• I am aware that REN XUE was designed to be a safe, effective, and efficient alternative modality for health and wellbeing, but it also has its limitations. I have read the information supplied about Looking After Your Mental Health, and to the best of my knowledge, I have no medical or psychological condition that makes taking part in this REN XUE event not suitable for me at this time – and I assume all responsibility for my participation.
• I understand that REN XUE and Yuan Gong are not a substitute for medical attention, examination, diagnosis, or treatment.
• I have read, fully understand, and agree to the terms of this Informed Consent Agreement. I indemnify and release Yuan Tze, REN XUE International, and all people and organizations operating on their behalf, from all liability for personal damage or injury to myself.

BEFORE RETREAT
Many of us are or have been living in a way that has less social contact than we enjoyed in our lives pre-Covid, and on retreat we will most likely be with a larger group of people than we have been with for some time. We can do this safely and well and here are a few pre-retreat suggestions which may be helpful.
- Do all the things which keep you well with an extra focus in the weeks leading up to retreat so it is likely that you can come and that you'll be minimal risk to others.
- Build the retreat Qifield from your heart, along with all the rest of us, for those going in person and online, for a safe, healthy, inspiring, deeply beneficial and transformative retreat. See and feel yourself and everyone else in your heart looking, feeling and being wonderful. What you do really counts!
- When you are creating the information for the Qifield, notice your feelings around being healthy and where possible lead with love and positivity. Where there is fear and anxiety, be gentle with care and compassion so that these instinctive protective emotions can fade away but you remain aware of and proactive in creating solutions to potential problems.
- Try not to create fixed expectations of how you or others will be, and what will happen. Acceptance and unconditional openness to however it goes are highly recommended.
- Come prepared for the possibility that you may need to isolate on retreat if you become unwell or test positive for Covid, and have a means of connecting to the retreat online from your room and any personal items which would help you in this time including snacks.
- New Zealand Government regulations require people who test positive to self-isolate for 7 days. If staying at Keswick you will be able to self-isolate on site for the duration of the retreat and meals will be brought to your room. Before and after the retreat you need to organize your own accommodation if self-isolating, and the government advises that you are not to use public transport in this period including flights. See New Zealand Ministry of Health Guidelines.

Please do a RAT/other available in country test before you leave home on your first day of travel. If you have to cancel because you test positive, a full refund will be given.

ON RETREAT
If anything comes up for you while you are on retreat and you have concerns about yourself or others, or the environment at the retreat, please let a member of the events or wellbeing teams know as soon as possible. This includes feeling acutely unwell, having an exacerbation of a health condition, becoming Covid positive on testing, concerns about another participant being potentially unwell etc. Early intervention while an issue is still small can be so much more helpful than waiting until a problem is obvious.

REN XUE International does not have an onsite health team but the events and wellbeing teams will help you with the situation and where needed, assist you or someone you are concerned about to get general onsite support and/ or to contact local health services where needed. If you are coming from outside New Zealand, please take care to ensure that your travel insurance covers the cost of treatment in New Zealand including for Covid related illness where possible.

COVID RELATED HEALTH AND SAFETY
There are a few guidelines that we ask you to follow while on site which will help keep everyone healthy on retreat.
1. Please bring a box of RAT tests with you (3-7).
We would ask you to do a RAT test:
- on arrival at retreat
- on one of days 3-5 if you feel completely well
- if your roommate becomes Covid positive for 5 days (and please also wear a mask during this time)
- on any day if you become unwell and/ or develop symptoms of a cold, flu, muscle aches, loss of smell or taste, or other possible COVID-19 symptoms.
If you are RAT positive, please stay in your room and notify one of the events team immediately. Details of how to do this will be shared at registration on Day 1. If you are an international visitor, the government requests that you organize a follow up PCR test through local health facilities to enable Covid variants which may be new in country to be tracked.

Please stay at home if you are sick or have a positive RAT test in the immediate period before the retreat.

2. Cough or sneeze into your elbow
Cough or sneeze into your elbow or cover your mouth and nose with tissues, even if you know you have hay fever or some other non-infectious sneezes, as we are a totality of organisms, so we are never sure who’s at home in the nasal neighbourhood at any one time. Put tissues in a bin immediately, then wash your hands thoroughly. This will catch the droplets and keep any viruses off
your hands, so you will not spread them to others.

