Retreats help the mind and body

Does your head chatter go something like this?

"I need to get away. I'm exhausted. I'm feeling pulled in too many directions."

"I'm really needing to make this decision. I'm going in circles until I do."

"The only time I have to myself is in the car between meetings and soccer games."

These thoughts, and others like them, are the nudges pushing you toward a personal retreat. The underlying internal conversation is "Time Out!"

The words in the following paragraph are taken from my journal written in the late afternoon of the second day of a retreat last summer.

"I'm sitting outside my tiny, one-room cabin, the gentle breeze making audible art with the poplar leaves overhead. Peace in my body, peace in my mind, peace in my soul. I'm reveling in the utter perfection of this moment, this day, this time I have taken for myself. In awhile the sound of the dinner bell will break the stillness and I'll go join the others for our evening meal. I just love the wild show of flowers in the field as I take the short walk up the dirt road to the dining room. This day has been glorious and my time here is just beginning."

Retreats provide refuge

In my world, retreats are the necessary balm for a balanced life.

A retreat is a way to step back, to take refuge from your daily life and routines, problems and challenges.

It's a time to restore the physical body with good food and rest, to give the mind a break from the chronic stimulation that sometimes becomes a barrier between you and self awareness. It gives you the opportunity to slow down enough to attend to your personal needs, maybe even to be able to identify what they are.

It also helps you integrate - which creates learning and an understanding of where to go next, whatever your occupation or avocation.

Meeting your needs

The needs for retreat are as diverse as the people who take them.

Maybe you simply need rest, and for you, taking refuge means filling the deep need for nourishment. Then again, you may need more than simple R & R. Maybe a business or personal decision is pushing up against your peace of mind.

Giving yourself the spaciousness of a retreat can interrupt the circular conversation in your head by providing you with the time for reflection that you don't have while entangled in the situation.

One of my own favorite personal retreats centered around making a decision. I was a residential caretaker of a large building with extensive garden responsibilities. While I loved the work and my living space, the position was demanding and tied me down.

Being too exhausted to sort it out clearly, I spent 12 days in a primitive hermitage at a retreat center doing absolutely nothing but walking in the woods and meadows, eating healthy meals cooked by the staff, sleeping deep into the mattress nine hours a night and praying and meditating.

I just let myself completely empty out. When I returned home, I knew it was time to move on and that's what I did.

Retreats are restorative

A veteran retreater, I find retreats to be one of the most restorative tools in the self-care kit. Not only are they an excellent way to relax and restore yourself physically, they also allow you to decrease the volume of verbal chatter and outer stimulation so you can begin to connect with your inner self.

In the moment-to-moment experience of uncluttered days with no agendas, insights can emerge. You are receptive to information that was otherwise blocked by an over-active mind and over stimulated life.

Retreats are frequently used for prayer and meditation, immersions into spiritual studies, developing a closer relationship to God or spirit, and for self-healing.

Undisturbed time for writing, painting, sketching or any creative passion can be a focal point for a retreat, also. My most meaningful retreats are those focused on prayer and meditation.

It is, in fact, the basis for all of my own personal retreats (even my writing retreats) allowing me to create a deeper experience for myself.

There are no hard and fast rules regarding retreats. If being alone is intimidating, you can even make a retreat with friends. Retreat centers offer another opportunity to be with others while still having time to yourself.

Whether alone, or with others, the intention of a retreat is to be where it is quiet, safe, and nurturing, (preferably in nature) so that you can turn your attention inward.

However you choose to do it, the journey inward is a rewarding one. You will emerge calm and centered, with a sense of renewal. You will know the value of taking time for yourself and might even get to know yourself in some new ways. It's a means of coming home to yourself over and over again.

Regina Golding is a meditation teacher, personal retreat facilitator, and massage therapist. She lives in Madison and can be reached at 608-238-7502.