Having just returned from our fall men’s meditation retreat, Getting Unstuck, I am inspired by the diligence, wisdom and compassion of this year’s participants. They made the teachings come alive by applying them to their own experiences. Over the coming days, I thought I’d share some of my “favorite things” from the retreat.
Movement
We used energizing movement to wake us up each morning before the crack of dawn. I use this “go to” movement exercise from Jonathan Foust almost every day before meditation.
We even made our own movement tribute video but I’m not exposing the video on an unsuspecting public,
Qi Kong instructor Lee Holden has some amazing courses and a handful of free resources that we brought to the weekend,
Making It RAIN
We brought the rain so hard, it turned in to snow and ice!
Tara Brach has popularized the practice of RAIN – Recognize, Allow, Investigate and Nourish. This four-step model helps us work with challenges and difficulty, cultivating a resource state to integrate whatever we face into our lived experience.
Seeing Deeply
Up next, a talk on the practice of clearing the space and identifying what is between you and feeling free/happy/good about yourself,
Loving Awareness
This year’s retreat included Movie Night for the first time. We watched the short documentary, Going Home, which features teacher Ram Dass as he confronts mortality and embraces the spirit of love. If you have Netflix, this is a must-watch.
Center for Self-Care 