I’ve been thinking on doing a meditation retreat, is there any recommendations? It will be my first retreat. Thank you!
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Watch out! Don’t fall for it. Emerson said it best: Travel is a fool’s paradise. He wrote: “my giant goes with me wherever I go.” The flaw travels because the flaw is the traveler. It’s our privilege that blinds us to think that leaving for a “retreat” would bring us more of anything we want to attain, that cannot be attain right now. Horace: they change their sky, not their soul, who race across the sea. Seneca told a friend who kept booking trips to outrun his misery to change his mind, not his climate.
I just written about this very topic! Strange, I think I was drawn to you for this, but take it or leave it. Travel Doesn't Change You, Only The Jury Waiting For You.
Peace be with you!
Sincerely,
Julius
How exciting that you’re considering your first retreat! Two places we often recommend are HeartDhamma and Dhamma Sukha. You can explore their retreat schedules and see which feels like a good fit for you.
We’ll also be announcing the first FitMind retreat in Mexico soon, so keep an eye on our emails for the details. We’d love to have you join us!
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Thank you Ashley! Looking forward to Mexico 
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Hey Julius, I totally agree with your statement of traveling doesn’t change the person, but I think that’s missing the point. It changes the external stimuli. I have a very recent experience with this as I attended a 9 day seminar in the bay area that was focused on studying one’s ego weaknesses (oversimplification, but enough for this story). It was all day everyday and they were strict about no phones. At the beginning people were complaining about it not needing to be 9 days and could be shorter. And like you implied, the same thing could be done at your home where you live. But what everyone realized was the big “aha” moments only started coming in around days 4-5 because our minds had the time to be fully separate from all the external noise of daily life for that long, clear thinking. I’m sure the same could be applied to meditation and a meditation retreat. For that reason, I am also interested in one.
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Dan, your point about days four and five is a good one. I believe it. But look at what did the work: not the Bay Area, nine days without a phone. That’s half my argument. The leash in our pocket is the problem, not our zip code. Phones used to hang on the kitchen wall. You walked away and they stayed put.
The other half matters just as much to me. When the answer to “how do I clear my head?” becomes “book a retreat,” we’re telling people peace of mind is something you buy. And it’s never just the tuition. Even the free ones aren’t free. There’s the gas, the bus ticket or the flight, and nine or ten days of not working. For a lot of people that’s a missed rent payment. Most folks I know can’t trade a paycheck for a breakthrough.
I’m glad it helped you, honestly. But I don’t want anyone here, especially someone new, walking away thinking clarity belongs to people who can afford to leave. Seneca told his friend to change his mind, not his climate. That was free 2,000 years ago and it’s still free.
So here’s what I’d offer anyone reading: phone in a drawer, in another room, for a weekend. No registration, no travel, no lost wages. Your giant comes along either way, as Emerson said, so you might as well meet him at home.
Sandra, whatever you decide, good luck with your first one.
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I’m very interested in a Fit Mind retreat in Mexico!
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I think that there’s a place and a time for a retreat that requires being away from the home as well as an in-home retreat. Both are valuable.
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I got back from my first retreat just Sunday this past week. It was absolutely life-changing for me. It happened to be a 3 1/2 hour drive from my home which made it really easy to travel for a five day, four night retreat. Once there, I really wanted more than five days, and I’ve already signed up for another one in April that is 10 days. I attended the Dhamma Sukha recommended here and was honored to meet Liam and participate in some guided meditations with him. I’m totally down with a retreat in Mexico!!!
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oh, i totally agree with the one half of what you’re saying in terms of thinking that clarity can only be attained by people who can go on these retreats. It’s supplemental. Makes it easier. Icing on the cake. At the end of the day, all of this is attainable without the retreat.
However, the piece I would push back on is the phone. It’s not that easy. That was their rule at my seminar because that was the last piece of external noise left. I’ll speak for myself here, everyone has their own lives, but my phone isn’t my largest distractor if I were to try to have a multi-day introspective session. It’s constantly dealing with my kids, wife, cooking, cleaning, work, non-stop evening events, driving to hockey, the ever present to do list around the house, etc. There’s 1000’s of things that clog my mind everyday, and bring me stress. These are all the things that melted away when I went to this seminar and allowed my mind to be free. And it took days to do it. This is the primary reason I was interested in meditation to begin with and have really enjoyed FitMind! But I can sign the dotted line to say I would get more out of a meditation retreat than the 10 min a day I spend on FitMind. Again, not necessary, and everyone’s circumstances are different, but the external noise is real and it takes a very powerful (or Fit…ha!) mind to block it out. Kudos to you if you are able to do that. I definitely can’t.
Well, I’m a veteran with two disorders, and a visual artist. My mind goes off planet every single day and twice on Sunday. I’m far from perfect. Meditation is a must but it’s mindfulness that I must practice more so than meditation because of triggers and mania and depression-- oh, my! Aside from each of our conditions, is the consequence of how we are able to maintain, sustain, and contain our inner thoughts from external elements. The caveat is at what cost are we willing to pay for to attain such inner peace? And I have a sneaky feeling that it costs nothing but it’ll take everything. Do you get it? But what do I know --just another cat from Chicago stranded in the East Coast.