Virtual Retreats for an Inspiring Year 2008

"Mindful In March"

"Having spent time looking at our physical environment and our outer appearance in January and February. Today 16th March, we moved on to the thoughts and emotions that we are holding onto. Having spent time on how we present ourselves to the outer world, cleaned our clutter, made space in our house and in your life for more of what we most desire, we were ready. We stepped into what "mindfulness" meant for each of us.

The group of women on this retreat in the UK are very aware of March with the wind and rain and grey days. Mindfulness in March however allowed us to listen to our own voices.
Our first exercise was

• Listen to the thoughts and voices in your head as we settle into our comfortable retreat space. Make a list of everyone's voice that you hear. Who is speaking to you? Who is telling you what you "should be" doing or thinking. Can you find your own voice? What is it wanting to say?
• In our second hour we shared the discoveries of listening to our own voices and the amazement of the old voices that are still living inside us. We discovered that mindfulness meant " nothing really," " a buddhist concept" to " a word my old Scottish Grandmother used."
• In the third hour we chose a simple activity which allowed us to deepen our thinking. One lady relaxed in her bath and another read a very old buddhist book that she had started reading in 2003. I pulled out all my water coloured paintings that I had thrown in the bottom of a cupboard and reviewed my skills. Our inner voices all became clearer! I realised that actually I do have a certain amount of talent and felt ready to pick up my artist's brush and create my future vision. The old voices of teachers ahd gone.

Next month we are looking at "April Showers". Join us as we look at how our emotions change like the weather! We will notice the colours as Spring bursts forth.

Warm wishes from a very grey English Sunday.

Dorothy Larios and the Rest of your Life Virtual Retreat Group

Helene Van Manen retreats at Arches National Park

I have come late spring to these ancient rocks to pause before my summer begins. I take time to listen to what the red landscapes have to tell me about Who I am and what my next steps are. I am many things to many people in my life and when I stop and listen to the land, I re-find that part of me that is constant, real and unshakable. I need unshakable qualities during these times in which I live.

- musings of a Retreat Coach
the journal of Helene Van Manen May 2, 2007
Arches National Park www.retreatcoaches.com

Helene Van Manen reminds us that often we need to retreat within ourselves

Sleeping In The Forest by Mary Oliver I thought the earth remembered me, she took me back so tenderly, arranging her dark skirts, her pockets full of lichens and seeds. I slept as never before, a stone on the riverbed, nothing between me and the white fire of the stars but my thoughts, and they floated light as moths among the branches of the perfect trees. All night I heard the small kingdoms breathing around me, the insects, and the birds who do their work in the darkness. All night I rose and fell, as if in water, grappling with a luminous doom. By morning I had vanished at least a dozen times Into something better.