February 3, 2025 • 39 mins
In this transformative episode of the Mindfulness Exercises Podcast, Sean Fargo explores the profound impact of retreats on mindfulness practice and teaching. Drawing from his experience as a former Buddhist monk and seasoned mindfulness teacher, Sean shares personal insights on why retreats can be one of the most powerful ways to deepen your mindfulness journey.
Whether you're considering attending your first retreat, leading one, or simply curious about the practice, this episode offers a roadmap for understanding how retreats cultivate inner clarity, self-compassion, and a deeper sense of presence.
What You’ll Discover:
- Why retreats are one of the most effective ways to deepen mindfulness practice.
- How stepping away from daily distractions enhances inner awareness.
- The stages of a retreat experience—from initial resistance to deep transformation.
- Practical tips for preparing for and integrating retreat learnings into daily life.
- The role of gentleness, curiosity, and surrender in retreat practice.
Sean emphasizes that retreats are not about escaping reality, but about coming home to yourself—shedding distractions, breaking mental patterns, and embracing a greater sense of ease and presence.
Timestamps:
[00:01:00] The Transformative Power of Retreats – Why retreats are an essential tool for mindfulness practitioners and teachers.
[00:05:00] Lessons from Silent Retreats – Sean shares experiences from his two years in retreat as a Buddhist monk.
[00:10:00] The Challenge of Stillness – How facing discomfort leads to profound inner breakthroughs.
[00:15:00] Gentle Awareness & Self-Compassion – Learning to meet yourself with kindness during a retreat.
[00:25:00] Common Retreat Structures – Exploring different formats, from silent retreats to at-home retreats.
[00:30:00] Integrating Retreat Lessons into Daily Life – How to transition back into everyday routines with presence and sensitivity.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:09):
Welcome to the Mindfulness Exercises Podcast.
Your space to deepen yourpresence, elevate your
mindfulness teaching, and embodymindfulness with confidence,
authenticity, and integrity.
Join us as we explore insightsand tools to transform lives,
(00:30):
including your own.
Hi, I'm Sean Fargo.
Today we're gonna dive intomaybe my favorite thing as a
mindfulness teacher and alsopractitioner, which is the power
of retreats.
It's probably the mosttransformative practice that we
(00:52):
can undertake as a practitioneror as a teacher.
We're often seeking ways todeepen our practice and support
others on their journeys.
And while daily mindfulnesspractice is essential, there's
something uniquelytransformative about retreats
(01:15):
where we step away from thebusyness of life and really
fully immerse ourselves into adedicated space for practice.
So today I'd like to talk abouta practice that's profoundly
shaped my own journey and thatof countless others.
(01:39):
This practice of going on aretreat.
Whether it's two days or threemonths, where I've done a couple
of three-month silent retreatsas a Buddhist monk.
I was at Spirit Rock MeditationCenter supporting tens of
thousands of people going onretreats just about every week,
(02:03):
and been on many one week andtwo-week retreats, and I would
not be the same person I amwithout them.
And as a mindfulness teacher,they're actually not as
difficult to lead as most peoplethink and are probably the most
(02:23):
rewarding thing that I do.
So whether you've experienced aretreat before or are curious
about what they entail, retreatsoffer a unique opportunity to
cultivate a deeper, moresensitive awareness.
They help us to explore ourinner landscape and find clarity
(02:47):
in ways that are difficult toachieve outside of retreats.
So I hope you enjoy thisepisode.
So without further ado, here wego.
An opportunity for us to talkabout something that's really
important for us as mindfulnesspractitioners and teachers,
which are retreats.
(03:13):
We would do many retreats.
Unfortunately, for a lot of uswho are working professionals
and parents, for those of us whohave limited income and
resources or certain traumasensitivities, retreats aren't
always possible.
In my view, retreats are some ofthe more powerful trainings we
(03:37):
can do for ourselves and forteaching.
So today I'm going to be talkingabout my experience with
retreats.
In a way, I've been on retreatsfor maybe two and a half years
of retreat, formal retreat.
I'll be talking about how theycan be worked with to enhance
(03:58):
our own practice and also ourteaching to help others.
For me, as a mindfulness andmeditation teacher, quite
honestly, they're my favoritething that I do as a
practitioner and as a teacher.
And so some of you may be calledto lead retreats, some of you
(04:19):
may already be leading retreats,some of you may be curious about
whether you can lead a retreator how you might lead a retreat.
Some of you may be just curiousabout being a practitioner in
someone else's retreat orleading your own retreat for
yourself.
This is also very valid.
So we'll be talking about manyof these aspects today.
(04:40):
My mindfulness practice startedin Asia.
I was doing business stuff, wastraveling around Asia, ran into
some Taoist masters and Buddhistmonks and caught the meditation
bug and found it fascinatingthat it was so simple, yet maybe
the hardest thing I'd ever done.
And that combination ofsimplicity and difficulty has
(05:05):
always fascinated me.
I um found uh a teacher who Itrusted, which I think is maybe
the main criteria for saychoosing a teacher.
It's this element of trust.
Do I trust this person?
It may not be the mostentertaining, may not be the
(05:26):
best storyteller, maybe theyare, but do I trust this person?
And largely for me, that trustis based on whether they've
walked the walk with sincerity.
And are they teaching out of asense of compassion?
Or are they teaching, say, fromthe head because they think they
(05:48):
know a lot?
So I found a Taoist teacher whoI could feel in my heart and
trusted them because they haddone a lot of practice.
And once um I had logged enoughhours with them and sitting and
discussion, practice, he invitedme on retreats in northeast
(06:08):
China.
And so we went to varioushermitages and temples for one
to three nights at a time whereI was invited to be a part of
different communities and justpractice, even though I didn't
speak Mandarin.
And they barely spoke English.
(06:28):
As many of you know, asmindfulness teachers, a lot of
what we're teaching, a lot ofwhat we're transmitting is not
solely in our words.
It's are we present and are weneeding this experience with
gentle awareness moment bymoment without say a harsh
(06:49):
expectation or judgment?
Easier said than done.
And on retreats, I kind oflearned this the hard way.
When I first started doing theseretreats in Northeast China, I
didn't really like the food.
You know, it's not like there'sPanda Expresses everywhere where
you can get orange chicken everytime or egg rolls.
(07:11):
You know, to me, it seemed likeboring food.
There are lots of mushrooms, andI really don't like mushrooms,
no TVs, no sports, you know, thebeds are hard.
Usually there's no pillows andyou know, soft blankies, teddy
bears.
You're kind of stuck.
