12 responses so far ↓

• 1 lain May 9, 2006

  “Retreat” is a state of mind… break it apart and you get “re-treat,” as in, “treating yourself again!” With that in mind (and with three children under the age of 8 in my household and a husband who travels a lot), a retreat for me can be anything from 20 minutes with a favorite drink and a good book at Starbucks, or lunch with a friend, or a car trip listening to MY book-on-CD instead of the kids’ favorite! A “retreat” is any time I treat myself to something satisfying and soul-quenching… or any time I treat myself well.

  If I really and truly live in the moment, those few minutes are so full for me… they can be as refreshing as a weekend getaway or… dare I say it?… “a year by the sea.” And in some ways, they’re less stressful. No packing. No menus to plan for the kids and my husband while I’m gone. No three-page instruction list of places for him to go and times to pick up/drop off the kids. Just me. And my knitting. My book. My friend. Myself. Ahhh…
  xoxoxo
  Lain

• 2 MaryBeth May 9, 2006

  I feel the need for a retreat following the passing of our newborn grandson RYDER. I the past I have found retreats that involve a balance combination of quiet contemplation and circle gatherings to feed my soul and allow solitary time for processing, thinking, praying, -just being.
  I have unintentionlly had a mini home retreat in my bed due to an unhappy neck vertabre. During this quiet time gazing at the giant tree just outside my bedroom window , the most unexpected visitors have arrived. Come on by and see them. A friend suggested they are Spiritual guides- I dont know much about these things, but just exploring the idea has spurred my soul into awe and wonder.
  Namaste,
  MB in JT

• 3 sandylouwho May 10, 2006

  It has taken my SO many years to figure out what really works to replenish me, as opposed to what sounds like it ought to work. Retreating itself doesn’t seem to work for me. Even if I go stay at a retreat center or beach house or grab some time in a Starbucks or shut myself in my room or whatever, I am not replenished because I still feel like I *should* be doing something productive (like writing — I’m a writer) whenever I’m not caretaking. These shoulds have turned out to be impossible to banish at this stage in my life (and I have tried mightily!).

  So, once or twice a year, I take a trip (away from husband, teens, work, elderly parents nearby) to gather with some writing friends in NC/VA (I live in FL). The real retreat is the solitary 10-hour drive up and drive back.

  The time with friends is fun, of course, and replenishing in its own way. But the big thing has turned out to be that drive. It is the ONLY time in my life that I do not carry a feeling that I am supposed to be doing something other than or in addition to what I’m doing. I’m driving, so I *can’t* be doing anything else! This allows me complete peace. I can feel my scrambled brain cells just lining up in nice neat little rows and saying “Om.” Oh, my gosh, writing this makes me want to do it right now!
  –Sandy

• 4 sandylouwho May 10, 2006

  P.S. to MB in JT –
  I am so sorry to hear about your loss of Ryder and glad that you have found a way to retreat that helps center you after such a loss. I send you and your family my warmest thoughts of sympathy.

  Maybe your spirit guides impishly gave you neck pain so you’d stay still so they could visit you!
  Hugs to you,
  Sandy

• 5 Toni May 10, 2006

  http://users.pdnt.com/~tonij/The%20Cabin.htm

  Here is the story of my retreat.

  I’ve read Joan Anderson’s book and loved it.

• 6 Toni May 10, 2006

  I forgot to add that I used “The Women’s Retreat Book” as a guide for my weekend.

• 7 sandylouwho May 10, 2006

  QUESTION:
  What are some mental tricks that might help a woman to retreat without feeling guilty about it? Other than telling oneself not to feel guilty?

• 8 Carla May 12, 2006

  On my next retreat I’m hungry for quiet togetherness. I love doing my thing (writing, resting, doodling, being) while other women around me are doing their thing. I’m hungry for downtime, for creative spaciousness. I love being my one part of the whole circle, being connected without necessarily activity, conversation or exercises. Struggling to put this into words! Quiet togetherness sums it up, I guess!

• 9 Sarah May 13, 2006

  My retreat story:
  This past week I took my annual opportunity to spend a couple of days at a local retreat center. I have done this each May for the past four years, and it has helped me assimilate my father’s dying, my husband’s career change, my daughter’s entering middle school and pre-adolescence, and becoming my mother’s caregiver. It helps by giving me time to be with only myself and God. I have always taken The Women’s Retreat Book as my trusty guide, and this year I also brought Joan Anderson’s book. I lay in a hammock and watched the sky grow dark and the stars come out… I listened to my beloved Hollow Listening Woman meditation on Jennifer’s Sacred Pause mp3 retreat (hooray for ipods), I braided the colors of my life with embroidery thread as in Joan Anderson’s book, I prayed through Jennifer Berezan’s “Returning” CD, and on and on… I think that Amazon should offer a deal on The Women’s Retreat Book and Joan Anderson’s book as they comlement each other well! I am much more familiar and at home with Jennifer’s work, but enjoyed weaving Joan’s ideas into what has always been so restful and nurturing for me…
  The blessed silence, being in nature in this tender season of spring and new life, sleeping eight hours without waking up, no cooking or dishwashing, not blow-drying my hair–lots of peace.
  Thanks, Jennifer, for your encouragement and support and love!
  Sarah

• 10 Jennifer Louden May 14, 2006

  I love your stories! I keep thinking how great a book of women’s retreat stories would be with some addition of poetry and ideas in-between?? Maybe a future book.

  MB, loving hugs to you on the passing your sweet baby grandson. I know this must have been absolutely devasting for you and your family. May your connection to all that is offer a ground under your soul.

• 11 Maureen May 15, 2006

  Wow – what timing.
  I just finished reading Joan’s book also.
  I long to do what she did…
  what luxury to have the financial wherewithall.
  Ok, she was not wealthy but she did own a
  house at the beach.
  I feel like a year such as hers would make me
  a new person.
  Or help me figure out who the old
  person is…
  Or, perhaps I could just walk out into the sea
  and become a mermaid.

• 12 cindy May 15, 2006

  my best retreats have been 5 day silent retreats where no one spoke to one another at all. not for dinner call, or navigating shower time in the bathroom etc. it was incredibly freeing! it made me realize how much energy it takes out of us to continually keep up the polite social norms including please and thank you. just knowing i didnt have to do this was wonderful. also knowing that on the retreat i did not have to participate in any of the group things, i was free to do my own thing- read, nap, read some more, nap some more, draw, paint, muse, wander among the newly born lambs, hike up a hill and gaze…..

  all in all as carla said JUST BEING!