Spiritual Retreat Content
 

Hi all!

I have some free time coming up and I've decided to create a spiritual retreat for myself. I'm looking for some recommendations for some content. Let me explain...

I have created a schedule of exercise, meditation, nature walks, even a different diet for a couple weeks. For a portion of each afternoon, I would like to include exposure to something new, whether it's reading a chapter on a book, watching a lecture or listening to a podcast. The only requirement is that it has to be spiritual in nature. This could be from a cultural religious or spiritual system, or it could be metaphysical.

I'm hoping you lovely people can give me some recommendations, especially if you have a specific portion of the material that you are recommending. For instance, a particular chapter, issue, episode.

Part of the retreat is that, on each afternoon, I will do a reflection on how I resonate with what I have just learned.

I am hoping this self-constructed retreat will help me find some long awaited clarity.

So... any recommendations?

Thanks!

<3

A couple of resources that come to mind that I found very useful:

Ajahn Sumedho essay on the Four Noble Truths of Buddhism - a couple of passages of note if you don't fancy reading the whole thing are on page 41 under the sub-heading 'Allowing Things To Arise', and on page 60 under the sub-heading 'Aspects of Meditation'.

RE podcasts, I love the podcasts of Jon Bernie, which are concerned with the spiritual awakening and healing journey and deal with the various challenges that arise during the course of that process, they start with a talk and finish with a Q&A with some of his students - there's an archive of his podcasts here.

All the best with it, sounds like it could be a very fruitful endeavour. :smile:

This is perfect, thank you!

One of the first videos I watched from Matt Kahn changed my life forever.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JL710Iky6pE&t=1s

Enjoy your retreat.

Thank you!

You're very welcome, hope it's helpful for you. :smile:

If you have a mobile phone, take up photography and specifically developing as 'photographic eye'. If something catches your attention, think about what it was that drew you to it. Was it the colours, was it unusual in some way, did it constrast with its surroundings? If you're going to take a snap, ask yourself three reasons it should go on your wll. If it won't, why won't it? If you looked at it from this or that angle?

That's all about interaction with the world around you and how you 'respond' to it, what you perceive and how you perceive it.

If you don't like the idea, what does that tell you about yourself?

Thank you for the suggestion :-) I wasn't planning on having my cell phone with me for this retreat but I can see me doing this generally :-)

Okay, you asked for it! :biggrin: This is a playlist of eight talks by Swami Sarvapriyananda on Swami Vivekananda's lectures on Jnana Yoga.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...1VL7bBEZA7C9vs

Thank you!