The Nobility of Retreat *
We rush around, don’t we? We are busy people, right?
Do you find that slowing down and taking it easy is difficult for you? What the heck, you guys? Let’s consider the Nobility of Retreat, a powerful teaching by Swami Kripalu.
Type A People?
Are you here today?
You know who you are.
Might you be:
Chronically, perhaps compulsively early-person?
Might you be:
Dedicated to the annihilation, the eradication, of all your emails,
No matter what? Getting them DONE. Getting them GONE.
Might you be:
A master of miraculous multi-tasking? More organized than organization itself?
Calling all people:
Are you driven? Like, driven to the completion of Stuff?
We could go to innumerably more busyness-traits.
You know,
We know
Who
We
Are.
Let’s love ourselves,
Type A-Subgroup and everybody else!
Let’s remember Richard Schwartz, from Internal Family Systems fame:
“No Bad Parts”.
All good parts,
None bad.
Our intensity, our drive.
Our capacity to organize life itself has probably taken us to powerful places of productivity and perfection.
All good. And…yet…..
And…as Swami Kripalu invites us,
Let’s remember today,
The possibility,
The practice,
The gift
Of
The Nobility of Retreat.
~~~
The Nobility of Retreat.
I don’t think he’s talking about
The chocolate croissant
I ate in the car,
Yes, while driving,
Between
Shopping
And
Unpacking
Groceries.
If I am honest,
Truly honest,
That wasn’t so much a retreat.
No, it was not.
It was more of an escape hatch
That worked for the 75 seconds
While I
Wolfed it down.
Next example:
I don’t think Swami K. meant
Falling asleep
With the
Remote control
Bungeed to one’s hand.
Fuzzy and dazed awakening to
New characters on one’s iPad screen,
Not seen before,
Where did they come from?
Ohhhhh,
I was asleep…!
While more characters emerged.
Hum.
I can offer several more
Examples of what
retreat
Is
Not.
However the question is—
What is a retreat?
Let’s talk about what it is.
The Nobility of Retreat.
What does that mean?
Making a mindful decision
To savor
A hot bath
After
That
Long
Walk
In the woods,
Candle included.
A touch of Epsom salt and.
Perhaps some lavender oil, too.
What else?
A massage!
Making the choice,
Setting an appointment,
Getting there.
Allowing
Each
Moment,
Each touch
To be recognized
As the gift
That
It is.
Me to me.
You to you.
What else?
What are your tiny yet profound retreat actions?
~~~
Let’s not make our Type-A-Driven patterns wrong.
While being exactly who we are,
Let’s practice
Leaning toward body-centered,
Heart-centered slowing down.
Offering ourselves
The deliciousness of non-doing.
What a concept.
Let’s keep considering and practicing—slowing it down,
Stopping,
Resting,
Renewing.
~~~
Here is a song to slow down into.
Oh! This tender and beautiful song.
This song, written by Warren Zevon, singer/songwriter, at the end of his too-
short-life.
Here it is, sung wonderfully by the Canadian international folk group, the Wailin’ Jennys.
~~
Friends,
Let us remember,
One breath at a time.
One step.
One moment.
One bite.
Slowing it down.
Give us the courage and the strength to
Continue relaxing into what is,
Rather than pushing forward through.
Relaxing,
Renewing,
And realigning.
May all beings benefit from our shared words.
All blessings, Aruni
*Quote by Swami Kripalu