Terms & Conditions
Below you will find our terms and conditions for all the material that is shared with you
(the student) from both of our websites.
If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to email us.
Terms of Use and Purchase
These Terms and Conditions apply to any interaction you have with The Art of Meditation via electronic means. This may be by accessing and using our website www.meditationandbeyond.co.uk or www.theartofmeditation.org or such other sites as may be provided by us (collectively referred to as the “Site”) or by accessing and using our information, goods and services (“Services”) using a mobile or online application (“Application”) and references to the “Site” in these terms and conditions will refer to an Application, where information, goods or services are offered through an Application.
Please read these terms carefully as they affect your rights and liabilities under the law.
If you do not agree to these Terms of Use and Purchase, please do not register, subscribe or use the Site or purchase any goods or services from us.
The Art of Meditation Site is owned and operated by Wheel of Merit, referred to as “The Art of Meditation”, “we” or “us” which is a community interest company (company number 13997101), retreats offered through the Site are provided by both Wheel of Merit and Dhamma Retreats a company limited by guarantee (company number 07550191)
Please also see our Privacy and Data Protection Policy for information about how we collect and use your personal data.
These terms
The Art of Meditation provides information, materials and services for registered users and casual users alike through its Site. Written, video and audio resources may be available, and the Site may also allow users to book retreats and training, publications and access other general information.
Access to certain services will require registration with the Site or Application and certain areas may be restricted to registered users.
These terms will apply to customers who have booked, purchased or paid for goods or services using the Site, to registered users and to those who simply view the Site (“you”).
By using the Services, you agree to be bound by these Terms of Use and Purchase. Please note that separate terms may apply to certain courses, retreats and other Services which are provided by any means other than via our Site.
Please note that these terms and conditions may be amended from time to time. Notification of any changes will be made by us posting new terms onto the Site. In continuing to use the Site you confirm that you accept the then current Terms of Use and Purchase in full at the time you use the Services.
Registration
You can access many of our Services without registering or subscribing but if you wish to view certain content or access certain services, you may be required to register with the Site.
In addition there are certain areas of our Site and certain Services which may only be available to registered members and other areas and Services which may be subject to subscription or payment.
When you register for one of our electronic Services we will ask for certain personal information. Any personal information you provide to us will be handled in accordance with our Privacy and Data Protection Policy.
If you register to use our Services you may be required to create a password. In order to prevent fraud, you must keep this password confidential and must not disclose it or share it with anyone. If you know or suspect that someone else knows your password you should notify us by contacting support@theartofmeditation.org immediately.
We reserve the right to cancel any registration at any time and for any reason.
Events, Training and Retreats
You will be able to make bookings for events and retreats (“Events”) using the electronic Services.
Your booking is an offer to book an Event and we reserve the right to refuse any request for a booking for any reason at any time and to refund the fees paid.
Where applicable, you must pay your deposit in full at the time you book an Event. Your order will not be complete until we have received deposit payment or full payment.
You may pay your deposit by credit or debit card using one of the payment gateways provided on our website.
We will confirm your order by email and we will send your booking confirmation by email.
You are not entitled to transfer a booking without our consent.
The cancellation policy for the event may be specified when booking but in the absence of any such policy the following will apply
If you cancel more than 28 days prior to the start of the Event then you will be entitled to a partial or full refund;
You will not be entitled to a refund if you cancel 28 days or less prior to the Event.
If the Event is organised by us and we cancel the event (which we reserve the right to do) then we will either:
provide a booking for an alternative event or date; or
if you are unable to attend the re-scheduled meeting or event (if any) or there is no re-scheduled event or meeting then we will provide a refund of all the fees paid.
Purchase of Goods and Online Courses
We offer various goods and digital content for purchase on the Site. These terms will apply to any such purchase; we do not have separate terms of purchase.
Your order is an offer to purchase from us. There will be no contract of any kind between you and us unless and until we actually take payment from you. At any point up until then, we may decline to supply the goods or digital content to you without giving any reason. If we take payment and subsequently fail to dispatch the goods or make the digital content available to you for any reason we will refund you in full.
