2016 is shaping up to be a wild one, with a contentious election process and conflict all around us. From April 14-16, get away from it all and centered in your right mind at Garrison Institute’s annual silent retreat for (and by) LGBTQ people: “Waking Up Free, Whole, and Fabulous: Healing Within and In the World.”
“Attending a retreat revitalizes my aspiration for mindfulness practice, inspires me to continue deepening my practice, and reconnects me to myself and others,” says La Sarmiento, teacher at Insight Meditation Community of Washington and Inward Bound Mindfulness Education, and transgender themselves. “I come home feeling more grounded, open, compassionate, loving, and accepting of others.”
Participating in a mindfulness retreat even affects others in your life through “retreat osmosis,” says Madeline Klyne, co-founder of South Shore Insight in Hanover, MA.
“When I come home from a retreat, my wife says she can absorb some of the retreat energy I bring home! We are more open, more present, more spacious, more awake, and more connected.”
“A silent retreat offers a rare opportunity to take a break from our often crazy, busy world,” says Sarmiento.
Dharma teacher Gavin Harrison explains, “On a silent retreat, there is an opportunity to turn towards the infinite loveliness of our true nature, and this understanding is the gift that accompanies us back to the everydayness of our lives.
“What we are, most truly and deeply, is a ground of unutterable wakefulness, love, compassion, and wisdom. All the mystics tell us this.”
“Every year, I am reminded of the power of LGBTIQ people practicing together,” Klyne continues. “Many of us don’t even recognize the stress and tension we feel in a world where LGBTIQ people are still marginalized, and this retreat gives us a chance to literally breathe outside of our fears and anxieties.”
Mindfulness is important for LGBTQ people to practice, Sarmiento says, because “when we are NOT mindful, present, or comfortable in our skin, we have a tendency to: withdraw, act out, become impatient, be irritable, engage in unskillful behavior, be judgmental or overly critical, and unkind.”
“I was infected with HIV before the virus was identified,” Harrison recalls. “Without the ground of mindfulness at the time, and without a consolidation of inner affection and love, I gave myself to a sexual situation even though the voices within me were loud and filled with caution. I turned away from the knowing of my heart. It was an unconscious moment with permanent repercussions.
“I consider mindfulness, the spiritual journey, and awakening to my true nature to be the best medicine available on the planet!”
All the retreat leaders agree that mindfulness and meditation have enormous potential to make LGBTIQ people happier and healthier. Harrison concludes:
“The LGBTIQ community is thirsty for more love, honesty, integrity, and authenticity. We can make this happen moment-to-moment by the choices we make – by how you live your precious human life. When our preciousness is valued deeply we become a more trustworthy and impactful force for good in our beautiful world. We become the solution we pray for.”
Learn more and register for the retreat at https://www.garrisoninstitute.org/event/waking-up-free-whole-and-fabulous-healing-within-and-in-the-world-lgbtiq-retreat/
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