I’m guessing you could use a few days of peace and quiet, maybe in a gorgeous spot, where you have nothing to do but stare out a lake and let someone else do the cooking. Sound about right? If so, mark your calendars. I’ll be leading a retreat — Stillpoint: Creating Calm amid Life’s Chaos — at Pyramid Life Center in Paradox, New York, over the weekend of Sept. 8-10, 2017. Your spiritual getaway will include collage-as-prayer, journaling, silent breakfasts, meditation in motion, and prayer practices to help you discover the divine in the everyday, the miracles in the mundane. Plus, you’ll get delicious meals and free time to rest or hike or paddle a kayak across a crystal clear lake. I’ll provide the program; Pyramid will provide the spectacular setting, and you can do as much or as little as you want. The goal is to nourish yourself — body, mind, and spirit.
I fell in love with Pyramid Life Center in 2008, when I attended my first silent retreat there. I went alone, with a whole lot of doubt packed into my overnight bag. But what unfolded there over the next two days was magical, and, when Sunday came, I didn’t want it to end. It’s a special place, and I’m excited to share it with you. If you’d like to read about that first visit, you can do so HERE. If you’d like a visual of where you’ll be headed, take a look at this — it’s from the very same weekend of the year in 2013. So, weather permitting, you could be in for this eyeful of gorgeous:
As for our retreat, it won’t be completely silent, but it will have some healthy doses of quiet mixed in with lots of opportunities for praying in all different ways. Here are some highlights:
— Silence in the early morning through breakfast.
— Mindfulness practice with your morning meals
— Cutting and pasting to create a spiritual collage or vision board
— Several spiritual talks…on the cravings that get in the way of our relationship with God, on weaving prayer into everyday life, on spiritual friendship, on embracing our own brokenness and learning to love ourselves as God loves us.
— Opportunities to pray together and apart in different formats
— Poetry, music, journaling, nature, creativity
— Disconnecting from email, texting, social media
The cost is $150 for the entire weekend, including the program, accommodations, meals and activities. Pyramid is a rustic retreat center, with a lovely lodge with two big screened porches, a big dining hall, a log cabin chapel, a small meditation house on the lake, a “tree house” looking out over the lake and lots of nooks and crannies for stealing some quiet time.
To register, click HERE and sign up through Pyramid’s online form. Once we have our final group, I’ll send out a supply list, but just to give you some ideas… Plan to bring a journal, scissors, a glue stick, some old magazines. If you’re a photographer, bring your camera (or your phone in airplane mode) and use it as a way to pray visually. If you draw, bring a sketch pad. Whatever gives you peace and helps you connect with God. We’ll talk more about it in the days ahead. I can’t wait to see you there