Among all the demands life is giving to us we slowly lose the connection. Instead of holding the connection to ourselves we have to be in close contact with colleagues and business partners, communicate among several command structures because hierarchies and society expect it from us.
Why do we need a retreat?
Via messenger and social media we are contantly connected to the outer world. Even during our holidays it might be hard for us to slow down. But what did happen to our self connection? Why does DSL connection have a higher significance than the inner connection and how can we break this circle of constant reachability and conscientiousness?
In digital age spatial separation is not always a solution to free oneself from everday stress. As soon as WIFI connection is established social ties are following us even in the alleged holiday paradise and fuel the wish of retreatment and relaxation.
Oftentimes we realize this state of losing ourselves when frustration becomes bigger and turns into interpersonal conflicts or even depression. Unfortunately there is no female voice that kindly suggests us to slow down by saying: Lost connection! Too bad that we are apparently not having a lot of faith in the intuitive voice within ourselves which is telling us: Put your phone aside and take some rest to retreat! It is the head which thumps fears into us such as: You have to work because without work you won’t earn money and without money you can’t exist. You have to be available otherwise you could miss something. And if you miss something … so what? You will lose connection?
What does the fastest DSL connection and all that material existence bring to us if the essence of life gets lost meanwhile? Why do we immediately ask the receptionist at the Hotel lobby for the WiFi password and pay a high price for things that are haunting us 24/7 back home already?
Running away therefore only helps finitely for the symptoms of disconnection. In a retreat it is about consciously deciding to take a time out. The precious time that we have should be invested in ourselves to exchange experiences with others and to learn from the whole experience as itself. Finding the connection to oneself again namely means to connect to everything else as well.
Retreat vs. Holidays!
The term retreat isn’t just a buzz word for vacation. Other than the word holiday it is not connected to the work we do back home. It is not reduced to a period of time in which our boss allows us to take a paid time off. Even in the word holiday there is always a bit of our working life hidden. A retreat however refers to the conscious withdrawal from everyday life – including the job, family or relationship issues back home.
Especially in yoga community the word retreat is a popular term. For years so-called retreat centres in South India and Bali are booming. Mostly they focus on spiritual development and deepening the own practise. But what about the “non-Yogis” who possibly not have even started with “their practise”?
The desire for retreat and selfcare is a big topic for those who don’t find the time for personal development in their everyday life. Among all the love for family, work and social commitments self-love often falls by the wayside.
Retreats should therefore support the convention of different people coming from different backgrounds having different conditions. This is the only way to enable a productive exchange of individual and common experiences which are conributing a big part in personal developement.
Of corse the wish for social retreat has to be respected at the same time. An easy and unformal atmosphere gives participants the option of making free decisions between interactivity and selfcare. Finally the essence of a reatreat is finding the connection to oneself again. Having faith and trust in the own feelings is one of the most important aspects on the way of self exploration.
Treat yourself with a retreat!
When was the last time you just sat there and felt connected to yourself – compared to the times you sat in front of your computer screen logging yourself into your mail in-box? In yoga classes we constantly try to compensate this dysbalances but honestly: Who can handle this daily struggle by a 5-minutes Shavasana at the end of a yoga class? (Don’t get me wrong: the relaxing pose at the end of a yoga session is still one of the most important and efficient asanas!).
A retreat should offer time and space for individual development on a personal and a spiritual level (in the end it’s all the same anyways right?). The conscious withdrawal from stress factors in daily life leaves space for the subtle senstations within oneself. The time you consciously choose to be yours and in which you free yourself from all the outer imprints that are haunting you in everyday life you will find the connection to yourself again. Essential questions about the own existence or simply about the bodies well-being contribute a lot to a balanced state of connectivity.
A retreat should replace the “doings” into a simply “being”. At the same time it should give back the faith in ones own intuition so we’ll know better and quicker when we are ready for a retreat the next time.
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