Three Reasons for going on a Meditation Retreat

Today I am preparing to go on a meditation retreat for about a week. I've been going on retreats with different meditation organisations for about a decade now. I've been for one day retreats, weekend retreats and the longest I've done is a 10 day silent Vipassana retreat. When I first attended a retreat, I was very hesitant. I thought people who go on retreats are a bit weird, or just want to be in silence all the time. However, once I started going, I realised that the participants were 'normal' and in fact, very nice and friendly human beings. You do need to be careful what sort of organisation is running the retreat (my book has a section on retreats), and what you hope to get from going on the retreat.

1. Mental Detox
Unless you are already a very wise and mindful being, you probably participate in life at a frenetic pace. Cooking, cleaning, working, looking after the kids, dealing with difficult relationships - life is not always easy. There is rarely time to rest and just be. With all these activities going on, your mind is probably on overdrive too. By attending a silent retreat for a few days or more, your mind begins to slow down. All the random thoughts, worries and fears rise up from your unconscious, into your conscious mind and are then released. Through this process you undergo what I call a 'mental detox' where all the trapped insecurities and faced and released. Retreats are not easy, but in my experience and those I know around me, they are certainly worth it and do ultimately have a detox effect.

2. Renewed Discipline
If you struggle to practise meditation regularly, a retreat gets you back into the daily discipline. With a daily practice of meditation, you are unlikely to reap any of its benefits. By attending a retreat, you can't help but practise on a daily basis and therefore you are planting the seeds of a new discipline in your life. Discipline is sometimes seen as bad or rigid, but the right level of discipline is essential to help you to stick with your meditation and reach deeper and more satisfying levels of wellbeing. So, go on retreat and renew your mindful discipline.

3. New Insights
If you just do the same usual meditation practice you've always done, you may find yourself stuck in a rut. By varying your meditation or by practising with others for an extended period of time, you create the opportunity for new insights to arise. You have the opportunity to learn new things about yourself and your relationships to others and the world at large. A new idea my spark in your mind, totally changing what you do or the way you live for the better. Anything can happen once you create space in your mind. And even if it doesn't, at least you gave yourself the space for such a thing to arise, if not this time, then perhaps another time. Insights require patience.

Bonus point :-)

4. Encouraging Healing
There's research to suggest that mindfulness meditation boosts your immune system (see http://www.psychosomaticmedicine.org/cgi/content/full/65/4/564). By giving yourself the gift of a retreat, you allow space for you to rest not just physically, but mentally and emotionally. This kind of rest allows you to heal from the inside out. As your stress levels decrease, your mind and body become more settled and function in a mode sometimes called 'rest and digest'. In this mode, you digest food more efficiently and fight diseases effectively, as aposed to the 'fight and flight mode' in which immune function goes down and adrenaline levels shoot up. So go on a retreat and allow yourself to 'rest and digest'!

I would suggest you go on a meditation or perhaps yoga retreat at least once a year - it's a great way to look after yourself and therefore you are better able to look after those around you.

May you be well. :-)
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Leave a comment below if you enjoyed this blog post - I shall be back and blogging after my retreat and  will tell you all about it :)