MORE DETAILS ON THE RETREAT PROCESS
- [Preparing the Self] To relax the participants’ Minds with the help of Nature walk, Meditation, Silence, Writing etc
Relaxing the mind is a primary requirement for walking on the journey of understanding the self or understanding people/situation linked to self for a relaxed mind is clear enough to see things objectively and not become personal about the happenings of the world. Though there are various techniques available to relax the mind, we aim to utilize nature walks in beautiful Himalayan mountains, breathing meditation, diary writing or simply sitting in silence as our tools to achieve the objective.
- [Coming out of Life Drama] To unwind the participants’ life stories and enable them to see their lives objectively while empathizing with different individuals involved
Most of the time, while we are trapped in worldly problems, we are not able to see things from a neutral point of view. We are mostly personal and lost in playing our own role in this drama known as life. Hence, we make biased choices and take selfish decisions.
During the retreat, after having attained a relaxed mind, our next step would be to share our stories and see them as someone who is not playing a part in it. In doing so, we would try to put ourselves into everyone’s shoes whosoever is involved in the story. Thus, empathizing shall come naturally and better understanding shall follow.
- [Inspiration] To volunteer with people who live their lives differently (working in Education, Farming or other social fields) and understand that it is possible to give a major turn to life while questioning the set rules of the society
Usually, we live our lives in a certain way and are not able to think of questioning our mental or societal assumptions and give a fresh, bold direction to the way we live. For example, most of us are trapped in the dogma of putting finance before interests and are trapped in the careers that we don’t really wish to pursue.
During the retreat, we will get a chance to work and spend time with people who have not only identified their assumptions but have also shown courage to come out of them to give an unusual direction to their lives. Listening to their stories shall help us in understanding that how our happiness and peace is so closely connected with following what our heart wants and being guided by the voice inside ourselves.
- [Spending time with self] To develop an ability to reflect and calm the mind, and to figure out the future course to life
Having attained a relaxed mind, seen our life situation objectively and known people who questioned set assumptions of living, we would, by now, be on our way to be able to reflect and think about a future course to our lives. A course that shall have different priorities and a thought process rooted in deep inner values such as compassion, forgiveness, truthfulness, courage, faith and surrender. Some of us shall choose to give a new direction to life, be it professional or personal, while some of us may choose to follow the old paths with new perspectives. Changes in our outer world shall eventually follow the changes that would happen inside - from guilt to forgiveness, from complaining to acceptance, from grief to joy and from control to surrender.
