The heart of our up-coming “Tibetan Path in India” tour is a ten-day silent meditation retreat, held at a Tibetan Buddhist facility near Dharamsala, India.
The tour host, Lisa Tully, offers these comments on the benefits of doing a silent retreat…
Silence is about connection with God.
Silence brings your direct connection with ultimate reality, which you always have, into your conscious awareness. Silence is how you make contact with your real self, your divine nature, your God-ness, if you will.
In Buddhism silence is an essential component on the path to enlightenment. So is regularly retreating from daily life, both individually and in groups.
But perhaps, as you contemplate this quest or whether to book this adventure, you think less about the accomplishment of silence and less about the goals you wish to reach.
Reflect instead on re-establishing your direct connection to The Universe.
It’s not about the day dream on how blissful life would be if you did realize your God-ness on this trip. It’s about opening yourself, in the moment, to The Divine.
Opening yourself to receive powerful pure love, acceptance, and beauty. This is the real gift of silence; why you sit for fifteen hours a day for ten days.
To remember what it feels like to be touched by God plainly, simply, and lastingly.
I will also tell you that once you begin planning for this quest, your retreat has already begun. The Universe immediately begins to bring to your life all that you need for this experience.
When you feel the flow of everything effortlessly falling into place to get you to India, this is God preparing to greet you.
When the challenges, obstacles, and doubts arise, this is God showing you what you need to address in your inner and outer life in order to be able to be open enough to remember your connection and relationship.
Each moment of flow and each moment stress is a gentle nudge from God saying, “It’s started. Look within. Do it now.”
My lesson is to remember the need for regular silence in my own life. To remember to wake up each morning with a vow on my lips and a prayer in my heart to feel my God-ness and live my truth. Part of which is that, the real power of silence lies in reconnecting with The Divine most fully.