Personal retreat

[pegkerr]

I am going to go on a personal retreat the week after next. I will be driving to St. Benedict's Monastery (run by the Sisters of the Order of Saint Benedict) in St. Joseph. I get a private room and three meals a day for $45 a day, which is within my budget. I can walk the grounds (they have a prayer labyrinth). I can request a massage, if I like. I can join the sisters as they follow the office of the hours of prayer. I can choose to eat in the dining room in a room set aside for those who wish to eat in silence. I can request spiritual counseling, if I like.

I plan to pack as simply as possible. Walking shoes. Blank journal. I would like to bring my yoga mat--if there isn't someone giving a class nearby, I could run a yoga dvd on my laptop. If I bring the laptop (only for the Yoga DVDs, not to check email or anything); am not sure if I will. I don't plan to listen to my iPod while there, although I reserve the right to listen to it in the car. I'll bring the prayer shawl my mother knit for me. I plan to bring a huge pad of tear off sheets of paper and drawing pens for brainstorming. Perhaps collaging materials. I may bring a couple of carefully chosen books--not for entertainment purposes, but for study on some subjects which need to be carefully considered.

What have you done on a personal retreat? Suggestions (with the understanding that, of course, I can make different decisions than you might?) What have you brought with you?

Comments

[prunesnprisms.livejournal.com]

I hope you make all sorts of discoveries, Peg. This will be very healthy for you, I think.

[ivyblossom.livejournal.com]

Interesting, I'm just packing for mine! Though it's in the hospital, and it's purpose is cancer-killing radiation therapy, but I still consider it a retreat (since I have to be in isolation). I'm bringing four moleskine notebooks (one little black one, three brown cahier-style), naominovik's books, two Terry Pratchetts, a Wynne Jones and a Christopher Moore, and the Body Shop's Africa Spa salt scrub. The salt scrub is key. No laptop, no cellphone, no ipod. Mostly because they would become radioactive if I bring them in. I think it's time to commune with my own brain.

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

Good health to you.

K.

[ivyblossom.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[satakieli.livejournal.com]

A hat, an outdoors-safe blanket, and sunscreen? Unromantic, but they do cover most weather possibilities for sitting outside and meditating / thinking / writing / drawing / praying / listening / being.

[haddayr.livejournal.com]

Heh, heh, heh. You're not from Minnesota, are you?

[satakieli.livejournal.com]

Nope. Is it mostly grey there? Because a toasty blanket to throw around one's warm coat can make sunny but frigid winter days quite lovely in Wyoming.

Though you're right, I do currently hail from a warmer clime, and perhaps I've forgotten the annoyance of keeping a massive stash of tissues or hankies on hand to stave off the inevitable cold-sniffles.

[haddayr.livejournal.com]

I've never gone on one. It sounds wonderful. Especially the labyrinth.

[karenthology.livejournal.com]

I really, really advise joining the sisters for the liturgy of the hours, especially if they do all seven times a day. It's amazing.

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

I fully intend to do so.

[jbru.livejournal.com]

$45/day!? I'll have to look into this! When you asked about places I'd remembered that I'd poked around various Zen centers for similar information but that their retreats are on more restricted schedules.

For simple packing suggestions in general, I recommend One Bag. For your retreat you can likely even get simpler than they do.

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

Hey, thanks for the link to One Bag. From there, I found a Universal Packlist website which is a good one to bookmark.

[knitmeapony.livejournal.com]

I've brought things to really get my fingers into. Air-dry clay, or the Crayola Model Magic is light, inexpensive, and less messy. Play-doh or silly putty, too.. anything that lets me do a little bit more physical/3-D brainstorming.

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

I was thinking of bringing a beading project, and my ribbon coat; I'll sew more ribbons on it.

[knitmeapony.livejournal.com]

I don't think I know what your ribbon coat is!

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

Here ya go!

[peacockharpy.livejournal.com]

I have never done a retreat like this, but your description makes me really want to. The labyrinth sounds particularly nice.