This morning I uh was uh with mydaughter, my five-year-old
(07:34):
daughter, and we're gettingready for to go to school.
And uh I said, um, Sasha, todayI'm gonna be talking with people
about uh meditation, what it'slike to go on retreats.
And she said, What's a retreat?
And I kind of gave her thesimple gist of it, and she's
like, You're going to jail?
(07:56):
Like, no, going to jail.
What do you mean?
She's like, well, you can't goanywhere on retreat.
Like, are they in trouble?
I was a monk for a couple ofyears, and like in my second
year as a monk, it felt likebeing in a monastery as a monk,
(08:17):
in some ways, almost like quoteunquote, worse than a jail.
And I've taught in prisons, andI can go through this analogy a
little bit more, but retreatsare meant to limit our
distractions, they're meant tohelp us understand our own
minds.
And if we're kind of alwaysthinking about entertainment, if
(08:41):
we're constantly listening tomusic, if we have access to
unlimited podcasts and dinners,you know, a lot of retreat
centers don't serve dinner, orif they do, it's a very, very,
very simple dinner, then we maybe missing out on being with
(09:03):
ourselves and tuning into theworkings of our patterns, our
mental patterns, and noticingwhat it what are my patterns?
And it's extremely difficult,especially in the beginning, at
least for most people, to removedistractions and have this
(09:24):
constant invitation to bringgentle awareness to each
moment's experience.
So when I was traveling aroundNortheast China with this Taoist
hermit, it was very difficultfor me to accept that lifestyle.
I would judge it as beingboring, dogmatic, because
(09:47):
there's different traditionsthat each temple or monastery or
hermitage would follow.
And it's like, well, it seems alittle rigid, seems a lot
necessary.
I would plan, you know, what Iwould do when I got back home.
I'm gonna go, you know, when Iget back to Beijing, I'm gonna
go to Outback Steakhouse.
(10:08):
You know, I'm gonna meet up withcertain friends, wonder how that
girl's doing.
You know, wonder what kind ofmovies are out.
In some ways, I think what I wasdoing was kind of in this, it
felt um kind of like romantic ina way to be in isolated
hermitages and mountain ranges Ihad never heard of before.
(10:32):
But there were moments in theseretreats that felt extremely
cleansing, illuminating, becauseas difficult as they were, if I
just kind of sat with thosefantasies, those judgments, and
kind of have a perspective ofwhat my mind was doing in the
(10:56):
midst of this very simple work.
I would inevitably kind of reachthe other side.
I would have this gentleawareness of what my mind was
doing, and then I would learnhow to surrender to it and
understand, yes, that's what mymind is doing, but I don't
(11:16):
necessarily have to believethese thoughts.
I can sense into the sufferingof that itself with a sense of
gentleness and learn how tobring self-compassion to myself
in those moments of sufferingand breathe and allow myself to
feel these feelings and in a wayjust surrender to them without
(11:38):
identifying with them and thenbe curious about what's coming
now.
And I start to feel a sense offreedom and agency, since that I
can choose to say not be avictim of this, but I can choose
how to respond.
(11:58):
So it's not that retreats areinherently suffering, but if we
remove all of our normal habitsthat we think we need to be
happy, we learn that we don'tneed all those things to be
happy.
Retreats aren't retreating fromreality, they're retreating
(12:19):
from, say, distractions or sayhow we've set our life up that
enables a lot of distractions.
But in a way, retreats areactually kind of the opposite,
they're coming home to ourhearts, to ourselves, where we
shed some of the unhelpfulpatterns of our life because we
(12:44):
start to see through them and webreak various addictions of
mind, or at least we start tounravel them a little bit.
Um, I'd like to read a quotethat um Rumi said your task is
not to seek for love, but merelyto seek and find all the
(13:06):
barriers within yourself thatyou have built against it.
Your task is not to seek forlove, but merely to seek and
find all the barriers withinyourself that you have built
against it.
One of the powers of retreats isto sense into our patterns, our
(13:27):
habits of how we might judge,how we might guard our heart
from ourselves or from others.
In my view, that love is alreadywithin us.
It's not something we have tonecessarily cultivate, although
I believe in cultivating senseof care, but a lot of that is by
(13:49):
noticing what gets in the way ofthat care, that joy, that sense
of ease.
You know, so for a lot of a lotof us on retreats, we might need
a couple boxes of tissues, maybea teddy bear, maybe a good
(14:11):
friend or a teacher who canremind us that we're okay, that
any shame that comes up can bemet with care, that it's okay to
cry, it's okay to grieve, it'sokay to forgive.
This is a lot of what happens inthe first few days of a retreat
(14:31):
for most people.
Is it's kind of this difficultterritory.
It's not for everybody, but formost people, these first two to
three days are the difficultjourney of meeting some of the
stickiness of like, oh, I, youknow, why can't I go anywhere?
What am I doing?
This place sucks.
This teacher doesn't know whatthey're saying.
(14:54):
I'm not good enough to do this,I'm not strong enough.
This is boring.
Can't wait to get out of here.
And then usually after thesecond or third day, light
usually comes and we start tofind that freedom that I
mentioned.
(15:17):
That after several days ofretreat, you know, if you have a
before and after picture ofretreatance, the before picture
is like people are tired,they're exhausted, they're a
little guarded, they're haggard,or they're scared.
(15:38):
You know, after the third,fourth, fifth plus day.
Oh wow, like open.
They feel rejuvenated.
They can't wait to you know livethis way in the real world, so
(16:01):
to speak, where things aresimple, things are clear, very
in tune with the energy in andaround them.
But these retreats are what kindof convinced me to choose to
become a Buddhist monk, where Iwas basically living on retreat
for a couple years.
Um, and each of those two years,there were three months of
(16:24):
complete silence and just full,full retreat mode.
The other nine months of eachyear were dedicated towards
cultivation of eitherconcentration or mindfulness in
different ways.
And then after I was a monk, Iworked at Spirit Rock Meditation
Center for five years and wenton lots of retreats there and
(16:47):
supported retreat and there.
One of the more common questionsI get is you know, how do you
prepare for a retreat?
One sound piece of advice is totry not to have any expectations
because you don't know what'sgonna come.
Every retreat is very different.
Sometimes things from childhoodcome up.
(17:09):
Sometimes, you know, if youthink it's gonna be difficult,
sometimes it's the exactopposite, and vice versa.
But if you have expectations,then that might limit your
ability to actually be presentfor the mystery of what happens.
And quite honestly, that's oneof the common hindrances to what
(17:32):
it's like to be a mindfulnessteacher.