When a person breathes, speaks, coughs or sneezes, they may spread particles containing virus.

3. Before arrival and when on site, wash your hands or use hand sanitizer frequently.
Washing your hands regularly and well is one of the easiest ways to reduce infectious diseases. Wash often with soap for at least 20 seconds especially if you have been in a public place, after blowing your nose, coughing, or sneezing etc. Then dry your hands completely. Please use your own towel for your personal use only and take it with you when you want to use the ablutions areas and away back to your room afterwards.

Avoid touching your face, including your eyes, nose, or mouth, as much as possible.

4. Ventilation and distancing
The risk of becoming infected with a respiratory virus increases the closer and the longer you are with a person. Please use physical distancing to help reduce the chances of that happening. We will be ventilating the main hall more frequently than previously to help increase airflow from outside as a general measure to help us all stay healthier. Please bring warm clothes to the main practice hall each day. This year air purifiers will also be running to reduce the possibility of infection. It is suggested that you maintain at least one meter of physical distance from others in the current government regulations.

5. Use of masks
New Zealand government guidelines encourage the use of masks. We would like to ask you to consider wearing a mask for the first day of arrival to retreat. This is to minimize the possible infection risk from many people travelling through public spaces on their way to retreat and before any potential infections may have made themselves obvious. There is some advantage to wearing masks for the first 3 days in a shared facility with regular ventilation and many of you may choose to do that, and possibly continue to wear masks for the whole event. If you have a roommate who becomes Covid positive, we would ask you to wear a mask outside your room during the 5 days of testing, as long as you remain RAT negative and symptom free.

Use of masks is very much a personal decision. If you can bring several masks and wear them with wisdom and care for yourself and others, especially those who are more vulnerable with health conditions, and also wash them regularly, that would be helpful. We would like everyone to feel comfortable with the choices they make and for those who do and do not want to wear masks to feel fully comfortable to do as they feel is best, and at the same time to do everything we can to help the retreat be a healthy environment for everyone whatever their health condition.

6. Harmony amidst different perspectives
There will be people on retreat who are practiced at living harmoniously with the Five Xin and people who aren’t and most of us are somewhere in between as we work on ourselves and our patterns to create a more peaceful and loving world. Any group has a wide variety of perspectives on Covid, vaccination, the government, and the current state of the world. Totality includes all of us and our connection with each other. Let’s use this time well to practice living the Five Xin and enjoying each other’s company while we celebrate our similarities and differences and transform patterns within ourselves to be more truly reflective of the profound love and wisdom of the universe.

If you need to cancel your retreat registration, please do so early.  Late cancellations may make it difficult to give someone else the opportunity to attend.  Once you have paid any portion of the retreat fee, administrative and possibly cancellation fees will apply, depending on the cancellation date.

If you cancel your reservation:

• before 5 October 2022 at midnight NZDT, we will refund all fees paid minus any applicable administrative charges.
• after 5 October 2022 at midnight NZDT we will refund all fees paid minus $150 cancellation fee and applicable administrative charges.

Refunds will be paid within 30 days of receiving a cancellation notice.

PLEASE NOTE THAT:

• Anyone leaving the retreat early for anything other than a qualified emergency (medical emergency or a death in the family) will not receive any refund.
• If someone leaves early due to a qualified emergency (medical emergency or a death in the family), we will refund the days that are not attended proportionately minus the $150 cancellation fee and the applicable administrative charges.

As per our Health & Safety Policy, if you have to cancel because you test positive for COVID, a full refund will be given.

REN XUE International reserves the right at any time to require that a participant leave the retreat if it is determined that the participant’s behavior is either excessively disruptive or dangerous to self or others.  In this case, all retreat fees are non-refundable.

Cancellation by REN XUE International

In the event that REN XUE International is required to cancel the retreat due to changes in NZ government COVID policy or other unforeseen reasons, we will notify you as soon as possible and will refund the full fee amount paid – minus any administrative fees incurred.