Meditation Retreat

"The principle of retreat speaks directly to the power of environment - step into Times Square or the Strip in Vegas, archetypes of an anti-retreat environment, and you will feel the torrential force of distraction. The relentless activity and noise of our postmodern age rips the mind away from its tranquil depths and into the shallows, where dissatisfaction and suffering rage. ... Step into a Zen monastery or St. Paul's Cathedral, however, and that fractured mind can be healed by the environment of tranquility.

Until the embryonic meditative mind can stand on its own feet and walk confidently into this sidetracked world, it needs the stabilizing influence of a proper holding environment to keep it on track. It needs an incubator. Retreat provides that nurturing container, where the innate qualities of the awakened mind are allowed to emerge and mature.

Stop and drop into the stillness of retreat, which removes the camouflage of movement, and all sorts of things never seen before are gradually flushed out of hiding."

Andrew Holecek. "Block All Exists." Buddhadharma: The Practitioner's Quarterly. Winter 2016