The Most Beautiful Place on the Planet
Celebrities, CEO’s and college students, along with people from different backgrounds and ages are flocking to Silent Meditation retreats. Yet, just twenty years ago, when I was a young meditation teacher, most people rolled their eyes at the thought of a self-imposed weekend without internet or television access, let alone the ability to read or converse. So why are silent retreats becoming more and more popular?
The global pandemic added more uncertainty and anxiety to what many were already experiencing as a stressful, demanding, and unbalanced life. Yet, our true nature is peace, joy, and love, and life is meant to be a celebration. The good news is that there is a way back home to the Self, and one of the fastest routes is through a Silent Meditation Retreat.
The combination of silence with deep meditation over a period of days provides a depth of rest and rejuvenation beyond compare. It’s an opportunity to gather together the scattered parts of yourself and to restore balance in body, mind, and spirit. If you’re looking for happiness in worldly things like a relationship, career, or something outside of yourself – you’re sure to be disappointed. The real treasure is within.
Deep rest and the release of stress are just the beginning of what a silent meditation retreat offers. As you relax and let go more and more, negative emotions that were linked to events dissolve and you’ll find your awareness heightened. As a result, your perception improves and you’re able to break free of confusion along with patterns, habits, or concepts that may have been holding you back in life.
I will never forget my first silent meditation retreat. I wasn’t quite sure what I had signed up for, but it sounded wonderful. However, as meditation after meditation continued, I struggled with sitting still for so long and wrote a note to the teacher about it. He gently told me that this was my own resistance and restlessness, and to just “be with it and continue.” He assured me that it would eventually pass. I had my doubts, but he exuded so much peace and joy, that I could only assume he knew what he was talking about.
Eventually, my body did relax, followed by my mind, which also quieted down. The next day it felt as though waves of joy and peace were washing over me during meditation, and I didn’t want to open my eyes when it finished. By the time the course ended, I immediately signed up for the next one. It just felt too good to experience this level of freedom, only once a year. Little did I know that I would eventually come to teach this precious course, throughout the world.
Life will always have its ups and downs along with its challenges. That won’t change, but you can change how you experience life. Taking time several times a year to give complete rest to your body and mind is essential to living life with authentic happiness and fulfillment.
The truth is that you are not the fear, anxiety, anger, or any other negative emotion that comes and goes. You are Divine. You are Peace. You are love and you are free. Throughout all my travels, I’ve never found a place more beautiful than reposing in the Self. A Silent Meditation Retreat will bring you back home to this profound truth as a whole new dimension of life unfolds.
The Art of Living offers online Silent Retreats! Click here to check out our upcoming courses! Or click here to join a free intro session.
Patti Montella is a thought leader, best-selling author, international speaker and a senior faculty member with the Art of Living Foundation and the International Association for Human Values. She has transformed the lives of tens of thousands of people worldwide, through the wisdom of the ancient Yogic Sciences, for over 25 years. Patti can be followed on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn & YouTube.
