Meditation

All retreats at True Nature include instruction in and the practice of meditation. This can include seated meditation (simply called "sitting" in some traditions), walking meditation and extended Sivasana or progressive relaxation, with those last two being guided experiences.

You don't need to have a background in meditation to begin to learn, and what we teach is simple and accessible. We find that the most simple practices are often the most helpful because they do not require a long time to take in the basics of posture, getting comfortable and other details about the practice. It is a great suppport to have something that you know you can do by the time you leave your retreat. That way you can continue to build on what you have learned, to continue to benefit from your retreat.

Longtime students of meditation ourselves, we have been practicing what we teach for many decades. This is an essential part of our daily lives, and we have also gone on many intensive periods of meditation practice including Sesshins in the Soto Zen tradition, Vipassana and more. Our group Silent Retreats here at True Nature include the most concentrated experience of meditation in the shortest period, and has continued to be a deeply-transformative experience for many guests. That said, even our one night individual retreat, Quiet Mind, Open Heart, Vital Body includes enough support that we consistently hear of the profound benefits in peoples' lives. If you need help choosing the right retreat for you, just get in touch.

You can read more here about our (David's and Alana's) backgrounds in meditation.

The Deep Benefit of Meditating on Retreat

“I listened to the silence

Till it was no longer silence

Till it was filled up with birdsong that had been there all along

Till it was filled up with birdsong that had been there all along...”

from “Unseen Song,” by Samara Jade

     On retreat, our senses become heightened. We see things we may have missed before - the actual color and scent of a familiar flower, a habitual way in which the body moves or repetitive thoughts that we had not really known about till now.

     I still recall a retreat I attended in the late 1990s. After hours of seated meditation, I found myself standing at a door leading to the lush Ohio wilderness, gazing absentmindedly outside. Then suddenly, as if my thoughts were a crowded room and I stepped out, I heard the sound of spring peepers, the tiny frogs that announce the shifting seasons. Now I knew I was in the room and with a simple and natural shift, truly a part of life. The peepers had been singing all along - it was only when I came out of my thoughts and into the moment that I heard them and could take in the sweet medicine of their music. Then, the sound was so full, and even loud, that I could only laugh at the comedy of the situation. As I continued to take it all in, a gentle question came, “How much am I missing, so much of the time?”

     So I go on retreat - so that I may begin, without force, to experience being alive in all it’s rich and surprising beauty - and there are always surprises. To drink a cup of tea or coffee can be such a feast for the senses, and also a relief to the mind to be doing only this one simple activity. I go on retreat because without retreating, I do not really know how overstimulated I am by the cloud of thoughts about past and future and how those affect my feelings and physical body. Gradually, bit by bit, and sometimes quite literally, step by step, I am refreshed by this connection to the bigger picture and simultaneously the connection to myself. I am alive and a part of life, not apart from life.

From David Pratt's blog, "Everyday Sacred" Read more here...