When we put on the teacher hat,it can be very easy to think we
know what's happening, we knowwhat people are experiencing, we
know what's right for them.
This is how they this is whatthey should do, this is how I
should be.
And that can get very stickyvery quickly.
(17:54):
It's not to say that we can'ttrust our own wisdom or the
wisdom of the practice, but ifwe start to have expectations
and we think we know what'scoming, that limits our ability
to actually be present, teachwith presence and care in
(18:16):
meeting whatever comes together.
So whether we're a practitioneror a teacher, it's very helpful
to notice whether we have anyexpectations and see if we can
soften them a little bit and seeif we can kind of open to or
surrender to some of the mysteryof what may happen or what has
(18:43):
happened.
And so um, Sharon Salzberg talksa lot about this gentle
awareness.
I think that's her latest sortof definition of mindfulness.
I haven't asked her thatdirectly, but it's it seems like
she's using that phrase quite abit.
Jet Cornfield and Ram Das haveused loving awareness quite a
(19:07):
bit.
I like this like sense ofgentleness.
As a practitioner or as a, andespecially as a teacher in
retreats, it's really helpful toremind ourselves to be gentle.
Because retreats are alreadyhard.
Can we meet that difficulty withgentleness?
(19:28):
Some of you may be very fond offierce compassion, which which I
am very fond of that.
And I think that for mostpeople, especially on retreats,
a more gentle approach can behelpful because sometimes that
ferocity can be a bit much forsome people when they're already
(19:52):
going through withdrawals.
So I think gentleness can bereally helpful.
Let's talk about um, say,agendas of retreats and types of
retreats for a moment.
You know, there's usually noright or wrong or um a retreat
agenda or structure.
(20:12):
I've seen many different kindsum at Spirit Rock, kind of one
of the leading meditationcenters in the world.
A lot of the top Westernteachers teach there, but
TikNathan is taught there, andlots of esteemed teachers.
Typically, they'll be betweenthree to ten nights.
(20:35):
Usually they have you knowaccommodation.
I'm not like promoting spiritrock, but I'm just sharing like
a common structure.
But um the way they do it isit'll be three to ten nights.
You have breakfast and lunch anddinner there, very, very simple,
clean food.
(20:55):
But you wake up in the morningum and uh go to the retreat hall
where you all practice togetherbetween 50 to 100 people with
usually four or five seniorteachers on hand.
You'll say meditate together,quiet as the sun's rising, say
(21:18):
it's 7 a.m., give or take.
Um, and then there might be likeoatmeal served in the dining
hall.
It's all in silence, except forteachers teaching from time to
time.
Um, you there usually will be acommon theme around you know
where to bring your awarenessto, whether it's in certain
(21:40):
parts of the body, heart, um,maybe cultivating love,
compassion, joy, equanimity,forgiveness, gratitude, or
generosity.
Maybe it's cultivatingconcentration.
Oftentimes there's mindfulmovement retreats where you
bring mindfulness to certainmovements.
(22:02):
I am one.
Anyway, so you'll do like amorning meditation, then maybe
go get some breakfast insilence.
Um, maybe go back to your dorm,maybe take a shower, clean your
room, go back to the meditationhall and sit for another 45
minutes.
(22:24):
Maybe an hour of mindfulwalking, or you can walk indoors
or outdoors, paying attention tothe sensations of the bottoms of
your feet as you move.
Go back to the meditation hallfor another 45 minutes.
You basically keep toggling backand forth between mindful
walking, mindful sitting.
(22:46):
Maybe you might have anafternoon interview with one of
your teachers, either in privateor with a small cohort, have
another meal, anothermeditation.
Maybe there's an hour-long talkto help you, support you at
night, where the teacher mightshare some wisdom, some stories,
(23:11):
some support, anothermeditation, and then sleep.
You basically repeat that.
Other meditation centers mightum have very unstructured time
where you can kind of choosewhat you want to do.
There's a meditation hall overthere when you want it.
There's a walking path over hereunder the redwood trees if you
(23:35):
want that.
You can be in your dorm and laydown and nap.
Here's a yoga studio.
You know, you can do yoga.
I recommend home retreats whereyou create your own structure at
home.
And tell your loved ones or yourfamily, look, I'm gonna be kind
(23:57):
of in my room or in the garageor hotel or something for a
little bit.
I'm gonna be limitingconversation to what's
necessary, you know, no screens,no books, maybe a journal, uh,
just for a few bullet pointseach day, no music.
(24:21):
Everyone has different takes onyou know whether they allow
music or screens or books orjournals.
Again, there's no right or wrongwith this.
My personal preference is tolimit those things as much as
possible.
(24:42):
In many traditions, those thingsare called golden handcuffs,
that they're shiny and gold inthe sense that like they seem
like they would be helpful, theyseem like they would be
supportive of the retreat.
It's a book on meditation, it'sa journal about how I'm doing,
(25:03):
it's music that's soothing.
Again, there's nothing wrongwith it.
And if the intention is tounderstand the mind and to be as
present as possible, and I'm notsaying that's the best intention
or the only intention, but ifthat's the intention, then
(25:27):
journals, books, music canhandcuff you, like keep you away
from exploring what the mind isdoing right now.
Um, there was one retreat inparticular I was doing, this was
after I was a monastic.
It was a I think it was atwo-week retreat at Spirit Rock,
(25:48):
and I was journaling a lot.
And I was like, wow, this is soprofound.
I'm like really uncovering somany truths here and learning so
much.
I might write a book on this.
This is amazing.
I can't wait to share this.
This is great.
And I uh and I brought it to oneof my uh interviews with one of
(26:13):
my senior teachers.
They said, Sean, like whenyou're writing this, how much
are you like in your head?
Analyzing, thinking, figuringeverything out, or how much are
you actually present in anembodied, open, heartfelt way?
(26:34):
He's like, ah, I mean, I'm so inmy head.
And usually this is very common,usually for people, like when
they leave the retreat and thenthey go back to read their
journals, a lot of people arekind of embarrassed.
Like, I thought that wasprofound.
Like that seems so obvious orself-indulgent, or I'm not
(27:01):
saying that's always the case,but but we can use these things,
music, journals, books, asdistractions themselves, even if
they seem forward-leaningleading.
So just to be careful of thatand notice, you know, am I using
this to distract myself, or isit actually part of the overall
(27:22):
intention that I set for myselfin this retreat?
So they can be helpful ifthey're part of your core
intention, but um, I generallyprefer to limit those things
because I tend to transform moreby trying to be as present as
(27:43):
possible, which for me isharder, and that's where a lot
of the healing comes in.
