A retreat is an opportunity to get away from the clamor and chaos of life and focus on yourself.
A retreat offers sacred time to look beyond our day to day schedules and obligations and rediscover what lies beneath the surface – those things we truly value that guide our choices, attitudes, and relationships. Retreats help us to remember what is most important and what we’ve forgotten in the midst of all the roles we fill and the expectations of who we think we should be.
Here are 6 Reasons You Should Go On A Retreat
- Take Care of YOU!! We give so much of ourselves in our daily lives that it can be difficult to really take a moment just for ourselves. But let me ask you, “How can you keep quenching other people’s thirst if you never refill the well?”
- Renew Your Sense of Self. It’s time to drop all the roles society wants you to be: mom, sister, daughter, wife, friend, employee. One retreater put it this way: “People need to be reminded that we are actually individuals, human beings, as opposed to ‘human doings.’” Self-renewal is a crucial piece of your overall well-being.
- Destress! In this crazy, fast-paced world, being still and quiet can actually be uncomfortable, or even scary. But our souls, our spirits NEED quiet. Alvin Toffler, an American Futurist concluded that “humans could not keep up with the rapid accelerating pace of change. We need time to ponder, to realize, to learn, to listen to our deeper, truer self.”
- Have Fun & Laugh! How often in life do you truly surround yourself with the fun things and people in life that you just can’t stop that deep, roaring belly-laugh from escaping? Society tells us all the “right” ways to express ourselves and far too often, we stifle one of the very things that easily brings wellness. After all, laughter is the best medicine!
- Help Others. Yup! Not only is a retreat good for you, it’s even good for the people you spend time with. Who doesn’t want a more relaxed, patient, happier, rested person in their lives?! People see a new you and are motivated to make more positive changes in their own lives. It’s like the pebble in the pond – the ripples continue to spread.
- Detox your body, mind, and spirit. Everyone needs to unload, clean out and empty their mental briefcase. At a retreat you are unplugged, eating well, meditating, being in nature, resting, gaining insight, and renewing. Retreat is a time to learn the sound of your own soul, to tap into the wisdom you have within, and to listen to the precious voice of the One who knows you.
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and much more. It will be a time of insight, renewal. You will leave a retreat lightened, more clear, recharged, refreshed, and more present. You are more unplugged, you are eating well, doing yoga and meditating. You are making time for yourself. Your body is going to undergo healing and you will leave refreshed. It will be a time of insight and renewal, and if nothing else, rest in your life. I often hear “I’ve got to take care of my mom/dad. I can’t leave them alone.” “I have to be taxi-mom.” “the piles on my desk are way too huge to take time away from work!” we often come home with a refreshed appreciation for life. You feel happier, healthier, and re-energized to jump back into your routine with new vigor. Heck, it might even feel fun. When you take time for you, you can be there for others in a more full way. Partner, kids, coworkers, etc. Life is actually different when you return and you are free to take up a new space in it. This is growth. People see a new you, and they see that they’re new, too. People are motivated to make more positive change. Retreats are important because people leave retreats fitter, rested, happier and clearer. Who doesn’t want some of that? They realize what it’s like when you’re not around, to work, clean, love them. Without you taking up your usual spot, people shift positions to fill that space. Life takes on a new shape. They realize what it’s like when you’re not around, to work, clean, love them. Without you taking up your usual spot, people shift positions to fill that space. Life takes on a new shape.
- encounter the clarity and the direction we have been seeking. Retreats afford the opportunity to reassess the direction our lives are taking and to make the necessary course corrections. The word “retreat” comes from the Latin root meaning to “draw back.” In spiritual retreats we withdraw from the “real” world — from surface living — and enter the deeper inner realms. For most of us the inner journey is an adventure that remains vastly uncharted and unexplored.
- Truly Rest, Rejuvenate, and strengthen your spirit
- Detox. Everyone needs to unload, clean out and empty their mental desktop. You will leave a retreat lightened, clearer, recharged, refreshed, and more present. This new perspective can guide you to make changes in your life that you know you need to make.
- You will detox, mind body and spirit.
You are more unplugged, you are eating well, doing yoga and meditating. You are making time for yourself. Your body is going to undergo healing and you will leave refreshed.
- Learn from the Little Things in Life
- It will be a time of insight and renewal, and if nothing else, rest. Retreat is a time to learn the sound of your own soul, to tap into the wisdom you have within, and to listen to the precious voice of the One who knows you.
Register now for upcoming retreats
and receive a complimentary download of Jing Si Aphorisms, a collection of daily wisdom.
So, what happens on spiritual retreats? Although retreat themes and topics vary, you can almost always expect time for quiet reflection, as well as input from a speaker, spiritual reading, or Scripture. A guided retreat will offer exercises or questions for processing life experiences or relationships. While there is always time for individual prayer, there is also time for group sharing in which participants are encouraged, consoled, or inspired by the thoughts and experiences of others. For some people, a longer retreat—a weekend, or a week—may fit their needs. Others might be drawn to a directed retreat in which there is more solitude and a daily individual meeting with a spiritual director. With an expectation of greater silence and solitude, a directed retreat might be more challenging if you’re making your first retreat.