The prices payable for the items that you order are clearly set out on the Site. If, by mistake, we have under-priced an item, we will not be liable to supply that item to you at the stated price provided that we notify you before we dispatch or make available the item concerned.
All prices are expressed inclusive of any VAT payable unless otherwise stated.
If for any reason beyond our reasonable control, we are unable to supply a particular item, we will not be liable to you except to ensure that you are not charged for that item.
Online Courses
The course material will be made available in accordance with the course description and, subject to our right to alter or delete any material, will be accessible for the duration of the course. It will not be accessible (save for a limited period at our discretion) after the course is complete. It is strongly recommended that you download all the available material during the term of the course.
We will use reasonable endeavours to resolve any technical issues which prevent or restrict access to material during the course. Access may occasionally be restricted or interrupted to allow for repairs, maintenance or the introduction of new facilities or services. If a fault occurs you should report it to support@theartofmeditation.org and we will attempt to correct the fault as soon as we reasonably can.
We do not accept responsibility for individual technical support. It is your responsibility to ensure that you have the necessary computer skills and equipment to engage with the course. Reasonably up-to-date computers and website browsers are necessary to engage fully with the material on our websites.
We accept no responsibility if you lose or delete downloadable material during or after the course although, at our discretion, we may seek to assist recovery.
Material for the online courses has generally been recorded live whilst on retreat. Whilst we seeks to provide material of as good a quality as possible, quality may vary. Sometimes material is provided even though the recording is not of the best quality because of the importance of the content.
We reserve the right to alter and remove the content of any courses at any time as we see necessary.
Delivery of Goods
Delivery will be made to the address specified by you on the completed order form. Our delivery charges will be specified at the time the order is placed.
When you place an order we may not be able to provide an exact date at the time you order, if so then we will endeavour to provide you with an approximate delivery time when you place the order and we or our delivery partners will contact you again by phone when we are able to specify a date.
We will endeavour to deliver items within the United Kingdom within 3 – 7 working days but we are not able to guarantee any specific delivery date. We will not be liable if we fail to do so in part or in full due to circumstances beyond our control.
Whilst we will use reasonable endeavours to deliver the items on the agreed date we will not be liable for any failure to deliver on the stated date or at the stated time.
Your Right to Cancel – Goods
You can cancel or change any of your current orders prior to dispatch by contacting us on support@theartofmeditation.org.
If you have purchased goods please see our Returns and Cancellation Policy which explains your right to cancel a contract for the purchase of goods and how you can exercise that right.
Your Right to Cancel – Online Course
Please note that you may cancel your contract within 14 days from your date of purchase or the start date of an online course whichever is the later and receive a full refund. You will not be entitled to a refund thereafter save at our discretion.
If your download is defective please notify us within 30 days of receiving the defective download and we will supply you ( at our discretion ) with a replacement download or a refund.
User Generated Content
We may offer opportunities for users to post content to our Site (“Content”).
We may remove Content from the Site for any reason but in particular, content which does not comply with our standards may be removed.
By publishing any Content on the Site you confirm that:
you are the author of the Content;
you own all of the intellectual property rights in the Content (unless the Content consists merely of information)
Any Content that you publish on our Site will be your personal responsibility. You will be personally liable for all claims relating to defamation, breach of intellectual property, privacy or any other claim arising from your Content.
You agree to indemnify us in relation to any liability we may suffer as a result of any claims relating to defamation, breach of intellectual property, privacy or any other claim arising from your Content.
You agree that you will not publish any offensive, inaccurate, misleading, defamatory, fraudulent or illegal Content.
