The Sufi Alchemical Retreat:

Individually Guided Retreats 

guided by Saki Lee

Thursday April 25 - Thursday May 2, 2024

at beautiful Lioba Monastery

 Herenweg 85, 1935 AH Egmond Binnen

(for practical info go to top of this page and click on section you wish information for)

"I wandered in the pursuit of my own self.  I was the traveller, and I am the destination.”  – Sufi mystic Hazrat Inayat Khan – 

Individual retreat is a sacred pilgrimage to reconnect with the presence of the divine within you.   It is time set aside to examine, explore and embrace the power of your soul which is too often covered over by the distractions of outer life's demands, responsibilities and accelerated pace.  To go on retreat is to offer yourself the gifts of outer silence, solitude,  focused periods of spiritual practice, and a beautiful environment which support the unfurling of your soul's qualities and that which gives true meaning and joy to your life.  

During individual retreat there is also an alchemical process of transformation that takes place.  Often, turning within does not immediately take us to the kind of mystical visioning and heavenly attunement that we think should happen.  But if  we are willing to face all of ourselves - both the light as well as the shadows - we could experience retreat in a similar way that a determined mountaineer trains to climb to the highest summit. This means seeing retreat also as an opportunity to build up discipline, stamina and strength,  and to develop the kinds of inner resources and tools that are reliable that will help you navigate through the outer challenges of life.

My teacher Pir Vilayat referred to retreat as  a "dress rehearsal for daily life," which, in a sacred and protected environment for a longer period of time gives revitalization, healing, inspiration, and faith in the guidance that comes from within you. 

Please note that this is the only seven day retreat being being offered at Lioba monastery in 2024.   It is limited to eight participants, so early registration is advised.  Please go to the pages menu for more information.  

For those who will join the retreat, a pre-retreat questionnaire will be sent to you which you must return a week before the retreat begins.  

Saki Lee was a student of Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan since 1974 who developed the Sufi Alchemical Retreat process, and which has been further elaborated by his son Pir Zia Inayat Khan.  She serves as a guide and senior teacher for many in the Inayatiyya International, and has served as head of the Esoteric School (Inner School) for the Netherlands for over a decade.  Her love and passion is the retreat work, and she continues to mentor aspiring retreat guides in the alchemical retreat process.  As a former Vice President of the Kinship concentration for Europe, Saki continues to coordinate a refugee project as well as hosts benefit world music concerts in the Netherlands as a way to make love, harmony and beauty visible in our world.