Curious About my Practice? Retreats, Mindfulness and More!
Hi friends!
How have you been?
As I sit writing to you, sunshine streams though our windows and leaded glass door painting rainbows and patches of light through the room. I’ve been getting out of our cozy basement where I like to hibernate and into the spaces of our house where I can feel the season’s change. It’s been good.
A few weeks ago, I went on a three-day mindfulness retreat at home. When the pandemic started, the center where I normally go closed its doors and began offering online experiences instead. Since that time, I’ve become quite comfortable with retreating in a variety of locations with different degrees of solitude and silence. In the last few years, I’ve been to our cabin in the woods alone; a rented room in Yellow Springs (Ohio); and more often, in my own home where I continue to make dinners and take part in family life while also spending seven or so hours a day meditating.
As I list these places, memories stream in, some beautiful and some difficult. Times when I was grieving, when I was afraid, moments when a beautiful silence set in, or an insight made me laugh out loud.
Retreats concentrate life into its most unbearable, bearable form. Frustration feels explosive and uncontrollable. Love gets distilled to a point where the loss within it is felt in the exact same moment— part of one poignant, human emotion.
You learn to witness, and to withstand, all of it.
It’s hard (very hard) to be with my inner experiences in this enduring way, but as Glennon Doyle would say, it’s “the good kind of hard.” It’s the type of hard that gets me closer to the truth of who I am, a hard that drives me deeper into my humanity— toward deeper compassion, deeper insight, deeper acceptance. It’s essential to the work I do in communities.
While I know everyone won’t be able to— or even desire to— go on retreat like this, my hope is to share the treasures of my practice with the people in my community through my presence as a teacher and my experiences as a student.
I’ll end this month’s letter with an invitation.
Is there anything you want to know about my retreat experiences? Do you have a question about meditation or mindfulness? Are you curious about my daily practice?
If the answer to any of these questions is "yes," please reach out! You can message me using this form (or leave questions as comments to this post). I’ll do my best to give a thoughtful response! I’m no expert, but I'm happy to act as a guide.
Big Virtual Hugs,
Brandi
Mindfulness Resources:
Practice To Try: This is a 15-minute mindfulness practice I created for dealing with anxiety and fear. In my most recent retreat, I noticed a lot of planning, fantasizing, and projecting what I hoped would happen in the future. For me, these thoughts are a symptom of feeling anxious. We’re in a time of transition (seasonally and in the pandemic), which can feel hopeful but also lead to worry or concern. I thought others might find this practice helpful, too.
Quote to Consider: This quote is at the end of a yoga practice I use at home led by Hala Khouri. I’ve felt so much inspiration in it over time. “When we’re comfortable with stillness, then our movements are a creative expression of who we are, not an avoidance of being still.”
Book I’m Reading: I’m currently reading Jack Kornfield’s book, A Path with Heart: A Guide Through the Perils and Promises of Spiritual Life. Kornfield is one of the practitioners of meditation that brought contemporary mindfulness practice to the United States, and his book helps me understand my own experiences in practice.