“Ticking away moments that make up a dull day, fritter & waste hours in an off-hand way”
I’m happy to report we recently emerged from our Summer Noble Silence Meditation Retreat (NSMR) Weekend. Gathering a small clan of courageous souls to abide in silence and foster inner stillness from Friday eve to Sunday’s mid-day talking circle, for what I jokingly call our 40-hour (Spiritual) Work Weekend, we melt away the barriers that keep us all from feeling fully alive. With teachings and techniques that cultivate high states of concentration, we work to create a clearer, more openhearted presence that reconnects us to life. Quieting the monkey mind, relishing the sites and sounds of nature, nurturing ourselves with good food and our good practice, we then return to the talking world more open and awake, riding the energy of a more caring presence that has us then responding to the world and its mounting, modern-day challenges with our full intelligence and compassion.
It’s that turbulent return I’m citing here, the funky time right after a retreat that my teacher Shinzen Young reminds us in his dharma talks could be an unsettling experience of both aftershock and afterglow, in the light of ongoing spiritual purification. “My standard remark,” comments Shin, “only because I have so many times experienced what I’m about to describe myself upon leaving a retreat, is that I am shocked to discover the that entire population of North America has become… Insane… one has to stop and think: they all went crazy, completely berserk, since I was away on retreat? There can be that sense of vulnerability to the outside world.” Indeed, the left turn lanes of South Haven, Michigan were hot, honking jams of tumultuous, external energy. And, as my watch indicated, both space and time can feel a bit “upside down”, a description of a situation that feels confused, disordered, or chaotic. Coming out during the cosmic churn of Mercury Retrograde probably didn’t help our cause.
Still, after days of learning how not to interfere with the natural flow of our senses, training every muscle of our being to work in a deeper, more cooperative way, even a bumpy, temporary transition couldn’t negate our spiritual progress. Afterward, we rolled seamlessly into some private visits, a late-summer, early Fall option for established clients of The Higher Haven. “Earlier this week I took a day to do a mini solo retreat at The Higher Haven,” writes Manuj. “This was my second visit there, having attended a group retreat in 2022. I want to take a moment and thank Paul & THH for providing such a relaxing and healing environment around meditation and tribal Ceremony. The grounds’ country cell phone connectivity encouraged me to disconnect from the outer world, but check in if needed. Great experience, Good Medicine, or as they say: “Just what the Doctor ordered”.
If you’re seeking good, healing medicine, The Higher Haven’s next NSMR Weekend will be this Fall, from Friday, October 17th to Sunday, October 19th. Our next Way of The Contrary Ceremonial Purification Weekend happens the weekend of August 16th and again on September 6th. And, if you’ve already paid us a visit, watch for more information soon on private retreat possibilities through the end of 2025 and into The Year of The Horse 2026.