Meditation is the answer. It has played a pivotal role in transforming my life. I have been doing it now for over thirty years and it has become a part of my day-to-day ritual.
Do you feel overwhelmed sometimes? Wish you could just disappear for a while or freeze the world around you and spend some time on your own? Looking for somewhere to just refresh and recharge your energies?
Meditation helps you explore your inner Self while giving you a sense of total peace. It has gained popularity, lately, because it is a simple practice and within everyone’s reach.
However, meditating is a solitary, personal, inward practice that takes you on a very unique journey.
After a few months or years of practicing meditation solo, you may find that you feel the need to grow or share the experience with others. Find you are part of something bigger. Part of a community of peers. Of meditators. Spiritual souls.
Retreats invite you to join like-minded people and dedicate yourself to your practice with nothing to distract you. In the end, you go back home feeling changed and energized.
What is a Meditation Retreat
If you are just beginning, it can be a way for you to spend time immersing yourself in practice and to learn from people who are on various stages of the same journey as you.
If your journey has started a while ago, regardless of how far you’ve come, a retreat may help you strengthen your practice. You can grow by helping others who are struggling to get to where you are while learning from those who are further ahead than you. It will help you go deeper within yourself.
The whole immersion in an atmosphere of mindfulness, presence, and calm is the perfect opportunity to learn and grow with this community of people making the same journey as you.
It is a place where you can explore the hidden layers that make you the amazing human being you are. By peeling each layer away, you learn to be mindful and come closer to the real you. The “you” you are meant to be.
Meditation retreats can be as short as one or two days, or as long as one or two months. And the people you meet there are as unique as each retreat you may attend. No two people are alike. No two retreats are alike. The options are so many and so varied. You can choose based on the time you have, what your need is, what you would like to take away from it.
Benefits of a Meditation Retreat
A retreat may bring you many benefits.
One of the most important is that you will have no outside interference. Your time in a retreat should be spent focusing on meditating and on personal growth.
If you are new to meditating, you can learn new methods, and address any doubts you may have about your performance. Though there is no right or wrong way to meditate, you might find yourself struggling with the methods or questioning yourself. This is the perfect place to learn if that is something you should focus on or not, whether addressing the teachers or other more experienced practitioners who might be open to share, making this the perfect place to learn, refine, adapt, or explore your favored methods.
If you are more experienced, you can strengthen your practice and go deeper.
Retreats are also a great way to come closer to those who share the same values and activities as you. Your community of peers. This might give meditation a sense of group activity instead of being the usual solitary activity.
This feeling has to do with meeting like-minded people. This community sense that comes from a retreat can help build strong, positive, lasting friendships.
The change within is also amazing and life-changing. You feel more positive. Your sense of worth and compassion also improves.
The chance to be by yourself within a community can give you a great sense of deep relaxation, and that will ultimately translate into higher motivation, which leads to a higher level of awareness and breakthroughs.
Being connected to nature also helps reduce your stress levels and increase positive feelings, which, overall, leads to an improvement on your health.
What can you expect?
A life-changing experience, if you attend the right retreat with the right frame of mind. (see here how to choose a meditation retreat)
Some retreats can be really profound, depending on the activities they cater. The best retreats are the ones that incorporate mind, body, heart, and soul. Challenges, games, activities, all come together to engage every single part of your being. There may be coherence healings being conducted. Or your body may be put to the test through physical challenges such as activities like those in Survivor.
It is important to remember that as rewarding as the experience is, it is not easy. Challenges will arise. You go to a retreat to confront yourself and to overcome yourself. Because when you finally do, you can finally live your life unchained from the emotions, the trauma, and the challenges from the past. The point is to be more aware and present.
Meditation is a profoundly personal experience and everyone reacts differently. My first retreat left me feeling exhausted, I even developed flu-like symptoms and I struggled to eat. However, I also felt liberated. During my second retreat, I felt energized, alive, and focused.
Trust the process and trust yourself so that your body can heal and respond in whatever way it needs to.
Who can go?
The short answer is Anyone. There are no requirements as to who can and cannot attend a retreat. No age, race, gender, special attributes, social class, or specific background required.
If you’ve been doing meditation for a while and wish to continue to grow but have no idea what to do next, or you feel like you don’t take the same from your meditation sessions, and you feel like something might be missing or lacking to continue your growth, joining a retreat might be the way to go.
But not all benefit from it and not all should attend.
If you are considering attending your first retreat, here are some things you should consider to see if you would benefit from it.
Are you open to the unknown and what will show up?
If you enjoy expanding your mind, and are curious about what can come of it, this experience might benefit you.
Are you willing to surrender to the experience?
If you are open to just let what happens happens and have no set expectations, this experience might benefit you.
Can you just be playful and explore?
This is an experience to enjoy and cherish. You have no goals you have to achieve, you have no one to impress, you have no bar to climb. This is a judgment free zone. All you have to do is be there and enjoy the experience provided to you. Have fun and don’t take yourself too seriously.
Can you leave all your baggage at home?
Going to a retreat, much like meditating, is not about what you will get from it. It is not about reward. It is not about expectations. If you think going to a retreat will get you something you can’t get for yourself, such as peace of mind, letting go of your ego, redemption from something, or even just some sort of magical reward, not only will this experience not benefit you, but you will create more resistance and push the potential further away from you.
There is no magical solution for your inner issues. No one outside of you can solve them. That is something only you can do. Your peace of mind lies within you. You are your own healer. Teachers, gurus, retreats, seminars, and others are platforms and catalysts providing you with an opportunity to heal yourself. No one can go inside your mind, body, and soul and make those changes. They can help you, guide you, mentor you, challenge you. However, ultimately, it is up to you. And you need to make the decision to show up.
Until you face yourself and realize the power is yours alone, going to a retreat is not going to help. And bringing negative energy to those who are willing to enjoy the experience to its fullest will not benefit anyone.
Therefore, before joining a retreat, make peace with yourself and the world, so that you might bring an open mind and may enjoy the experience as it should be. A liberating journey of inner peace and growth.
Are you in a place of not judging others or yourself?
Meditation is unique for each one of us. It is not about doing it right or wrong, better or worse than anyone else. It’s not about anything other than trying to reconnect with who you are meant to be. Growing as a human being. Achieving inner peace. Being mindful of yourself and others around you.
Just because someone else’s journey is different from yours, or is at a different stage, that doesn’t mean yours is better or worse than theirs. And if you feel your journey is not where it should be by now or you feel like you are doing something wrong, don’t judge yourself. Everyone’s journey is different, and some are easier than others. All you have to do is enjoy the journey for what it is. When you get to the place to enjoy the journey, and realize that it is not about anything other than being one with yourself, then you can benefit from a retreat. Until then, it might not be the best choice for you.
If you feel you are in a place where you can fully benefit from a retreat and you believe that is the next step on your journey, we can help you connect with a community of peers and help you choose the best retreat for you.
(see our other article on How to Choose a Meditation Retreat here and check my personal experience with retreats here).
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