CREATE YOUR RETREAT
Once you have committed yourself to a contemplative retreat, you are already on your way!
This is an amazing commitment in and of itself.
Here you will find some tools to help you go deeper into your retreat and avoid any pitfalls preventing you from getting the most out of your retreat.
We have created a system with four components, so your retreat greatly impacts your life. The four components are:
1. PLEDGE
2. PROGRAM / RETREAT PLANNER
3. INSIGHTS and
4. INTEGRATION after the retreat.
A PLEDGE FOR YOUR RETREAT
After facilitating many retreats for participants from all walks of life over the years, I found that many people do not complete their self-guided retreat or carry it out as intended. This is quite natural and nothing to be concerned or guilty about. If the time has come to end your retreat early, you want to wonder whether this arises from restlessness or if it is just time to complete. Thoughts of leaving retreat early, checking our devices or even reading a book can be alluring when we are in retreat. Anything external to us becomes very interesting.
Although it is important not to push too hard, it is important to notice our compulsions and if we are acting from a reactive compulsion to stay the course we had initially intended.
It is for this reason that we recommend making a PLEDGE. This is a simple written agreement you make about how long you will retreat for and how many hours a day you will dedicate to your practice or intention of the retreat.
You can set up your schedule and intentions as you see fit.
We recommend sharing it with someone before your retreat.
You are very welcome to share your pledge with us. Otherwise, we recommend a trusted friend or family member who is sincerely interested in your journey and will hold you accountable for what you have set up.
SAMPLE PLEDGE
Here are a few sample pledges - please alter them to your specific needs:
Sample 1:
"I am going to do a solo retreat for five days. At this time, I won't be using my digital devices other than for ten mins each day at eight am. I will check on my family and urgent matters. After this, I will put my phone on silent mode and only check the front screen once at one pm and once before sleep at nine pm.
In the five days, I will practice eight hours daily with intentional meditation practice.
I am trusting this to you to hold me accountable and would appreciate your checking in with me at the end of my retreat to check in with me to see how I have gone with this."
Sample 2
"I am doing a seven-day solo retreat, during which I would like to write music for six hours daily. I will only use my electronic device for this purpose; otherwise, it will be on aeroplane mode."
Sample 3
I will spend six days in a meditation retreat with no device and practice nine hours daily.
SHARE RETREAT PLEDGE with us before you start your retreat.
RETREAT PLAN
We encourage people to have a plan when embarking on a solo retreat.
While for some, that's what you need, if you want to go deeper into your practice or a particular aspect of your life- we recommend setting up a retreat plan. These can be as loose or strict as you see fit. It is important to be open-minded to your set schedule and flexible if needed.
It is recommended to contemplate or practice at sunrise and sunset. These two times of the day can be incredibly potent, and we encourage you to include them in your daily practice.
If you are doing a lot of meditation during the retreat - it can be a good idea to oscillate between sitting meditation and walking meditation practice. I generally do one session of each and alternate. Another combination can be 40 mins of sitting meditation and 15 mins of walking meditation with a 5 min bathroom break. I have done this type of plan on going for hours and hours in long retreats. Feel into what works for you.
SAMPLE RETREAT PLAN
Sunrise - First practice session for the day
7 - 8 Morning Practice or exercise or journaling session
8 - 9 Breakfast
9 - Noon Practice
Noon - 2:30 Lunch/Rest/reflection/ journalling session
2:30 - 4:30 Practice
4:30 - 5 Tea/journal session
5:00 - 6:30 Sunset Practice
6:30 - 7:30 Supper
7:30 - 8:30 Practice
8.30 - 9 Final journaling session before sleep
We also encourage you to SHARE RETREAT PLAN with us or a trusted friend. Create a simple plan and share it now.
INSIGHTS DURING RETREAT
When we take time to be with ourselves and get quiet, things will come up that need to be looked at - this is inevitable and a great moment.
These are the "jewels" of our retreat. They can be "uncomfortable confrontations", and they can also be "insights of clarity". Both of these are very useful in clearing our way forward and our unique self-expression of life once we are out of retreat.