Have you been feeling lost? Have you been working so much, doing your day to day activities that you have forgotten what is important to you? Do you just need a break from your day to day life? Then my
Make separate Blog. Many of us zoom through complicated lives. We often yearn for time away from that hustle and bustle for a time of rest and renewal, a time to connect to our best selves. So, what happens on spiritual retreats? Although retreat themes and topics vary, you can almost always expect time for quiet reflection, as well as input from a speaker, spiritual reading, or Scripture. A guided retreat will offer exercises or questions for processing life experiences or relationships. While there is always time for individual prayer, there is also time for group sharing in which participants are encouraged, consoled, or inspired by the thoughts and experiences of others. For some people, a longer retreat—a weekend, or a week—may fit their needs. Others might be drawn to a directed retreat in which there is more solitude and a daily individual meeting with a spiritual director. With an expectation of greater silence and solitude, a directed retreat might be more challenging if you’re making your first retreat.
Creativity and inspiration happen when you take the time away from your day job to remember your day dream. You play with what inspires you, whether it’s crochet, writing, jogging, sculpting, cooking or a little bit of everything.
- Retreats, especially those that include time for silence, make possible the temporary quieting of the incessant inner chatter that Buddhists call the “monkey mind.” Our thoughts are like monkeys randomly jumping from branch to branch, and we end up utterly exhausted by the end of the day. However you do it, please take some time for yourself, retreat, and dive deep into your own inner journey. You’ll be glad you did! What do you hear? The screech of the swallows swooping. The wind, but more importantly, that quiet inside your own heart. Too often we get so captivated by the busyness and hecticness of daily living that we forget to reference our deeper, intuitive selves. TV can be entertaining as well as educational, but it can also be a distraction, deflecting self-reflection. Our relationships with lovers, family, friends and co-workers likewise provide the juice that makes life worth living and the necessary friction out of which growth ensues. Yet, they too can be a diversion from the inner journey, where the potential for maximum fulfillment lies.
Retreats, especially those that include time for silence, make possible the temporary quieting of the incessant inner chatter that Buddhists call the “monkey mind.” Our thoughts are like monkeys randomly jumping from branch to branch, and we end up utterly exhausted by the end of the day. However you do it, please take some time for yourself, retreat, and dive deep into your own inner journey.
How a Retreat Let’s You Take Care of YOU
We give so much of ourselves in our daily lives that it can be difficult to really take a moment just for ourselves. But let me ask you, “How can you keep quenching other people’s thirst if you never refill the well?” At the office, at home with the kids vying for attention, on the with friend/spouse/parents/and everyone else… We’re always giving our time and attention to someone else. Contrary to the belief that many of us have, taking care of ourselves is not self-indulgent. It’s time to give that same thoughtfulness and love to yourself.
How Attending a Retreat Helps You Rediscover YOU. Renew Your Sense of Self. Self-renewal is a crucial piece of your overall well-being. It’s time to drop all the roles society wants you to be: mom, sister, daughter, wife, friend, employee. One retreater put it this way: “People need to be reminded that we are actually individuals, human beings, as opposed to ‘human doings.’” You have the freedom to just be YOU; to re-discover what is truly important and how to live life honoring your core beliefs and values. Many spiritual traditions recognize the importance of this type of self-discovery. Buddhists and Hindus use meditation to quiet the mind and delve deeper into self. The end of a well-known Wiccan prayer reads, “And you who seek to know Me, know that your seeking and yearning will avail you not, unless you know the Mystery: for if that which you seek, you find not within yourself, you will never find it without.” Jesus tells his followers, “the Kingdom of God is within.” A Sufi belief, “If human beings knew their own inner secrets, they would never look elsewhere seeking for happiness and peace.”
- Destress! In this crazy, fast-paced world, being still and quiet can actually be uncomfortable, or even scary. But our souls, our spirits NEED quiet. Alvin Toffler, an American Futurist concluded that “humans could not keep up with the rapid accelerating pace of change. We need time to ponder, to realize, to learn, to listen to our deeper, truer self.” It is shown that the natural setting of retreats reduces the production of cortisol – our primary stress hormone. There is no rush of time on a retreat; you find that sweet space where you can slow down enough to unwind and be thoroughly rejuvenated
2. You’ll be glad you did! What do you hear? The screech of the swallows swooping. The wind, but more importantly, that quiet inside your own heart. Too often we get so captivated by the busyness and hecticness of daily living that we forget to reference our deeper, intuitive selves. TV can be entertaining as well as educational, but it can also be a distraction, deflecting self-reflection. Our relationships with lovers, family, friends and co-workers likewise provide the juice that makes life worth living and the necessary friction out of which growth ensues. Yet, they too can be a diversion from the inner journey, where the potential for maximum fulfillment lies.
Helping others. When my children were growing up and I was a single mom working and earning my master’s degree, I made it a point to take a day away. My kids got a renewed mom who wasn’t so easily frustrated, frazzled, and overwhelmed. I could do my work in half the time with the new energy I had.
