Home Retreat or Silent Day
If for whatever reason you can’t go on retreat, why not create one right at home?
It could be a retreat of an hour, a day or even many days! Discover how it makes you feel to spend some more time in meditation and silence.
Find below some suggestions and tips to make it work. First of all, clean and clear out your space a little to remove distractions.
- Decide how long it should last. Tell your housemates about it. Explain you are not going to socialise for a while. And who knows, someone in the house may like to join you in this retreat!
- Choose your meditations/yoga sessions. It may help to have an idea and a selection ready, so you can just flow on.
- Include a silent walk. Walking with awareness, stopping now and then, enjoying the surroundings. Maybe rather in the park or quiet neighbourhood than in a noisy shopping street.
- Go offline! Hide your smartphone. This is not punishment, but loving care. If you have to be available, try to at least be exempt from interruptions during meditation.
- Maybe include some time to listen to inspiring music that uplifts your spirit.
- Eat your meals in silence and with awareness, enjoy every sip and bite. Taste mindfully and consciously feel your stomach – eating modestly will be helpful when you are meditating a lot.
- If you have to interact with others, take this as another practice: listen carefully, be open, stay centered, observe your emotions and thoughts.
- Read a nice text from a spiritual book. Rather no news intake, even novels can start compulsive trains of thought, so probably better leave them.
- Housekeeping tasks like dishes, cooking, laundry can be done as a working meditation: mindfully without haste.
Don’t hold any expectations about this day, just take it as it unfolds, with mildness and without judgment. Well done!