After hosting many solo retreats for fellow contemplatives, it is clear that although we all can have valuable insights or have important issues come to the surface, we cannot always digest them holistically back into our daily lives and shift things that need to be changed.
The best method to do this is to note them down and see that they are part of our subconscious experience and in a sense, running our lives. In other words, we need to be aware that these are key factors that control our daily thoughts, habits and, therefore, our lives.
We have created an INSIGHTS JOURNAL so that all this can be noted holistically and concisely. Please download it and print it out so you can work through it when you are on retreat.
Here is a simple template for your INSIGHTS JOURNAL - write it on a note pad ahead of time and fill it out during your journalling session each day:
After day 1 of my solo retreat my insights about my self and life situation are:
After having found these insights I am wanting to make the following shifts in my life experience
After day 2 of my retreat my insights about myself and my life situation are:
After having found these insights I am wanting to make the following shifts in my life experience
And repeat this for every day of your retreat
INTEGRATING RETREAT
What is the point of retreating and having some important insights if we do not integrate them into our daily lives?
This is where our inner journeys' fruits can be expressed and felt in our daily experiences. Integrating these insights changes our life trajectory and, therefore, our life experience.
Integration is bringing these insights into our awareness of every moment so that as things happen in front of us we can react differently and from a more centred place. It requires us to continuously check in and be vigilant with our findings on retreat to stay on the "razor's edge" of the truth we have touched.
In this sense, we are becoming a new and more finely tuned version of ourselves, more aware of the subconscious patterns that are running us unknowingly, and more able to "free will" what seems to be happening to us.
Answer the following questions before you leave your retreat and keep them as a compass until your next retreat.
My insight from day 1 which is ................... has revealed to me that I am subconsciously run by ...
This comes alive in my life when...............
I usually react to this by ................
I will now make a promise to myself to be aware of this and react differently by...
Do this with every insight you have and write corresponding answers to each.
Cope and paste this into your journal ahead of time so you can write out the answers as they come up without having a device on retreat (if that is your commitment)
SHARE YOUR ANSWERS with us to help you integrate them into your life.
MEDITATION QUESTIONS FOR RETREAT
If you embark on a solitary MEDITATION retreat, you may want to develop certain aspects of your practice...
Here are some questions you can answer beforehand- before your retreat - if you want to examine them with us.
Why are you drawn to or curious about meditation?
Why do you meditate?
What is it that you find challenging during meditation practice?
What sort of meditation practice have you done in the past?
What has been your experience with meditation practice?
Where would you like your meditation to take you psychologically and spiritually if there were no limitations?
How would you like meditation practice to affect your actual life experience?
What questions do you have about meditation practice?
SHARE YOUR ANSWERS so that we can discuss these things in more detail while you are retreating
SELF DIRECTED QUESTIONS FOR RETREAT
Here are some more general life questions to ponder and journal to get the most out of your retreat regarding self-inquiry and contemplation.
How would you describe yourself?
What are three things you love about yourself?
What are the top three things holding you back in life?
What is the thing you fear the most?
How has this shaped your life?
Describe your life as you would like it to be in five years.
What do you feel is missing in your life at the moment?
What are you most grateful for?
On a good day, you feel...
On a bad day, you feel ...
What is something you are proud of about yourself?
What is something you are ashamed of about yourself?
SHARE YOUR ANSWERS with us ahead of your retreat and we can go deeper together.
CREATING A SACRED SPACE
Creating a sacred space for your retreat can be so beneficial. Initially I wasnt aware of the potency of this and would not do it. It was upon doing a 30 day silent retreat with a dedicated "personal shrine" I realised the potency of this and recommend it.
This can be as simple as lighting a candle before each practice session and having a photo of something that represents something sacred to you or your practicing lineage.
Below are some inspirational shrines from previous guests. The key is to make it personal and meaningful to you so that when you are sitting it invokes deeper layers within your own internal process.