Imagine giving yourself the time where you have no agenda and you allow your self the freedom to be.

Don’t Wait Until You Are Exhausted

When I was a graduate student my life was extremely busy with classes and schoolwork. I attended an experiential school, so in addition to academic studies, deep emotional work was required of each student. At the same time I got married and bought a house. My husband and I each had two children, so we struggled trying the best that we could to blend our families. Gratefully, our former spouses took responsibility for sharing the raising of our children.

As I worked diligently to get my degree, there seemed to be little time for anything else. I gave up my regular exercise routine and vacation time. Barely realizing it I gained weight and became more and more tired. One day I was walking down the hallway and one of my hips swung gently into the wall. Wow! My hips are big I thought! Fleetingly I felt that I better start exercising, eating more healthy and take some time off for myself. Quickly, I thought, but I don’t have the time to do this. When the school holiday arrived, I was exhausted. I only wanted to do “fun” things like going to the movies and eating! As my school years continued my health suffered.

My Retreat, Just in Time

A friend recommended that I go on a retreat. She told me that on retreat you eat light simple food and receive massages, but mostly you stop everything and rest. She suggested that to get the most benefit from the retreat, I should only relax, meditate, and walk. If I wanted to read, there were spiritual books available, but it was advisable not to read anything else.

So I rested and walked and read things spiritual and I reflected on my life. I was surprised at how well my meditation went. The experience brought me back to being a child, where we had the whole summer free with nothing planned. It is in that kind of quiet where I felt like myself.

That retreat saved my life. Not only was I new person when I returned to my “regular life” but it taught me the value of taking time off for personal retreat. Since then I have valued time alone, and time away from everyone so that I can reorder my life. During retreat you let the rhythm of your body reveal what is needed in your life.

Stillheart

Over the years I have taken many retreats at different places. Stillheart was a retreat center in Woodside, California. The land at Stillheart is a deeply supportive place for healing. Thanks to the generosity of Joan Porter, who founded Stillheart, I was able to take a long retreat there when it was closed for renovations. Stillheart has since changed. The location is now known as Canyon Ranch. It is still a sacred place of enormous beauty supporting personal reflection.