You know what, its not just your career that would benefit from a personal retreat, its your whole person. When you go 48,000 miles an hour and are always plugged in, there is a certain mentality that takes over. A body in motion not only stays in motion but usually feels like it has to go even faster. Under these conditions, it’s easy to get locked into habitual thinking patterns that can get you stuck. Freeing yourself from stagnancy starts with helping to light up different neuro-circuitry in the brain than those usual neural pathways connected to our day to day living.
Think of a personal retreat as an opportunity to let go, whether it’s the ubiquitous cell phone or the feeling that you always have to “be on”. By experiencing yourself in a different way, your outlook shifts. It’s easier to see the interconnectedness of things in the big picture, including that which lights you up and gives your life meaning. Your mind is also primed to be thinking transformatively. Having more access to creativity and wisdom, you see solutions to issues that may have been eluding you in the daily grind.
Retreats can take many forms – from a camping trip spent observing nature to immersing yourself in creative learning or to making a dedicated spiritual journey.
My first retreat experience was one I wouldn’t have classified as a retreat until I felt its impact. In 1994, I attended Woodstock or Another 2 days of Peace and Music. It was a powerful shift experiencing this new culture through the human chain formed to help people get up the muddy hills, the nudists walking around unencumbered and the continual flow of live music that surrounded all of us. It’s hard to explain what waking up in the middle of the night to hear Aerosmith playing and knowing that yeah, that’s really Aerosmith playing live a few hundred yards away does to your sense of the unexpected becoming manifest. Returning into another year of graduate school, this enhanced inner calm and connectedness stayed with me into my studies and interpersonal life. I felt grounded and clear about what I was doing and was able to recommit to becoming a psychologist with a greater sense of “this is where I belong.” As I write this, I am fresh off of a weekend retreat at Kripalu in the Berkshires where even the wild rabbits stop and meditate.
In addition to Kripalu (kripalu.org) here is short list of other retreat centers in drivable distance:
The Omega Institute, eomega.org, (Rhineback, NY)
Aryaloka Buddhist Center, aryaloka.org, (Newmarket, NH)
Rolling Ridge Retreat Center, rollingridge.org, (North Andover, MA)
Copper Beech Institute, copperbeechinstitute.org, (West Hartford, CT)
Wonderwell Refuge Center, wonderwellrefuge.org ,(Springfield, NH)
The Garrison Institute, garrisoninstitute.org, (Garrison, NY)
Bethel Farm, bethelfarm.org, (Hillsboro, NH)
Karme Choling Shambhala Meditation Center, karmecholing.org, (Barnet, VT)
The Cape Cod Institute, cape.org, (Eastham, MA)