One of the most underlookedthings for um practitioners and
also teachers is that at the endof a retreat, we're extremely,
we're usually extremelysensitive.
(28:05):
We open our senses, we noticemore nuance of what's happening
inside us and what's around us.
We notice sounds more clearly,smells, you know, our senses are
heightened, we can taste thingsmore clearly because we're
really present.
(28:26):
Our hearts are usually a littlebit more open.
There's a sensitivity that'scultivated, whether we know it
or not.
And so when we leave a retreatand go back into society, big
city, uh, you know, back home,and we're met with so much
(28:50):
stimuli, and we notice umdifferent energies of people
around us, um, it can beshocking to our systems, to our
nervous systems, and it's kindof like a culture shock um for
(29:16):
many most people, and so it'sreally important that after a
retreat to try to buffer in asmuch time as possible in nature
by oneself, it's important tohave boundaries that if there's
some very strong overwhelmingenergy of people around us or
(29:42):
yeah, energy around us that wetake care of ourselves and we
put up boundaries in a caringway.
But we need to protect ourselvesand to notice um the working.
Of our mind after a retreat.
(30:03):
Because that can be just asvaluable as what we notice
during the retreat.
How do we relate to people thatI haven't noticed before?
How do I relate to my work thatmaybe I wasn't really allowing
myself to notice?
(30:24):
Good or bad.
How do I relate to myself in myhouse, in my neighborhood?
What comes up for me?
But uh remember that thatsensitivity is normal, that
there should be a transitionperiod after a retreat.
I say should, but it's helpfulif there's a trend transition
(30:48):
period after the retreat thatallows you some space to enter
back into normal life slowly sothat you're not totally
overwhelmed and flooded, andthen um everyone's wondering
what's with them.
No, I thought they just went ona retreat and now they can't
(31:11):
handle being back home.
The first year is in a monasterywhere we woke up at I want to
say 5 30, and then the thesecond year was like closer to 5
or 4 30 or something.
And I really disliked it, and Ifound it really helpful.
You know, some of my more likedelicious meditation sessions
(31:33):
were early, early in themorning.
I think partly because I didn'thave that hindrance of like
flurry of activity in the mind.
You know, it's more like on theslow side, but it was also like
there was a sense of calmness,and there can be a nice sense of
peace, you know, before you knowthe city wakes up before the
(31:58):
roosters crow, before thepeacocks are peacocking, just
kind of sense into the stillnessof early dawn.
So I think it can be veryvaluable in that way and can
start help people start a habitof meditating first thing when
they wake up, which is it can bea very valuable time for
(32:19):
people's routines.
You know, maybe wake up a littlebit early before you have your
coffee and wake up the kids andput on the you know, work
clothes or whatever, just tohave some time to settle and to
be before you start doing.
Same for late at night as well.
Similar, you know, it can be agreat segue into sleep just to
(32:43):
help you process the day, noticewhat you're carrying and your,
you know, your being, practicebeing, settle.
I keep threatening to do this,but as I said, like some of my
favorite teachers are oractually all my favorite
teachers are very organic andthey toggle be between
profundity and humor.
(33:04):
And again, they're not crackingjokes per se, but they're they
can be very humorous and likesomething occurs to them that
makes them laugh and they startgiggling.
And I love that.
I love like laughing and feelingsuper connected in the same set
meditation session.
Those are like, we'll justrepeat that on a desert island
forever.
One of my favorite books is abook called Food for the Heart,
(33:29):
and it's a transcription ofteachings from uh an old monk
master named Ajahn Cha.
And Ajahn Cha was uh JackCornfield's teacher, he was my
teacher's teachers or teacher,but he was basically this, but
Ajahn Cha was very famous forbeing very organic, and uh he um
(33:54):
would not have anything planned,and he was very direct, he had a
sense of humor, but he would gointo a session and not tell
anybody, much less know himselfhow long the meditation session
was gonna be, or he would gointo some teachings and not tell
(34:16):
anybody, or even know himselfhow long he was gonna talk for.
Sometimes it'd be five minutes,sometimes he would have everyone
there all night, like until 3a.m.
And that that was actually oneof my practices as a monk was
every um like full moon and newmoon, we would meditate until 3
(34:36):
a.m.
Um, but with Ajahn Cha, itwasn't planned, it was just like
you have no idea what's coming.
You might speak for five minutesand then meditate for five
hours, you might talk for 10minutes and then you leave.
Zero clue.
And that was part of theteaching itself of uncertainty,
(34:59):
just meeting each moment withouthaving any expectation of what
was going to come next.
You might have hopes.
Well, what does it feel like tohave those hopes?
Am I clinging to those hopes?
So, you know, that was part ofhis genius in teaching is that
(35:21):
there was no say expectation orlike box that he would put his
teachings in.
It was very uncertain, which iskind of the whole point of
mindfulness practice, is to beable to be with uncertainty.
(35:46):
Can I feel safe withuncertainty?
Can I feel connected withuncertainty?
And so that was like baked intohis teachings and his
leadership.
It was like everything isuncertain.
(36:07):
I might send this monk to adifferent monastery and give him
five minutes notice.
I might say, okay, we're gonnafast for three days with no
notice.
We might walk um 20 miles overthe course of three days with an
alms bowl and an extra set ofrobes with no notice.
(36:31):
I'm not saying that we all needto do these extreme things, but
you know, with three treats, Ithink it's um it can be helpful
to have kind of a structure, youknow, we're gonna meet at this
time, whether it's early or not.
And sometimes we can surprisepeople and bake that into part
of the process if we feel likewe're doing it out of compassion
(36:54):
and not just to mess withpeople, you know, if there's
kind of a purpose behind thisand some gentleness around it,
but we can kind of togglebetween kind of adhering to form
and breaking form out of as asense of like growing to be able
to be with uncertainty.
As we reflect on the retreatexperience, it's important to
(37:17):
recognize that retreats are notabout retreating from reality.
They're actually the opposite.
They're about coming home toourselves.
They give us the space to sheddistractions, meet our minds
with brutal honesty, and explorethe patterns that shape our
(37:39):
thoughts, our emotions, ourbehaviors.
For those of you consideringattending or leading a retreat,
remember that each retreat is ajourney of its own.
It's an opportunity to let go ofany expectations, to embrace the
mystery of the experience, andallow whatever arises to guide
(38:04):
your journey and your growth.
Whether you're a structuredretreat, whether you're on a
structured retreat, at ameditation center, or creating
your own retreat at home, or ata cabin somewhere, the key is to
bring gentleness and curiosityto the process.
