A Dynamic Retreat

This is a brief post about a retreat I am heading off toward.

Down the road a bit, I will enter a retreat at my friend’s shrine room (which is also her healing space). In the past, these retreats have always elicited serene waves and deepened presence. And I am anticipating the same here. It is a few days in length, so I will be out of touch for a little bit.

The retreat schedule looks like this:
6 – 7 am: opening prayers, mantra and silent sitting
7 – 8 am: eight verses for training the mind, contemplation, Zapchen exercises from Julie Henderson’s book, Embodying Wellbeing
8 – 10 am: breakfast, tea, walk, yoga, rest

10 – 11 am: opening prayers and silent sitting
11 – 12 noon: silent sitting, long life prayers, dedication
12 – 2 pm: lunch break, walk, rest

2 – 3 pm: Zapchen practice and napping 🙂 (my favorite part)
3 – 4 pm: silent sitting practice
4 – 5 pm: metta loving-kindness practice
5 – 6 pm: light dinner break

6 – 7 pm: group dreamwork (play-acting our dreams, very potent and insightful)
7 – 8 pm: silent sitting practice
8 – 9 pm: silent sitting and dedication prayers

So that is the schedule. I am just an ordinary human being who is mentally foggy, deluded and easily distracted, but I am holding the aspiration to clear my central channel and to rest there, naturally and effortlessly. Let you know how it went on the other side. Thanks for reading.