Just a quick note to say that we'll be away for the next ten days, as we are going up to Shelburne Falls, MA to take part in a 10-day silent retreat over New Year's. We did it two years ago, and it was memorable. And since we like to believe that we eat our own cooking, this is definitely a minimalist holiday and a total decluttering of the senses for 2006.
In our absence, the incomparable Jill will be manning the fort and Alec will be back on next week, January 2, so you can head over to AT:LA and see what he's found as well as giving him plenty of company. All the best and Happy New Year!
Could you share the address of this retreat with me? Who the organizers are, what the plans are etc etc? A URL would help. Thanks.
i have no idea if this is where they are going, but i've been looking into a vipassana retreat in the same town:
http://www.dhara.dhamma.org/
it is the Goenka tradition of insight meditation, i did a 10 day course in Sri Lanka recently and thought it was AMAZING
Ten days, no talking? I couldn't do it. This made me think of when I spent some time in New Zealand years ago. My Maori boyfriend called me (no idea how to spell this) whahanui, which I took to mean "sweetie" because he always said it in that tone of voice. Months and months later one of his friends informed me that it means "big mouth." Ouch.
i did it two years ago for the first time too. it was amazing, and a great way to start a new year. truly. my husband is on his way now, and i'm soooo jealous, b/c i have to stay in the city and work. ugh. maybe i can do some home projects that would be meditative...? any ideas?
by the way - tstar, i did a one day thing in the fall in mass and they have really nice facilities. i highly recommend.
Happy New Year and I admire your choice of celebration. The closest I've come to anything like it was a complete silence, no TV, no music, only reading for one week and that was only while I was out of the office and two weekends. It's liberating.
Since the first open thread on decluttering relationships (reently), I find the idea of decluttering everything to be a wonderful journey.
Enjoy....I'm sure we all Look forward to your insights.
Have a peaceful, relaxing and invigorating new year!
And, as obvious as the joke is, I would still be remiss if I didn't ask if I can purchase silent retreat gift certificates for a few people I know who could really use them.
Dear Doug:
You have a brilliant idea. This would be a great way of encouraging certain people lacking in self restraint and absent the graciousness gene, to just shut up. My niece could use one, but, alas, she wouldn't get it.
I'll have to be quiet myself and ponder a solution.
vipassana meditation is wonderful. i have had many friends who recommend it. this kind of meditation was and is used by 'rishis" and " munis " all over india. They seclude themselves into the woods and enjoy their peace and quiet in natures company. such retreats are very common in india.
The retreat in Shelburne Falls is amazing, wrenching and the best/worst 10 days you could possibly spend. I highly recommend it, both in terms of the wonderful facilities and the amazing feeling that you come away with. 10 days there is worth 10 years of therapy. Much cheaper too...it's free.
Doug and jmarieb -
That gift certificate thing would best be used if one of those people you're talking could ever be caught in the act of complaining about needing some peace and quiet, themselves.
Because if you were able to say, "Remember how when we were sitting around your cousin's kitchen table and you seemed really stressed out and said, 'I really need to get away from it all'?" Then you could go on to say, "Well, while I was wracking my brain to figure out the perfect gift for you, it dawned on me!"
Because I think that when you give a gift that's really just sarcastic dig, it can come off kind of mean. At least present in a way that quotes something that THEY said. And then, in the privacy of your own boudoir, please... feel free to bust a gut laughing at your own evil plan.
By the way, this whole thing reminds me of a similar retreat that Felix talked Oscar into on an episode of The Odd Couple.
The closest I've done to that lately was that the other day I was at the computer at home, and it occurred to me that I was getting kind of a lot done, and that I had not un-muted the TV after the most recent phone call. All I could hear was the rain. It was very, very nice.