(38:25):
By meeting each moment as it is,we open the door to this
profound transformation thattakes place.
Even though it can be reallyhard, we usually feel much
lighter and freer by the end.
Not just during the retreat, butin the way that you approach
life afterwards.
(38:46):
Thank you for joining me in thisexploration of the power of
retreats.
Whether you're a practitioner ora teacher, or someone just
curious about the practice,retreats offer a profound way to
deepen your connection withyourself and the present moment.
If this episode resonated withyou, we'd be grateful for a
(39:08):
five-star review.
And if you'd like to sharemindfulness with others, please
check out our mindfulnessmeditation teacher certification
at mindfulnessercises.com slashcertify.
Until next time, stay present,stay grounded, and continue
showing up with authenticity andcompassion.
(39:32):
Thank you for listening.
Welcome to the Mindfulness Exercises Podcast.
Your space to deepen yourpresence, elevate your
mindfulness teaching, and embodymindfulness with confidence,
authenticity, and integrity.
Join us as we explore insightsand tools to transform lives,
(00:30):
including your own.
Hi, I'm Sean Fargo.
Today we're gonna dive intomaybe my favorite thing as a
mindfulness teacher and alsopractitioner, which is the power
of retreats.
It's probably the mosttransformative practice that we
(00:52):
can undertake as a practitioneror as a teacher.
We're often seeking ways todeepen our practice and support
others on their journeys.
And while daily mindfulnesspractice is essential, there's
something uniquelytransformative about retreats
(01:15):
where we step away from thebusyness of life and really
fully immerse ourselves into adedicated space for practice.
So today I'd like to talk abouta practice that's profoundly
shaped my own journey and thatof countless others.
(01:39):
This practice of going on aretreat.
Whether it's two days or threemonths, where I've done a couple
of three-month silent retreatsas a Buddhist monk.
I was at Spirit Rock MeditationCenter supporting tens of
thousands of people going onretreats just about every week,
(02:03):
and been on many one week andtwo-week retreats, and I would
not be the same person I amwithout them.
And as a mindfulness teacher,they're actually not as
difficult to lead as most peoplethink and are probably the most
(02:23):
rewarding thing that I do.
So whether you've experienced aretreat before or are curious
about what they entail, retreatsoffer a unique opportunity to
cultivate a deeper, moresensitive awareness.
They help us to explore ourinner landscape and find clarity
(02:47):
in ways that are difficult toachieve outside of retreats.
So I hope you enjoy thisepisode.
So without further ado, here wego.
An opportunity for us to talkabout something that's really
important for us as mindfulnesspractitioners and teachers,
which are retreats.
(03:13):
We would do many retreats.
Unfortunately, for a lot of uswho are working professionals
and parents, for those of us whohave limited income and
resources or certain traumasensitivities, retreats aren't
always possible.
In my view, retreats are some ofthe more powerful trainings we
(03:37):
can do for ourselves and forteaching.
So today I'm going to be talkingabout my experience with
retreats.
In a way, I've been on retreatsfor maybe two and a half years
of retreat, formal retreat.
I'll be talking about how theycan be worked with to enhance
(03:58):
our own practice and also ourteaching to help others.
For me, as a mindfulness andmeditation teacher, quite
honestly, they're my favoritething that I do as a
practitioner and as a teacher.
And so some of you may be calledto lead retreats, some of you
(04:19):
may already be leading retreats,some of you may be curious about
whether you can lead a retreator how you might lead a retreat.
Some of you may be just curiousabout being a practitioner in
someone else's retreat orleading your own retreat for
yourself.
This is also very valid.
So we'll be talking about manyof these aspects today.
(04:40):
My mindfulness practice startedin Asia.
I was doing business stuff, wastraveling around Asia, ran into
some Taoist masters and Buddhistmonks and caught the meditation
bug and found it fascinatingthat it was so simple, yet maybe
the hardest thing I'd ever done.
And that combination ofsimplicity and difficulty has
(05:05):
always fascinated me.
I um found uh a teacher who Itrusted, which I think is maybe
the main criteria for saychoosing a teacher.
It's this element of trust.
Do I trust this person?
It may not be the mostentertaining, may not be the
(05:26):
best storyteller, maybe theyare, but do I trust this person?
And largely for me, that trustis based on whether they've
walked the walk with sincerity.
And are they teaching out of asense of compassion?
Or are they teaching, say, fromthe head because they think they
(05:48):
know a lot?
So I found a Taoist teacher whoI could feel in my heart and
trusted them because they haddone a lot of practice.
And once um I had logged enoughhours with them and sitting and
discussion, practice, he invitedme on retreats in northeast
(06:08):
China.
And so we went to varioushermitages and temples for one
to three nights at a time whereI was invited to be a part of
different communities and justpractice, even though I didn't
speak Mandarin.
And they barely spoke English.
(06:28):
As many of you know, asmindfulness teachers, a lot of
what we're teaching, a lot ofwhat we're transmitting is not
solely in our words.
It's are we present and are weneeding this experience with
gentle awareness moment bymoment without say a harsh
(06:49):
expectation or judgment?
Easier said than done.
And on retreats, I kind oflearned this the hard way.
When I first started doing theseretreats in Northeast China, I
didn't really like the food.
You know, it's not like there'sPanda Expresses everywhere where
you can get orange chicken everytime or egg rolls.
(07:11):
You know, to me, it seemed likeboring food.
There are lots of mushrooms, andI really don't like mushrooms,
no TVs, no sports, you know, thebeds are hard.
Usually there's no pillows andyou know, soft blankies, teddy
bears.
You're kind of stuck.
This morning I uh was uh with mydaughter, my five-year-old
(07:34):
daughter, and we're gettingready for to go to school.
And uh I said, um, Sasha, todayI'm gonna be talking with people
about uh meditation, what it'slike to go on retreats.
And she said, What's a retreat?
And I kind of gave her thesimple gist of it, and she's
like, You're going to jail?
(07:56):
Like, no, going to jail.
What do you mean?
She's like, well, you can't goanywhere on retreat.
Like, are they in trouble?
I was a monk for a couple ofyears, and like in my second
year as a monk, it felt likebeing in a monastery as a monk,
(08:17):
in some ways, almost like quoteunquote, worse than a jail.
And I've taught in prisons, andI can go through this analogy a
little bit more, but retreatsare meant to limit our
distractions, they're meant tohelp us understand our own
minds.
