meditation, and reflective practices for over 25 years in studios, schools, businesses, workshops, and retreat settings. From 2004–2009, she worked at Vancouver’s InspireHealth (an integrated cancer care centre), where she taught yoga and meditation, facilitated support groups, and supported clients in cultivating resilience and self-awareness during times of significant life challenge.
She has also served in music leadership roles with community organizations including CSL Vancouver, Tsawwassen United Church, and UCOL in Langley, where she supported community engagement through music and creative expression.
Since 2013, Neerava has studied with Mada Eliza Dalian and trained as a facilitator of the Self-Healing Dalian Method. She offers this structured self-inquiry process in private sessions, workshops, and retreats for adults and youth. Her approach is grounded, practical, and invitational, encouraging participants to engage at a pace that feels appropriate and sustainable.
Neerava brings decades of experience, creativity, and thoughtful facilitation to her work. She is particularly passionate about leading small-group retreats, where the combination of nature, reflection, and guided inquiry creates space for meaningful personal insight.
Testimonial:
“Dear Neerava, I participated in your meditation workshop for young adults at Naramata Centre. I honestly feel I have been permanently changed from that experience and have developed a whole new awareness I never knew existed. One of them being able to hold the stillness that resides within the centre of my belly in my awareness. This was a catalyst for many shifts within me…thank you so much! I am eternally grateful!" - Denis, 2017
Getting Here:
Check in: July 24, 2026, 3:30pm at Horseshoe Bay for your water taxi. TBC
Check in will take place on the Public Dock in Horseshoe Bay Village (pictured here). Please meet our staff next to the white hut with red roof at least 15 minutes early, and allow time to find parking.
Departure: July 26, 2026 - arrive back to Horseshoe Bay: 4:30pm. TBC