In particular you agree not to publish (or otherwise use our Services to distribute) any Content or engage in any activities which:
promotes racism, bigotry, hatred or physical harm of any kind against any group or individual;
harasses any person or advocates harassment of any person;
displays or promotes pornographic or sexually explicit material of any kind;
does anything or promotes any conduct that is abusive, threatening, obscene, defamatory or libellous;
is illegal, infringes intellectual property rights, defames any person, breaches confidentiality or promotes any illegal activities;
promotes illegal or unauthorised copying of another person’s copyright work, such as providing pirated computer programs or links to them, providing information to circumvent manufacturer-installed copy protect devices, or providing pirated music or links to pirated music files;
provides instruction information about illegal activities, such as making or buying illegal weapons, violating someone else’s privacy or providing or creating computer viruses;
contains or is subject to restricted or password only access pages, or hidden pages or images (those not linked to from another accessible page);
solicits passwords or personally identifying information from other users for commercial or unlawful purposes;
involves the transmission of “junk mail”, “chain letters” or unsolicited mass mailing or “spamming”;
promotes information that you know to be false or misleading;
contains personal information e.g. names or contact details; or
amount to commercial activities and/or sales, such as contests, sweepstakes, barter, advertising and pyramid schemes
involve uploading any files using our Services that contain viruses, corrupted files, or malicious code or any other similar software or programs that may damage the operation of another’s computer.
access our Services using automated means (such as harvesting bots, robots, spiders, or scrapers) without our permission.
solicit log-in information or accessing an account belonging to someone else.
bully, intimidate, or harass any user of our Services.
do anything unlawful, misleading, malicious, or discriminatory.
do anything to disable or impair the proper working of the Services.
do anything to suggest, express or imply that statements made by you are endorsed by us.
impersonate any other person in any profile whether or not that other person is a user of the Services.
We reserve the right to remove any Content from our Services at any time and for any reason.
Use and Abuse of the Site
We grant you a limited licence to access and make personal use of the Services, but not to download (other than page caching) the Site, or any portion of it, except with our express written consent.
If you come across any offensive, inaccurate or damaging material on our Services or if you are subject to any form of abuse or harassment we ask that you contact us immediately by emailing support@theartofmeditation.org.
Viruses, hacking and other offences
You agree not to upload any files or post or publish any using our Services that contain viruses, corrupted files, or malicious code or any other similar software or programs that may damage the operation of another’s computer.
You must not misuse our Services by knowingly introducing viruses, trojans, worms, logic bombs or other material which is malicious or technologically harmful. You must not attempt to gain unauthorised access to our Services, the server on which our Services are stored or any server, computer or database connected to our Services. You must not attack our Services via a denial-of-service attack or a distributed denial-of service attack.
By breaching this provision, you would commit a criminal offence under the Computer Misuse Act 1990. We will report any such breach to the relevant law enforcement authorities and we will co-operate with those authorities by disclosing your identity to them. In the event of such a breach, your registration and right to use our Services will cease immediately.
We will not be liable for any loss or damage caused by viruses, a distributed denial-of-service attack or other technologically harmful material that may infect your computer equipment, computer programs, data or other proprietary material due to your use of our Site or to your downloading of any material posted on it, or on any website linked to it.
Availability of the Site
Although we aim to offer you the best service possible, we make no promise that the Services will meet your requirements. We cannot guarantee that the Services will be fault-free. If a fault occurs with this Site you should report it to support@theartofmeditation.org and we will attempt to correct the fault as soon as we reasonably can.
Your access to our Services may be occasionally restricted or interrupted to allow for repairs, maintenance or the introduction of new facilities or services. We will attempt to restore the service as soon as we reasonably can. Access to the Site may be restricted whether or not you have registered with us. Any such restrictions or interruptions shall not constitute a breach by us of these terms.
Our Liability
We will operate the Services with the reasonable skill and care of an online service provider and no further warranties or indemnities are provided.
You should ensure that any decisions or practice made or implemented by you after viewing our content or materials are made taking into account other factors (apart from the information we provide) which you are aware of. In particular if you are subject to or suffer from any psychiatric, psychological or medical condition which may be affected by participating in an Event, online course or any of our other Services then you should take medical advice before engaging with any of our goods, services or content.