And if we're kind of alwaysthinking about entertainment, if
(08:41):
we're constantly listening tomusic, if we have access to
unlimited podcasts and dinners,you know, a lot of retreat
centers don't serve dinner, orif they do, it's a very, very,
very simple dinner, then we maybe missing out on being with
(09:03):
ourselves and tuning into theworkings of our patterns, our
mental patterns, and noticingwhat it what are my patterns?
And it's extremely difficult,especially in the beginning, at
least for most people, to removedistractions and have this
(09:24):
constant invitation to bringgentle awareness to each
moment's experience.
So when I was traveling aroundNortheast China with this Taoist
hermit, it was very difficultfor me to accept that lifestyle.
I would judge it as beingboring, dogmatic, because
(09:47):
there's different traditionsthat each temple or monastery or
hermitage would follow.
And it's like, well, it seems alittle rigid, seems a lot
necessary.
I would plan, you know, what Iwould do when I got back home.
I'm gonna go, you know, when Iget back to Beijing, I'm gonna
go to Outback Steakhouse.
(10:08):
You know, I'm gonna meet up withcertain friends, wonder how that
girl's doing.
You know, wonder what kind ofmovies are out.
In some ways, I think what I wasdoing was kind of in this, it
felt um kind of like romantic ina way to be in isolated
hermitages and mountain ranges Ihad never heard of before.
(10:32):
But there were moments in theseretreats that felt extremely
cleansing, illuminating, becauseas difficult as they were, if I
just kind of sat with thosefantasies, those judgments, and
kind of have a perspective ofwhat my mind was doing in the
(10:56):
midst of this very simple work.
I would inevitably kind of reachthe other side.
I would have this gentleawareness of what my mind was
doing, and then I would learnhow to surrender to it and
understand, yes, that's what mymind is doing, but I don't
(11:16):
necessarily have to believethese thoughts.
I can sense into the sufferingof that itself with a sense of
gentleness and learn how tobring self-compassion to myself
in those moments of sufferingand breathe and allow myself to
feel these feelings and in a wayjust surrender to them without
(11:38):
identifying with them and thenbe curious about what's coming
now.
And I start to feel a sense offreedom and agency, since that I
can choose to say not be avictim of this, but I can choose
how to respond.
(11:58):
So it's not that retreats areinherently suffering, but if we
remove all of our normal habitsthat we think we need to be
happy, we learn that we don'tneed all those things to be
happy.
Retreats aren't retreating fromreality, they're retreating
(12:19):
from, say, distractions or sayhow we've set our life up that
enables a lot of distractions.
But in a way, retreats areactually kind of the opposite,
they're coming home to ourhearts, to ourselves, where we
shed some of the unhelpfulpatterns of our life because we
(12:44):
start to see through them and webreak various addictions of
mind, or at least we start tounravel them a little bit.
Um, I'd like to read a quotethat um Rumi said your task is
not to seek for love, but merelyto seek and find all the
(13:06):
barriers within yourself thatyou have built against it.
Your task is not to seek forlove, but merely to seek and
find all the barriers withinyourself that you have built
against it.
One of the powers of retreats isto sense into our patterns, our
(13:27):
habits of how we might judge,how we might guard our heart
from ourselves or from others.
In my view, that love is alreadywithin us.
It's not something we have tonecessarily cultivate, although
I believe in cultivating senseof care, but a lot of that is by
(13:49):
noticing what gets in the way ofthat care, that joy, that sense
of ease.
You know, so for a lot of a lotof us on retreats, we might need
a couple boxes of tissues, maybea teddy bear, maybe a good
(14:11):
friend or a teacher who canremind us that we're okay, that
any shame that comes up can bemet with care, that it's okay to
cry, it's okay to grieve, it'sokay to forgive.
This is a lot of what happens inthe first few days of a retreat
(14:31):
for most people.
Is it's kind of this difficultterritory.
It's not for everybody, but formost people, these first two to
three days are the difficultjourney of meeting some of the
stickiness of like, oh, I, youknow, why can't I go anywhere?
What am I doing?
This place sucks.
This teacher doesn't know whatthey're saying.
(14:54):
I'm not good enough to do this,I'm not strong enough.
This is boring.
Can't wait to get out of here.
And then usually after thesecond or third day, light
usually comes and we start tofind that freedom that I
mentioned.
(15:17):
That after several days ofretreat, you know, if you have a
before and after picture ofretreatance, the before picture
is like people are tired,they're exhausted, they're a
little guarded, they're haggard,or they're scared.
(15:38):
You know, after the third,fourth, fifth plus day.
Oh wow, like open.
They feel rejuvenated.
They can't wait to you know livethis way in the real world, so
(16:01):
to speak, where things aresimple, things are clear, very
in tune with the energy in andaround them.
But these retreats are what kindof convinced me to choose to
become a Buddhist monk, where Iwas basically living on retreat
for a couple years.
Um, and each of those two years,there were three months of
(16:24):
complete silence and just full,full retreat mode.
The other nine months of eachyear were dedicated towards
cultivation of eitherconcentration or mindfulness in
different ways.
And then after I was a monk, Iworked at Spirit Rock Meditation
Center for five years and wenton lots of retreats there and
(16:47):
supported retreat and there.
One of the more common questionsI get is you know, how do you
prepare for a retreat?
One sound piece of advice is totry not to have any expectations
because you don't know what'sgonna come.
Every retreat is very different.
Sometimes things from childhoodcome up.
(17:09):
Sometimes, you know, if youthink it's gonna be difficult,
sometimes it's the exactopposite, and vice versa.
But if you have expectations,then that might limit your
ability to actually be presentfor the mystery of what happens.
And quite honestly, that's oneof the common hindrances to what
(17:32):
it's like to be a mindfulnessteacher.
When we put on the teacher hat,it can be very easy to think we
know what's happening, we knowwhat people are experiencing, we
know what's right for them.
This is how they this is whatthey should do, this is how I
should be.
And that can get very stickyvery quickly.
(17:54):
It's not to say that we can'ttrust our own wisdom or the
wisdom of the practice, but ifwe start to have expectations
and we think we know what'scoming, that limits our ability
to actually be present, teachwith presence and care in
(18:16):
meeting whatever comes together.
So whether we're a practitioneror a teacher, it's very helpful
to notice whether we have anyexpectations and see if we can
soften them a little bit and seeif we can kind of open to or
surrender to some of the mysteryof what may happen or what has
(18:43):
happened.
And so um, Sharon Salzberg talksa lot about this gentle
awareness.
I think that's her latest sortof definition of mindfulness.
