Well I just got back yesterday from a really great experience. I went on a retreat with my kung fu classmates and teacher for the weekend.  We started out the evening going into the woods to find a spot that “called” to us and got sat for awhile. Our mission was to really take note of our surroundings including sounds, smells, sights how we felt while sitting completely quietly. We also needed to explain why we picked that particular spot and needed be able to find it again as we would be returning there early the next morning.  Each time we did this we wrote about our experience. So after that first afternoon, it was then onto a quiet dinner and then working out for a couple of hours. We did some great partner work that got our blood going and did some really good focused, repetitive kung fu. Loved it. We then went to sit quietly outside on some benches in the dark. It was COLD let me tell you.  After a while, body temperature cools down and you felt it.  I had to do the breathing techniques I was taught that I know also helps me to keep warm to keep warm. It worked though. I was cold but never shivering.

Up at 5:45 and awoke to very cold morning. Not easy to sit at our spots for an hour but we all did it. It was worthwhile in a way that is difficult to convey if you never really sat in nature listening to the natural rhythms.  Really tuning in to the animals, the change from dark to light the sound of your own breath. It is not my intention to get overly personal here with what my own thoughts were while I sat. I can only encourage you to try it and discover what it is like to fully plug in to your senses. You see we did have periods where we did meditation on the retreat but this was more about awareness training. Fully engaging your mind.  More on the kung fu retreat to come…

Originally published September 8, 2008