We shall not be liable to you by reason of any representation, or any implied warranty, condition or other term or any duty at common law, or under the express terms of these terms or this Agreement, for any consequential loss or damage (whether for lost profit, lost opportunity or lost reputation or otherwise), costs expenses or other claims for consequential compensation whatsoever (and whether caused by our negligence, our employees or agents or otherwise) which arise out of or in connection with the supply of goods or their use or resale by you, except as expressly provided in these conditions.
Our entire liability under or in connection with these terms and conditions shall not exceed the amounts paid by you to us.
Nothing in the this clause 13 or any other of these terms of use and purchase will exclude or limit our liability in respect of death or personal injury caused by our negligence.
Cancellation and Termination of Services
Cancellation of a contract for the purchase of goods or digital content should be made in accordance with our Cancellation and Returns Policy.
We reserve the right to terminate your registration immediately without notice if in our opinion you have breached these terms.
Intellectual Property
The format and content of our Services is protected by United Kingdom and international copyright and we reserve all rights in relation to our copyright whether owned or licensed to us and all rights are reserved to any of our registered and unregistered trademarks (whether owned or licensed to us) which appear on our Services. Material is provided for personal use and may not be copied, shared, resold or licensed to any other party.
Our Site may not be reproduced, duplicated, copied, sold, resold, visited, or otherwise exploited for any commercial purpose without our express written consent. You may not systematically extract and/or re-utilise parts of the contents of the Site without our express written consent. In particular, you may not utilise any data mining, robots, or similar data gathering and extraction tools to extract (whether once or many times) for re-utilisation of any substantial parts of our Site without our express written consent.
Notice and Take-Down
We will make all reasonable efforts to identify and remove content that is defamatory or infringing on intellectual property rights when notified but cannot be responsible where you have failed to provide the relevant information.
In the event that you believe that any content on the Site is defamatory or infringing on intellectual property right you should notify by email to support@theartofmeditation.org and including the following:
Your full name and contact details, including postal address, telephone number and e-mail address;
The exact URL or Service at which the defamatory or infringing content appears;
The content that you believe is defamatory or infringing on intellectual property rights;
The reasons that you believe the content is defamatory or infringing on intellectual property rights;
A statement confirming that you are authorised to act on behalf of the claimant or rights holders; and
A signed declaration of truth in respect of the information in the notice.
Any statement made under this clause may be used in court proceedings.
International Use
We make no promise that materials on this Site are appropriate or available for use in locations outside the United Kingdom, and accessing this Site from territories where its contents are illegal or unlawful is prohibited. If you choose to access this site from locations outside the United Kingdom, you do so at your own initiative and are responsible for compliance with local laws.
You shall comply with all foreign and local laws and regulations which apply to your use of our Site or our simple randomisation service in whatever country you are physically located, including without limitation, consumer law, export control laws and regulations.
General
These conditions are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of England and Wales. You agree, as we do, to submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts.
If you breach these terms and conditions and we decide to take no action or neglect to do so, then we will still be entitled to take action and enforce our rights and remedies for any other breach.
We will not be responsible for any breach of these Terms of Use and Purchase caused by circumstances beyond our reasonable control.
We may make changes to the format of the Site, services provided or to the Site’s content at any time without notice.
Privacy and Data Protection Policy
General
Wheel of Merit (“we”, “us”) take the privacy of your information very seriously. Our Privacy and Data Protection Policy is designed to tell you about our practices regarding the collection, use and disclosure of personal information about you that may be provided when you access or use any of our websites such as www.theartofmeditation.org , www.meditationandbeyond.co.uk (“Website”).
Websites and services offered by us via electronic means will collectively be referred to as “Services” in this policy.
By using any Services we offer, you are consenting to the collection, use, and disclosure of information about you in accordance with, and are agreeing to be bound by, this Privacy and Data Protection Policy.
Wheel of Merit is registered under the Data Protection Act 1998 (the “Act”). The Act sets out a number of important principles that organisations must apply when processing personal data. For more information see http://www.ico.gov.uk/.