Can you teach yourself at least one small yoga routine before you go, so that you don't need the laptop? Not that I'm saying you shouldn't take it, but if it were me the laptop would be a horrible temptation (unless I removed all the timewaster games, the audiobooks, and the music from it before I went).

[jbru.livejournal.com]

Along the lines of learning a small yoga routine, I could loan you my copy of Sleeping Bag Yoga, which has a fairly simple routine and will likely fit in your luggage.

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

I would gladly accept it as a loan. Thank you.

[tassie-gal.livejournal.com]

Not having done a personal retreat per se, but liking spending time in my own company and thinking....
1. Paper and pens
2. A book or two
3. an open mind
4. Worry beads
5. an open mind

[corinnethewise.livejournal.com]

Something to read that's just for me, that's not about the real world and that's not for school or for something I'm writing.

Also, something to sew or cross-stitch, because it's kind of cool to create something. It's a nice feeling of accomplishment, even if it's only doll clothes.

[mamculuna.livejournal.com]

I haven't done a personal retreat quite like that, though I do go off by myself for a few days. On those days, I walk on the beach, read, write, and kayak.

But when I go on group retreats, I don't take along all the electronic stuff or novels, etc. I just do yoga, meditate, and read on same, and listen to some teachings. And I don't speak for two days. I recommend that part, highly!

[aeditimi.livejournal.com]

I would highly recommend the massage. I find them not only relaxing, but they help me feel better about my body that is being so lovingly touched and healed by a near-stranger.

I like to journal and to draw when on retreat. I like to listen to classical/instrumental music. I like to walk outside and sit in a patch of sunlight (indoor or out). I like to be near water of any kind, a fountain, a lake, a pool, a stream. I like to burn candles. Lots and lots of candles. I brought a picture of my daughter on my last retreat.

My two cents: I'd bring the yoga mat and do forms from memory. For me, the laptop would be too much of a temptation.

My favorite book for my own retreat time is Listening for God, by Renita Weems. She's a clergy woman, and much of the book is devoted to that aspect of her life, but she also speaks a lot about being a wife and mother and child of God. I can't speak to how relevant this book is for lay people, but it has saved my faith and quite possibly my life on several occasions. Her book revolves around the notion that the spiritual journey comes in seasons, some abundant and joyous, some dry and empty. If spiritual emptiness is part of your experience at this time, I would recommend it. Otherwise, save it for another time, but it's what helps me.

Blessings again, and kudos for making your physical and emotional health such a priority. Hang in there while you wait.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I didn't mean to have a retreat, but I was put in a cheap-hotel-like dorm room by myself with very little contact with anyone for a week before one of my physics research programs started. Books, clothes, blank journal, toiletries, that was about it. One of the things I ended up doing while I was meditating was trying to let my body remember as much ballet as it could. This was when I was just turning 20, and I had given up ballet when I was just turned 11. A lot of the barre work came back rather readily. Plies are good.

[magentamn.livejournal.com]

I've done informal retreats a few times, camping, or in a cheap motel. I've taken one or two books that I wanted to read deeply, the sort where you read two pages, then write two pages in your journal. Or the sort that is full of open-ended exercises that I wanted to have time to do. Julia Cameron's books come to mind. So do Barbara Sher's. I once had a very productive day with Starhawk's "Twelve Wild Swans". I know you did brilliant work with that story; this is a very different approach to it.

I hope you discover what you need to.

[cloudscudding.livejournal.com]

If it were me and I brought the laptop, I'd have to leave my internet card/connection cable at home to avoid the temptation.

[mizzlaurajean.livejournal.com]

My personal retreats involve a supply of chocolate.

And a tattered old copy of Christina Baldwin's Life's Companion.

