Has anyone here ever gone on a retreat?

[SeattleGirl]

Spiritual, intellectual, etc.?

That idea is so appealing to me right now. Just get away from everything for a few months. Recharge, refuel, reinvigorate.

Anyone done that? If so, how was it?

[idgiehkt]

1. no, just cheerleading camp

not spiritual or intellectual in any way shape or form, lol.

Just deflowering your thread for you... :hi:

[SeattleGirl]

3. Ooooh, baby!

Thanks for the deflowering! :loveya:

[Wetzelbill]

2. Only when Custer was charging towards camp

but that was pretty much to lead him to his doom. :)

[SeattleGirl]

4. But, bill, I didn't think you were THAT old!

:P

[ForrestGump]

5. I prefer to call it a

'tactical withdrawal.' :D



:hug:

No, I haven't really been on a formal retreat. I've gone to various events as a kid -- camps and hikes out in the boonies, for example, and multiday field trips -- that were sort of along the same lines and did a few martial arts camps later that might qualify in that they're along the same liens of what many people see 'retreats' as, which is basically workshops and the like. I happen to think that this latter definition of retreats is limiting and misses most of the point. A retreat can be focused on doing something or on doing nothing...both kinds are equally Zen-like, for that matter.

To a great extent, my marine research work in the tropics, in remote areas, was very much a retreat...certainly in comparison to the stuff I was frenetically doing back at my home institution at the time, when I was working on my PhD. I'd find my vision, as just one example, would begin to deteriorate and would begin to think that it was finally going on me (my vision is 20/10, but everyone else in my family now wears glasses for at least reading and once mine got so bad that when I was shopping for shoes I couldn't see the writing on the box on a high shelf in the store); after a few days in the field, though, out in nature and in areas where the horizon was a blue curve and you could see forever, I found that my vision was totally restored.

There're emotional and mental parallels, too...certainly, at the time, getting away from my wife was good for me even though I often missed her and stupidly cut short one two-month trip to get back to her (I say 'stupidly' because by the time we were halfway through the ride back from the airport I wondered why I had come back to her at all). She's since done many spiritual and yogic-style retreats, but I think my experiences in the field -- working, but living within a totally different environment -- are also applicable to your case: (i) you needn't go far (indeed, you needn't go anywhere, perhaps, but a change of scenery and a change of company is usually called for), (ii) you needn't spend much, and (iii) you needn't do anything, in particular, or you can use the opportunity to focus on improving or learning something or even just work (remote resorts are the classic) to support your extended break. It's mostly a state of mind...in fact, it's all in the mind.

I hope that a cunning plan presents itself to you...sometimes a break is a lifesaver. :hug:

:loveya:

[SeattleGirl]

6. I agree; a retreat can come about by many different means.

Sometimes, weeding the garden feels like a retreat to me. Sometimes, washing dishes by hand is a retreat.

What brought this up for me was one of the latest episodes of NUMB3RS, where one of the characters gets a room at a monastery for a month for a retreat. Sometimes, I really wish I could do that; just disengage for a few weeks for all that I am involved in, all that worries me, and all responsibility (except to myself).

:loveya:

[Forkboy]

7. That's a lot of words that start with "re" for one post.

How about spreading the love around for some other prefixes?

I'm beset on all sides,leaving me at a disadvantage,engulfing me in rage,not overjoyed,and certainly not following my preconditions,leaving me in a semiconscious state,which is both unreal and unacceptable.

Where's my fucking English teachers NOW? C student my ass!

:)

[kwassa]

8. Yes, a bunch.

They are vastly different depending on who organizes them. Mostly, Episcopal ones. I did one last year. Men's retreat.

My favorite was a three-day silent meditation retreat in a California canyon organized by a metaphysical church. Probably a hundred people.

A friend of mine met his wife-to-be at a ten-day silent Buddhist meditation retreat at Joshua Tree. I still don't understand how you meet without talking, but it seemed to work.

[RetroLounge]

9. I have been going on one twice a year for over 15 years

every may and october I join a group of men on a spiritual / recovery retreat and spend a 4 day weekend in the woods near Green Lake, WI.

unfortunately, it was this weekend and the one time I truly need it I could not make it...

I look forward all year to these. Recharge, refuel, reinvigorate....

RL

[supernova]

10. I used to do a weekend Womens' retreat

every last weekend in October. My Presbyterian church does this every year in Western NC. I haven't been in several years, but it was well worth it. Very peaceful, just concentrating on your own growth.

There was a good balance between time on your own just to explore the mountains, or go into Asheville or Black Mountain if you wanted. There was a program , seminars grouped around a theme. One year we took time to analyze the film, Places in the Heart. Another year, it was the study of Angels, interesting but not really my thing. And we had a kind of DIY service on Sunday morning before we left. The fee for the weekend covered food (we cooked mostly and went out to dinner on Sat night), house rental, and speaker's fee if we had a guest speaker. It was pretty cheap too, about $65-$80 for the weekend.

I have considered doing a longer retreat, more like a couple of weeks or a month.