Ways that we collect information
We may collect and process the following personal information or data (information that can be uniquely identified with you) about you:
Certain information required to use our Services;
Information provided to register or subscribe with our Services;
Information provided if you sign up for information, newsletters or other updates;
Information provided in connection with orders you place through the site for paid-for content;
Information provided in connection with booking places for events;
Details of the Services you access;
A record of any correspondence between you and us;
Information we may require from you when you report a problem or complaint.
We only collect such information when you choose to supply it to us. You do not have to supply any personal information to us but you may not be able to complete a transaction without doing so.
Information may also be gathered through the Services also gathered without you actively providing it, through the use of various technologies and methods such as Internet Protocol (IP) addresses and cookies. These methods do not collect or store personal information.
An IP address is a number assigned to your computer by your Internet Service Provider (ISP), so you can access the Internet. It is generally considered to be non-personally identifiable information, because in most cases an IP address can only be traced back to your ISP or the large company or organisation that provides your internet access (such as your employer if you are at work).
We use your IP address to diagnose problems with our server, report aggregate information, and determine the fastest route for your computer to use in connecting to our site, and to administer and improve the site.
Use
We may use this information to:
provide or deliver services to you;
deliver and despatch goods or content to you;
assist in the administration your registration;
assist in making general improvements to our materials and services;
carry out and administer any obligations arising from any agreements entered into between you and us;
contact you and notify you about changes to our services or bookings or the services we offer (except where you have asked us not to do this);
analyse how our services are used.
Sharing your information
We do not disclose any information you provide to any third parties except:
if we are under a duty to disclose or share your personal data in order to comply with any legal obligation (for example, if required to do so by a court order or for the purposes of prevention of fraud or other crime);
in order to enforce any terms and conditions or agreements for our Services that may apply;
we may transfer your personal information to a third party as part of a transfer of some or all of our organisation and assets to any third party or as part of any restructuring or reorganisation, but we will take steps with the aim of ensuring that your privacy rights continue to be protected;
to protect the rights, property, or safety of our users and contributors or any other third parties
where you have agreed that we may do so, we may provide contact information to similar organisations and partners.
Other than as set out above, we shall not disclose any of your personal information unless you give us permission to do so.
Access to and correction of personal information
We will take all reasonable steps in accordance with our legal obligations to update or correct personally identifiable information in our possession.
The Act gives you the right to access information held about you. Your right of access can be exercised in accordance with the Act. Any access request may be subject to a fee of £10 to meet our costs in providing you with details of the information we hold about you. If you wish to see details of any personal information that we hold about you please contact us by way of our contact page.
Other websites
Our Services may contain links and references to other third party websites and applications. Please be aware that this Privacy Policy does not apply to those websites.
We cannot be responsible for the privacy policies and practices of sites that are not operated by us, even if you access them via our Services. We recommend that you check the policy of each site you visit and contact its owner or operator if you have any concerns or questions.
In addition, if you came to our Services via a third party site, we cannot be responsible for the privacy policies and practices of the owners or operators of that third party site and recommend that you check the policy of that third party site and contact its owner or operator if you have any concerns or questions.
Transferring your information outside of Europe
As part of the services offered to you the information you provide to us may be transferred to, and stored at, countries outside of the European Union (“EU”). By way of example, this may happen if any of our servers are from time to time located in a country outside of the EU or one of our service providers is located in a country outside of the EU. We may also share information with other equivalent national bodies, which may be located in countries worldwide. These countries may not have similar data protection laws to the UK. If we transfer your information outside of the EU in this way, we will take steps with the aim of ensuring that your privacy rights continue to be protected as outlined in this privacy policy.
If you use our Site while you are outside the EU, your information may be transferred outside the EU in order to provide you with those services.
By submitting your personal information to us you agree to the transfer, storing or processing of your information outside the EU in the manner described above.
Notification of changes to our Privacy Policy
We will post details of any changes to our Privacy Policy on our Services to help ensure you are always aware of the information we collect, how we use it, and in what circumstances, if any, we share it with other parties.