I haven't asked her thatdirectly, but it's it seems like
she's using that phrase quite abit.
Jet Cornfield and Ram Das haveused loving awareness quite a
(19:07):
bit.
I like this like sense ofgentleness.
As a practitioner or as a, andespecially as a teacher in
retreats, it's really helpful toremind ourselves to be gentle.
Because retreats are alreadyhard.
Can we meet that difficulty withgentleness?
(19:28):
Some of you may be very fond offierce compassion, which which I
am very fond of that.
And I think that for mostpeople, especially on retreats,
a more gentle approach can behelpful because sometimes that
ferocity can be a bit much forsome people when they're already
(19:52):
going through withdrawals.
So I think gentleness can bereally helpful.
Let's talk about um, say,agendas of retreats and types of
retreats for a moment.
You know, there's usually noright or wrong or um a retreat
agenda or structure.
(20:12):
I've seen many different kindsum at Spirit Rock, kind of one
of the leading meditationcenters in the world.
A lot of the top Westernteachers teach there, but
TikNathan is taught there, andlots of esteemed teachers.
Typically, they'll be betweenthree to ten nights.
(20:35):
Usually they have you knowaccommodation.
I'm not like promoting spiritrock, but I'm just sharing like
a common structure.
But um the way they do it isit'll be three to ten nights.
You have breakfast and lunch anddinner there, very, very simple,
clean food.
(20:55):
But you wake up in the morningum and uh go to the retreat hall
where you all practice togetherbetween 50 to 100 people with
usually four or five seniorteachers on hand.
You'll say meditate together,quiet as the sun's rising, say
(21:18):
it's 7 a.m., give or take.
Um, and then there might be likeoatmeal served in the dining
hall.
It's all in silence, except forteachers teaching from time to
time.
Um, you there usually will be acommon theme around you know
where to bring your awarenessto, whether it's in certain
(21:40):
parts of the body, heart, um,maybe cultivating love,
compassion, joy, equanimity,forgiveness, gratitude, or
generosity.
Maybe it's cultivatingconcentration.
Oftentimes there's mindfulmovement retreats where you
bring mindfulness to certainmovements.
(22:02):
I am one.
Anyway, so you'll do like amorning meditation, then maybe
go get some breakfast insilence.
Um, maybe go back to your dorm,maybe take a shower, clean your
room, go back to the meditationhall and sit for another 45
minutes.
(22:24):
Maybe an hour of mindfulwalking, or you can walk indoors
or outdoors, paying attention tothe sensations of the bottoms of
your feet as you move.
Go back to the meditation hallfor another 45 minutes.
You basically keep toggling backand forth between mindful
walking, mindful sitting.
(22:46):
Maybe you might have anafternoon interview with one of
your teachers, either in privateor with a small cohort, have
another meal, anothermeditation.
Maybe there's an hour-long talkto help you, support you at
night, where the teacher mightshare some wisdom, some stories,
(23:11):
some support, anothermeditation, and then sleep.
You basically repeat that.
Other meditation centers mightum have very unstructured time
where you can kind of choosewhat you want to do.
There's a meditation hall overthere when you want it.
There's a walking path over hereunder the redwood trees if you
(23:35):
want that.
You can be in your dorm and laydown and nap.
Here's a yoga studio.
You know, you can do yoga.
I recommend home retreats whereyou create your own structure at
home.
And tell your loved ones or yourfamily, look, I'm gonna be kind
(23:57):
of in my room or in the garageor hotel or something for a
little bit.
I'm gonna be limitingconversation to what's
necessary, you know, no screens,no books, maybe a journal, uh,
just for a few bullet pointseach day, no music.
(24:21):
Everyone has different takes onyou know whether they allow
music or screens or books orjournals.
Again, there's no right or wrongwith this.
My personal preference is tolimit those things as much as
possible.
(24:42):
In many traditions, those thingsare called golden handcuffs,
that they're shiny and gold inthe sense that like they seem
like they would be helpful, theyseem like they would be
supportive of the retreat.
It's a book on meditation, it'sa journal about how I'm doing,
(25:03):
it's music that's soothing.
Again, there's nothing wrongwith it.
And if the intention is tounderstand the mind and to be as
present as possible, and I'm notsaying that's the best intention
or the only intention, but ifthat's the intention, then
(25:27):
journals, books, music canhandcuff you, like keep you away
from exploring what the mind isdoing right now.
Um, there was one retreat inparticular I was doing, this was
after I was a monastic.
It was a I think it was atwo-week retreat at Spirit Rock,
(25:48):
and I was journaling a lot.
And I was like, wow, this is soprofound.
I'm like really uncovering somany truths here and learning so
much.
I might write a book on this.
This is amazing.
I can't wait to share this.
This is great.
And I uh and I brought it to oneof my uh interviews with one of
(26:13):
my senior teachers.
They said, Sean, like whenyou're writing this, how much
are you like in your head?
Analyzing, thinking, figuringeverything out, or how much are
you actually present in anembodied, open, heartfelt way?
(26:34):
He's like, ah, I mean, I'm so inmy head.
And usually this is very common,usually for people, like when
they leave the retreat and thenthey go back to read their
journals, a lot of people arekind of embarrassed.
Like, I thought that wasprofound.
Like that seems so obvious orself-indulgent, or I'm not
(27:01):
saying that's always the case,but but we can use these things,
music, journals, books, asdistractions themselves, even if
they seem forward-leaningleading.
So just to be careful of thatand notice, you know, am I using
this to distract myself, or isit actually part of the overall
(27:22):
intention that I set for myselfin this retreat?
So they can be helpful ifthey're part of your core
intention, but um, I generallyprefer to limit those things
because I tend to transform moreby trying to be as present as
(27:43):
possible, which for me isharder, and that's where a lot
of the healing comes in.
One of the most underlookedthings for um practitioners and
also teachers is that at the endof a retreat, we're extremely,
we're usually extremelysensitive.
(28:05):
We open our senses, we noticemore nuance of what's happening
inside us and what's around us.
We notice sounds more clearly,smells, you know, our senses are
heightened, we can taste thingsmore clearly because we're
really present.
(28:26):
Our hearts are usually a littlebit more open.
There's a sensitivity that'scultivated, whether we know it
or not.
And so when we leave a retreatand go back into society, big
city, uh, you know, back home,and we're met with so much
(28:50):
stimuli, and we notice umdifferent energies of people
around us, um, it can beshocking to our systems, to our
nervous systems, and it's kindof like a culture shock um for
(29:16):
many most people, and so it'sreally important that after a
retreat to try to buffer in asmuch time as possible in nature
by oneself, it's important tohave boundaries that if there's
some very strong overwhelmingenergy of people around us or
(29:42):
yeah, energy around us that wetake care of ourselves and we
put up boundaries in a caringway.