[nmalfoy.livejournal.com]

Just watch out, Peg. You're already putting a LOT of pressure on yourself to Get Stuff Done And Figure It All Out. And if you don't, you'll walk away disappointed and worse off than before. Sure, bring all those things, but understand that maybe what you need is just NOTHING to do. Let your brain reboot itself. Heal. Walk and sit on a rock and, if you have music that inspires you, listen to it. Just be. The Beatles were right: There will be an answer; let it be. Don't load this up with expectations. And then you'll walk away with more magic than you ever could have dreamed of.

[rosefox]

I've never gone on that sort of retreat, but I would probably bring crafting supplies (both pencil and paper for design and materials that allowed for improvisation) and something huggable that can be comforting when I get lonely: the stuffed turtle sinboy gave me for Valentine's Day this year, the_xtina's flannel shirt, the teddy bear that has shared my bed for the past thirteen (!) years.

I would also bring something that's just for entertainment or enjoyment, because my purpose would be to reconnect with myself, and that can't fully happen if I only focus on improving myself. It's just as important--maybe more important--to focus on who I am now, accepting that person, loving that person.

If the venue allowed it, I might bring sheet music and recordings of sacred or otherwise meaningful music to sing along to. Some of the most intensely spiritual moments of my life have involved singing.

I hope you have a lovely time.

[kiwiria.livejournal.com]

I've never gone on a personal retreat, but would love to have the opportunity sometime. It sounds like balm to the soul.

Regarding the laptop, would you be able to resist the temptation to check your email or the likes if you bring it? I'm not sure I would, and as such I'd leave it at home, but you may very well be stronger than me.

I'd bring many of the same things you're planning to: walking shoes, blank journal, a book or two, my Bible, depending on their rules of silence possibly my flute, paper for brainstorming and letter-writing, my embroidery...

As stressed out as I feel right now, a couple of days away from everything sounds like pure Heaven.

*hugs*

[dichroic.livejournal.com]

Never done one, but I think I would bring some sort of talisman: something you can finger or fondle while you're meditating, that you can handle again when back at home to bring some of the thoughts and feelings from the retreat back. The beading project or ribbon coat you mention might work, but so would a smooth rock or small stuffed animal or beaded necklace.

Also, if it's well outside the city and if it would be possible to spend even a few minutes outside at night without turning into a Pegsicle, I'd bring a star chart.

[morganmuffle]

As little as possible! I've never been on an actual retreat but the times I've come closest (visiting Iona which was with university friends but included a fair amount of quiet and solitude) I found that a book to study and then soemthing physical to do with my hands (cross stitch personally) were what I actuall used and almost everything else got forgotten as I had a chnce to finally be quiet and still for a bit!

The yoga sounds like a good idea though.

[cesario.livejournal.com]

In 2004 I spent a week at The Abbey of Gethsemane in Louisville, Kentucky, where the rule for the order is silence, so far as possible, at all times. It was completely free. (I beleive they make a considerable income off Thomas Merton's writings.) If you can ever make it that far east I recommend it, if the silence isn't more likely to be a distraction than otherwise. The liturgical day runs from 3 am to 8 pm and you can join the monks at prayers. I was way too messed to up at the time to get much of anything out of it, so I can't recommend things to do, really---I generally lay on my bed and stared out the window into the darkness. :) I could probably make something better out of it if I went again.

[heavenscalyx.livejournal.com]

I've never done a personal retreat, but from experiences I've heard about (and some experiences I've had), one of the things you might want to consider is how you want your "re-entry" to go after it's over. Something that might help you transition from retreat-space to real-world-space. When returning home from women's space, for instance, I found the real world horribly jarring when we left the safety of the hills and hit the highway.

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

Oh, I think bringing a computer would be a massive mistake, because using one is so seductive and time-wasting. I never bring my computer when I do a retreat.

I do bring a journal and drawing paper and some pencils, and maybe paints, if I feel like it. I've liked having a camera to record my environment, occasionally. I always anticipate a lot of time to just do nothing but look around and think about things.

K.

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

Yes, I've decided I won't be bringing the computer.

I'll have the cell phone with me in case of emergencies, but that's it.