Contact Us
If at any time you would like to contact us with your views about our privacy practices, or with any enquiry relating to your personal information, you can do so by way of our contact page.
The Art of Meditation
Returns and Cancellations Policy
This policy sets out your right to cancel your contract for the purchase of goods from us, The Art of Meditation.
Right to Cancel Contract for Events
A specific cancellation policy for an event may be specified when booking but in the absence of any such policy the following will apply
If you cancel more than 28 days prior to the start of the Event there will be a 50% cancellation charge for accommodation costs (at our discretion).
You will not be entitled to a refund on accommodation costs if you cancel 28 days or less prior to the Event.
We will refund you the full amount of any donation you place prior to the retreat start date (does not include accommodation costs).
If the Event is organised by us and we cancel the event (which we reserve the right to do) then we will either:
offer a full refund; or
provide a booking for an alternative event or date; or
if you are unable to attend the re-scheduled meeting or event (if any) or there is no re-scheduled event or meeting then we will provide a refund of the fees paid.
Events provided in person are not subject to the cancellation rights in the Consumer Regulations.
Right to Cancel Contract for Downloadable Courses and Goods Under The Consumer Regulations
Downloadable Courses
You have a right to cancel your contract for downloadable courses within 14 days from your date of purchase or the start date of an online course whichever is the later.
On cancellation you will receive a full refund.
You do not need to give a reason and you may cancel by using the cancellation form provided.
Goods
You have a right to cancel this contract within 14 days of receiving the goods.
On cancellation you will receive a full refund.
We have explained below how you can exercise your right under the Consumer Regulations to cancel your contract for goods or downloadable content with us.
Exercising Right to Cancel
To exercise the right to cancel, you must inform us, Wheel of Merit at email: support@theartofmeditation.org of your decision to cancel this contract by a clear statement (e.g. a letter sent by post, fax or email). You may use the cancellation form attached, but it is not compulsory.
To meet the cancellation deadline it is sufficient for you to notify us that you are exercising your right to cancel before the cancellation period has expired.
Effects Of Cancellation
If you cancel this contract, we will reimburse to you all payments received from you, including the costs of delivery (except for supplementary costs arising if you choose a type of delivery other than the least expensive type of standard delivery offered by us).
We may make a deduction from the reimbursement for loss in value of any goods supplied, if the loss is the result of unnecessary handling by you.
We will make the reimbursement without undue delay and not later than –
14 days after the day we receive back from you any goods supplied, or
(if earlier), 14 days after the day you provide evidence that you have returned the goods, or
If there were no goods supplied, 14 days after the day on which we are informed about your decision to cancel this contract.
We will make the reimbursement using the same means of payment as you used for the initial transaction, unless you have expressly agreed otherwise; in any event, you will not incur any fees as a result of the reimbursement. We may withhold reimbursement until we have received the goods back or you have supplied evidence of having sent back the goods, whichever is the earliest.
You shall send back the goods without undue delay and in any event not later than 14 days from the day on which you communicate your cancellation from this contract to us. The deadline is met if you send back the goods before the period of 14 days expires.
You will have to bear the direct cost of returning the goods.
You are only liable for any diminished value of the goods resulting from the handling other than what is necessary to establish the nature, characteristics and functioning of the goods.
Where You Do Not Have a Right to Cancel
Where goods have been personalised to your requirements then you will not be entitled to cancel the contract under the Consumer Regulations unless the goods are defective.
Cancellation Form
You can use the following cancellation form:
To: Wheel of Merit at email: support@theartofmeditation.org
I/We hereby give notice that I/We cancel my/our contract of sale of the following goods/ for the supply of the following service,
Ordered on [ ]/ received on [ ]: …………………………………………………………………………………………………
Name of consumer(s): …………………………………………………………………………………………………
Address of consumer(s),: …………………………………………………………………………………………………
Signed (you are only required to sign if returning by post): ……………………………………………………………………………………………………