RED LADDER STUDIO

Dharma for creatives

What happens when Dharma practice and creativity are treated as one and the same thing, rather than two separate callings?

That's the question Red Ladder Studio exists to explore — a small retreat centre in the beautiful countryside of southern Sweden, and, as far as we know, the only place doing exactly this.

Our retreats bring Dharma and art together, or take a creative approach to practice itself, in small groups of no more than 10.

For those who can't make it to Sweden, we also run online retreats and workshops, including creative qigong.

If you'd rather come and do your own thing, we have a guesthouse for solitaries or holidays, and "Red Ladder Studio Stays" for those who want time and space to work on a creative project.

We've come to believe beauty matters — the garden, the food, the way a space is laid out — because the environment supports practice, and is part of it. Come and share what creative Dharma is to you.

Where creativity meets Buddhist practice

Retreats in Sweden

Red Ladder Studio is a lovingly tended house and garden in southern Sweden, where Dharma practice and creativity meet.

Mornings begin in the meditation tent and unfold over brunch under the pergola, moving into Dharma study. Evenings wind down with simple rituals and a woodfired sauna.

It's a place to slow down, be nourished, and inspired, all in good company.

Choose your retreat now.

Online offerings

Can't make it to Sweden? Join us online instead.

We run online retreats, workshops, and creative qigong classes, all rooted in the same approach — bringing Dharma and creativity together to generate new perspectives.

Wherever you are, you can carve out space to sit, move, and make, without leaving home. It's creative Dharma, brought to you.

See the calendar for details

Do your own thing

Prefer to do your own thing, but with a little support?

Rent our guesthouse for a solitary retreat or a quiet holiday, alone or with friends.

Or book a Red Ladder Studio Stay if you'd like time and space to work on your own creative project.

Either way, you'll get to enjoy the garden, the meditation space, and all our facilities — no programme to follow, just room to find your own rhythm.

Find out how easy it is to get here.

Workshops and retreats

Featured

Oct 30

Beauty and Insight

Rivendell Retreat Centre, UK - This retreat is an invitation to look closely at how experience takes shape—how we see, feel, and make meaning of the world around us. When we begin to see the extent to which we are creating our world, we can begin to choose—consciously and creatively—to shape a world of beauty and meaning.

Nov 7

Mirror-Like Wisdom - A Day Retreat

Brighton Buddhist Centre, UK - A day retreat exploring mirror-like wisdom: how the mind reflects everything with perfect clarity, without holding on to what it shows. Morning meditation and teaching on perception and emptiness; afternoon out with cameras exploring mirrors and reflections in the world.

Nov 13

The Here and Now Mountain

Dhanakosa Retreat Centre, UK - Enlightenment is the state of being awake. And the Ten Fetters are ten illusions or beliefs that keep us from waking up. The Buddha showed us how—like him—we can see through these illusions, breaking the fetters one by one.

Dec 29

The Winter Bardo - An online retreat

Online Retreat - 5 days to review and reset your life for the coming year - Every year, in that bardo-like week between Christmas and New Year, I feel torn — part of me wants to be on retreat, part of me wants to spend the time looking back over the year that's been and start dreaming about the one ahead. This year we are combining both to create The Winter Bardo, an online retreat, and we'd love you to join us.

Jan 23

The Midwinter Pause

Red Ladder Studio, Southern Sweden In the farming world, January is when the fields lie fallow — rest and recuperation, as essential as planting and harvesting. This retreat offers that same pause: a chance to turn inwards and sit with where your life — and your practice — is heading.

May 5

Offering the Mandala

Red Ladder Studio, Southern Sweden We can see our lives as a mandala: a pattern arranged around a central value. Over these days, we'll each ask — what is at the heart of my life now? What do I want to place there? What needs to move to the outer edges? Our lives are an ever-changing pattern. It's time to build a life we love, while holding it all lightly.

May 29

Beauty and Insight

Red Ladder Studio, Southern Sweden Artists and meditators are both feeling their way into the hidden truths of the world. Each day of this retreat, we take one artist and draw out the Dharma at work beneath the surface — letting it feed both our inspiration and our practice.

Jun 12

Five Kinds of Confidence — A Retreat for Lesbians

Red Ladder Studio, Southern Sweden Drawing on the mandala of the five Buddhas, we explore how each one represents a different aspect of confidence. On this retreat we'll explore specifically what it means for us, as women, to discover and stand in our own confidence.

Aug 14

Wabi-sabi and the 3 Doorways to Freedom

Vimaladhatu Retreat Centre, Germany - Rooted in Japanese culture, wabi-sabi invites us to cherish the fleeting, the worn, and the understated, and to find the magic in everyday rituals like a cup of tea or the changing seasons. This retreat explores our own experience of the lakshanas, and through them the vimoksha mukhas, the gateways to liberation.

Aug 28

The Ten Fetters Retreat

Red Ladder Studio, Southern Sweden Enlightenment is the state of being awake. And the Ten Fetters are ten illusions or beliefs that keep us from waking up. The Buddha showed us how—like him—we can see through these illusions, breaking the fetters one by one.

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Writing

Featured

no-self, self view, fetters, emptiness, conditionality, insight, doubt, identity

The Story of Me

no-self, self view, fetters, emptiness, conditionality, insight, doubt, identity

For years I mixed up the emptiness track and the conditionality track, which left me confused and made it hard to talk about my practice. Seeing that they were distinct, and knowing which one I was on at any moment, clarified the path for me.

no-self, self view, fetters, emptiness, conditionality, insight, doubt, identity

qigong, qi, chinesemedicine, energy, flow, movement, meditation

Can kindness be a cure for pain?

qigong, qi, chinesemedicine, energy, flow, movement, meditation

I had two wisdom teeth out this week, something I'd been dreading. But I have the kindest dentist, and what a difference kindness makes.

qigong, qi, chinesemedicine, energy, flow, movement, meditation

What is qigong?

qigong, qi, chinesemedicine, energy, flow, movement, meditation

The basic thing about qi is that it wants to flow. When qi flows well, the nervous system settles, stress begins to loosen its grip and we feel more alive.

qigong, qi, chinesemedicine, energy, flow, movement, meditation

red, rite, fascination, inspiration, ladder

Why Red Ladder Studio?

red, rite, fascination, inspiration, ladder

The red ladder is an image of ascent — Dharma can take us to the heights. But a ladder also descends, into the depths. At first these seem like opposite directions. Later, we see they meet.

red, rite, fascination, inspiration, ladder