I had a great experience last weekend. I went to an all day silent meditation and yoga retreat. It was part of a wellness class that is being offered at my place of work. I know, I'm really lucky to be working some place that has such a great wellness program. I will blog more about that later.
I was little worried about the retreat, which was 7 hours long, although we did talk some in the last hour. I was worried about not being able to talk, about being bored, hungry, sleepy or all three. But actually it was great. We were in a church that was beautiful with lots of windows. The trees were beautiful, and the day was gorgeous. And it turns out that I loved not talking. I really didn't want to stop not talking. It's such a relief not to have to make small talk with people I barely know. But then I am an introvert. It might drive extroverts crazy.
At the end of the day, most of the participants talked about how great it was and wanted to know when the next retreat would be. And I too will sign up for the next opportunity, but I also think we can do our own silent retreat at home anytime we want to. Or anytime we can take a day off of work or get a babysitter to watch the kids.
In fact, I found this great book at the library, called Spiritual Spa. I highly recommend it because it gives a great schedule of meditation, stretching and spa treatments, even menu ideas, that you can do at home.
The key to having an at-home spa day is to have everything set up in advance. You don't want to spend half of your day running errands so you have the right groceries, toiletries, etc. And don't forget to unplug the phone!
So what do you think? Would a day of silence be good for you? Or torture?
There is no need to go to India or anywhere else to find peace. You will find that deep place of silence right in your room, your garden or even your bathtub. ~Elisabeth Kubler-Ross
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