But we need to protect ourselvesand to notice um the working.
Of our mind after a retreat.
(30:03):
Because that can be just asvaluable as what we notice
during the retreat.
How do we relate to people thatI haven't noticed before?
How do I relate to my work thatmaybe I wasn't really allowing
myself to notice?
(30:24):
Good or bad.
How do I relate to myself in myhouse, in my neighborhood?
What comes up for me?
But uh remember that thatsensitivity is normal, that
there should be a transitionperiod after a retreat.
I say should, but it's helpfulif there's a trend transition
(30:48):
period after the retreat thatallows you some space to enter
back into normal life slowly sothat you're not totally
overwhelmed and flooded, andthen um everyone's wondering
what's with them.
No, I thought they just went ona retreat and now they can't
(31:11):
handle being back home.
The first year is in a monasterywhere we woke up at I want to
say 5 30, and then the thesecond year was like closer to 5
or 4 30 or something.
And I really disliked it, and Ifound it really helpful.
You know, some of my more likedelicious meditation sessions
(31:33):
were early, early in themorning.
I think partly because I didn'thave that hindrance of like
flurry of activity in the mind.
You know, it's more like on theslow side, but it was also like
there was a sense of calmness,and there can be a nice sense of
peace, you know, before you knowthe city wakes up before the
(31:58):
roosters crow, before thepeacocks are peacocking, just
kind of sense into the stillnessof early dawn.
So I think it can be veryvaluable in that way and can
start help people start a habitof meditating first thing when
they wake up, which is it can bea very valuable time for
(32:19):
people's routines.
You know, maybe wake up a littlebit early before you have your
coffee and wake up the kids andput on the you know, work
clothes or whatever, just tohave some time to settle and to
be before you start doing.
Same for late at night as well.
Similar, you know, it can be agreat segue into sleep just to
(32:43):
help you process the day, noticewhat you're carrying and your,
you know, your being, practicebeing, settle.
I keep threatening to do this,but as I said, like some of my
favorite teachers are oractually all my favorite
teachers are very organic andthey toggle be between
profundity and humor.
(33:04):
And again, they're not crackingjokes per se, but they're they
can be very humorous and likesomething occurs to them that
makes them laugh and they startgiggling.
And I love that.
I love like laughing and feelingsuper connected in the same set
meditation session.
Those are like, we'll justrepeat that on a desert island
forever.
One of my favorite books is abook called Food for the Heart,
(33:29):
and it's a transcription ofteachings from uh an old monk
master named Ajahn Cha.
And Ajahn Cha was uh JackCornfield's teacher, he was my
teacher's teachers or teacher,but he was basically this, but
Ajahn Cha was very famous forbeing very organic, and uh he um
(33:54):
would not have anything planned,and he was very direct, he had a
sense of humor, but he would gointo a session and not tell
anybody, much less know himselfhow long the meditation session
was gonna be, or he would gointo some teachings and not tell
(34:16):
anybody, or even know himselfhow long he was gonna talk for.
Sometimes it'd be five minutes,sometimes he would have everyone
there all night, like until 3a.m.
And that that was actually oneof my practices as a monk was
every um like full moon and newmoon, we would meditate until 3
(34:36):
a.m.
Um, but with Ajahn Cha, itwasn't planned, it was just like
you have no idea what's coming.
You might speak for five minutesand then meditate for five
hours, you might talk for 10minutes and then you leave.
Zero clue.
And that was part of theteaching itself of uncertainty,
(34:59):
just meeting each moment withouthaving any expectation of what
was going to come next.
You might have hopes.
Well, what does it feel like tohave those hopes?
Am I clinging to those hopes?
So, you know, that was part ofhis genius in teaching is that
(35:21):
there was no say expectation orlike box that he would put his
teachings in.
It was very uncertain, which iskind of the whole point of
mindfulness practice, is to beable to be with uncertainty.
(35:46):
Can I feel safe withuncertainty?
Can I feel connected withuncertainty?
And so that was like baked intohis teachings and his
leadership.
It was like everything isuncertain.
(36:07):
I might send this monk to adifferent monastery and give him
five minutes notice.
I might say, okay, we're gonnafast for three days with no
notice.
We might walk um 20 miles overthe course of three days with an
alms bowl and an extra set ofrobes with no notice.
(36:31):
I'm not saying that we all needto do these extreme things, but
you know, with three treats, Ithink it's um it can be helpful
to have kind of a structure, youknow, we're gonna meet at this
time, whether it's early or not.
And sometimes we can surprisepeople and bake that into part
of the process if we feel likewe're doing it out of compassion
(36:54):
and not just to mess withpeople, you know, if there's
kind of a purpose behind thisand some gentleness around it,
but we can kind of togglebetween kind of adhering to form
and breaking form out of as asense of like growing to be able
to be with uncertainty.
As we reflect on the retreatexperience, it's important to
(37:17):
recognize that retreats are notabout retreating from reality.
They're actually the opposite.
They're about coming home toourselves.
They give us the space to sheddistractions, meet our minds
with brutal honesty, and explorethe patterns that shape our
(37:39):
thoughts, our emotions, ourbehaviors.
For those of you consideringattending or leading a retreat,
remember that each retreat is ajourney of its own.
It's an opportunity to let go ofany expectations, to embrace the
mystery of the experience, andallow whatever arises to guide
(38:04):
your journey and your growth.
Whether you're a structuredretreat, whether you're on a
structured retreat, at ameditation center, or creating
your own retreat at home, or ata cabin somewhere, the key is to
bring gentleness and curiosityto the process.
(38:25):
By meeting each moment as it is,we open the door to this
profound transformation thattakes place.
Even though it can be reallyhard, we usually feel much
lighter and freer by the end.
Not just during the retreat, butin the way that you approach
life afterwards.
(38:46):
Thank you for joining me in thisexploration of the power of
retreats.
Whether you're a practitioner ora teacher, or someone just
curious about the practice,retreats offer a profound way to
deepen your connection withyourself and the present moment.
If this episode resonated withyou, we'd be grateful for a
(39:08):
five-star review.
And if you'd like to sharemindfulness with others, please
check out our mindfulnessmeditation teacher certification
at mindfulnessercises.com slashcertify.
Until next time, stay present,stay grounded, and continue
showing up with authenticity andcompassion.
(39:32):
Thank you for listening.
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