First the good news! Save the date! Reception, March 26th from 5:00 p.m. — 6:30 p.m. at the Anderson-Clarke Center at Rice University. I will have a collage piece in the Instructor-Student exhibition at the Glasscock School of Continuing Studies. I took a class in collage art last fall that was taught by local artist, Ellen Orseck. The piece that was just accepted for the exhibition was completed during that class. I will share more details as soon as I have them.
Now for this week’s blog:
Last weekend I drove to the Ruah Spirituality Center for a weekend of silent meditation and mindfulness. I arrived on Thursday afternoon and left on Sunday morning.
Have you ever gone on a silent retreat? Previously I have attended one day mindfulness retreats where I spent the day in silent meditation. This was the first time I actually spent the night.….much less three nights.….at a silent retreat.
Micki Fine, of Mindful Living (livingmindfully.org), holds one of these retreats every year. After checking into the Ruah Center on Thursday afternoon, I walked around some of the 70 acres of beautiful land with trees, trails, squirrels and butterflies. Just being in that space at the Villa de Matel is relaxing. I could literally feel my heart beat slow down. My breathing came deeper and easier.
Our time of silence began Thursday evening. Oh my! Everything was
so quiet. I actually had trouble falling asleep that first night. The next morning at 7:30 a.m. I was in a meeting room taking part in some stretching exercises before breakfast. All day Friday and Saturday I bounced between sitting meditations, walking meditations, and mindful stretching. I continued to walk the grounds and I even took the opportunity to hug a few trees.
The pictures of flowers you see in this blog were taken with my phone as I was leaving the retreat. While I was there, my phone was turned off. I saw no television, radio, tablet, computer or anything else that required either an electrical cord or WiFi connection. The quiet and silence was wonderful. However, I was amazed at how much noise continued in my head even without conversing with any other humans. When walking, I would catch myself whistling songs that popped into my head from nowhere (or my subconscious, whichever comes first). While focused on my breathing and meditating, thoughts would appear in my head. Where did they come from? I pretended they were clouds and let them float across the sky in my mind.
Also, I was instructed not to engage in either reading or writing while I was going through this experience. I am a writer. Yet, I was asked to go for over two days without writing. That was, I believe, the hardest part of the entire experience.
Will I do this again? You bet! Thanks, Micki!
Until next week.….….
