5 Advantages Of Doing A Meditation Retreat

How much time do you dedicate (exclusively to yourself)? This is a question that we should all ask ourselves. Probably many of us would have to respond by saying that we very rarely focus only on our own. Time and life is being dedicated to matters more distracting than desired. This is why it is so important to do a meditation retreat from time to time.

A meditation retreat is defined as a day in which you move away from your usual home or work place. The main objective is to think about yourself, about your life. The basic activity is reflection and essential motivation , knowing yourself better and evaluating how you feel.

Ideally, your meditation retreat should be at least a full day. You need to do it alone . Choose a place where you can be calm, without major distractions and feeling comfortable. When put into practice, the effect is wonderful. These are five of its advantages.

Loneliness removes many excuses

Much of our time is spent surrounded by other people . We then focus on the interactions we have with them. We collect attention on others: what they tell us, how they see us, how they respond to us, etc. In a word, we look outside.

In a meditation retreat these external stimuli disappear, because we separate ourselves from others. We are left alone with ourselves. In principle, due to lack of habit, it can be uncomfortable for some people. Perhaps the feeling of a certain abandonment and helplessness appears. By concentrating on what we are going to do, that feeling disappears. Little by little we go deeper inside ourselves and we give ourselves the opportunity to adopt a different look, a point of view that does not resemble the usual one.

Taking distance gives you another perspective

By distancing ourselves a little from our  daily reality , we facilitate a more global vision of our life. It is as if we place ourselves, mentally, in a position that allows us to see the whole picture. Much of the detail fades, but the entire map becomes clearer.

In these conditions, we have better tools to review the vital moment in which we are. It is easier to perceive if we are where we want to or are very far from that place. We also make the emotions calm down and, in this way, it is possible to see the panorama in a more dispassionate way.

Disconnecting yourself, a great advantage of a meditation retreat

Disconnecting means making a temporary cut with technological means, but also with routine. This, by itself, is a source of rest. The brain needs, from time to time, to reduce external stimuli to their minimum expression. This is only possible with a temporary withdrawal. And what better than a meditation retreat.

By disconnecting, you not only give the brain the opportunity to slowly reorganize itself, but you also facilitate a state of relaxation and serenity in your emotions. It means slowing down, giving yourself time to digest feelings, thoughts, and emotions. This will undoubtedly make you feel calmer and more in control.

Reactivate pent-up emotions

Just as some emotions lose their excessive intensity during a meditation retreat, there are also other subjective realities that begin to emerge. Among them, repressed feelings and emotions. Sometimes it is sadness, other times it is upset, fear or anger.

When you take the time, one of the effects is that the real you has more opportunities to express itself. For this reason, without knowing how, memories of events that you thought were forgotten or  a persistent feeling appears that tells you about something that has not yet reached your consciousness. Retirement is a place where your voice doesn’t have to compete with others.

Rest, in the deep sense

Rest is not being inactive or saturating yourself with distractions. You don’t really rest if your mind can’t get away from everyday worries and replace them with a creative and / or liberating exercise. In fact, psychological fatigue is much more forceful than physical. For this reason, rather than giving the body rest, it is about decanting the emotions.

A meditation retreat allows you to achieve true rest. You don’t need to set rigid goals or feel that the experience should be “productive” in terms of observable results. Sometimes a withdrawal from these only leads us to wander. Still, it opens the floodgates to purify a good part of what we carry inside.

It is highly advisable to set aside a couple of days a year for a meditation retreat. There are no formulas. Meditation is primarily about calming down and contemplating. It is a self-gift that we should not stop giving ourselves. A way of lavishing care and affection.