Are you considering attending a silent meditation retreat, but not sure if it’s for you? Read on to learn the benefits of attending one.
Silent meditation retreats are offered all over the world, but they’re not exactly everyone’s dream vacation. It takes a lot to sign up for such an experience and then to show up when the time comes. Many people say they’re going to do one, then back out or they give up once they get there.
The key to getting the most out of a silent meditation retreat is to know what to expect before you arrive and understand what you’re searching for while you’re there. If you’re not sure how this could benefit you, check out the reasons to attend one listed below.
1. To Get Away
Maybe you need a vacation so badly right now that you’ll jump at any option you can get. But, maybe you need to take a second and consider whether a booze cruise or a big-city vacation is really what you need.
A silent meditation retreat the vacation you didn’t recognize was calling your name. It’s your chance to step back from the go-go-go and constant to-do of life and just be. That’s pretty powerful.
2. To Tune In
You start to tune in the second your meditative retreat begins. This is your chance to listen to the true inner workings of your mind and your heart – not the conversations that come up due to outside stimulation.
Instead, you’re able to figure out your true desires and passions just by listening to the experiences and emotions that come up during meditation. That’s the key to this practice, after all. Meditation – whether at a silent retreat or at home – is all about being able to sit with your thoughts without attaching judgment or expectations to them.
3. To Be One with Yourself
When you let go of attachment and emotion is when you’re really able to just be. This creates a shift in your overall being – your meditative self and your everyday self who is actively engaging with the world around you.
Meditation shows you your true form. Expressing this self in the world gives you the confidence and courage to move forward with your life and make anything you want of it. This website can help you understand more about meditation and its effects.
4. To Find Your Center
It’s not enough to be one with yourself in meditation if you can’t apply the lessons it teaches you. That’s why finding your center is so important. Everyone knows you can’t just meditate your problems away – that won’t solve the relationship issues you’re having or the financial struggles you’re going through.
But, a regular meditation practice helps you find (and maintain) your center in times of struggle. It keeps you calm in the face of adversity and helps you see things (the good and the bad) clearly for what they are.
A silent meditative retreat helps you achieve this even more.
5. To Relax and Let Go
What if you’ve tried meditation over and over but you feel like you’re not doing it right? The thing about meditation is you learn there’s no right or wrong; there are just experiences. It’s a very “ebb and flow” way of looking at things, which in reality, is what life is like!
For someone who likes to have things figured out or know what’s going on, though, this concept is pretty hard to grasp. Immersing yourself in a meditation retreat makes it much easier. It puts you in a place where your only choice is to sit down, breathe, and of course, let go.
6. To Make Huge Realizations
The more your meditation practice develops, the more important lessons make themselves available to you. As your learning of tuning into the self expands, you start making profound realizations about your life.
This may be in terms of cycles you keep finding yourself in or situations that you feel have had control of you for too long. It could be a sense of direction for where your life may go next or a profound sense of peace for where you are right now.
You won’t get an “aha!” moment every time you meditate. But, going to a silent meditation retreat helps you realize these moments are actually powerful, and just how beautiful they are.
7. To Create Amazing Friendships
It’s interesting to think about the connections you make while at a silent meditation retreat. You don’t talk to others during meals or breaks, but you’re still in community with them.
People from all over the world come together to share in the beauty of meditation together, and they usually end up leaving with more friends than they had at arrival. You don’t bond through conversation, but you still bond – and the connections often last a lifetime.
8. To Better Apply Consciousness at Home
Another benefit of attending a silent meditation retreat is the ability to apply meditative lessons and practices in daily life once you’re home.
You start to become more mindful of how much time you spend with technology or engaged in surface-level conversations. Eventually, you end up detaching from these things and becoming more interested in what best serves you.
9. To Discover the Deeper Levels of Meditation
Most people who begin a meditation practice do so through yoga. But, what many savasana-loving-yogis don’t realize is that the asana (the movement) is just one limb of yoga. Meditation is another, arguably more important, part.
When you deep dive into meditation at a silent retreat, you notice how all the aspects of yoga work together. Even if you’re not a yogi, you start to realize the true importance of meditation. It’s not just a few minutes a day to relax, it’s a habit that helps you make the most of this life.
10. To Make Meditation Feel Natural
The final reason to go to a silent meditation retreat is to feel more connected to your meditation practice at the most basic level.
Maybe you can’t even focus on the lessons of meditation or living your true self because you struggle so much getting into a meditative state. It’s hard to block out the world and tune in. But when you do it so often at a meditation retreat, it becomes easier at home. Without even realizing, your newfound, deeper meditation practice makes its way into your everyday life from the silent retreat.
Discover What a Silent Meditation Retreat Can Do for You
If you’re at all curious about going on a silent meditation retreat – just go for it. You can read about the benefits all you want, but it’s only when you experience them yourself that you’ll truly understand.
Who knows, you may even come back with a set of mala beads!
Click here to find out more about this meditative tool and how to use it.