The intention of the Mindful Self Compassion Silent Retreat is to give participants of the MSC course an opportunity to bathe in mindfulness and compassion. It helps to let go of expectations about how the retreat should go or how it should feel. It is an opportunity to deepen our practice of some of the known formal meditations and introduce some new practices.

We will maintain “companionable silence”, which means while we may be aware of others, smile or look at others, we will do this all without speaking. Silence draws our attention inward and allows us to really attend to our own internal worlds, and experiences. Silence allows us not only to experience our inner worlds, but also it allows others to have their own experience and allows everyone to be free from the obligation to pay attention or take care of others. It gives everyone a chance to practice attending to oneself, bringing self-compassion when needed.

There will not be the usual discussion after exercises and there will be stretch breaks and walking activities. Please dress for the weather as we will be heading outside for some of these activities.

As we turn inward, there is more possibility to access intuition and creativity. We can walk the labyrinth for inspiration or to tap into this intuition. The labyrinth is simple as it is not a maze. We can always come back to putting one foot in front of the other and can be very enriching. No two walks, like no two moments are the same.

A walking meditation works well and better for some who have difficulty being still. Walking the labyrinth can restore connection to our bodies, shed physical strain and stress and come closer to our own centre of being. There is no “right” way to walk the labyrinth; it offers us the gift of our own rhythm and can teach us to be the “journeyer “on our own path with intention, curiosity and connection. The labyrinth invites us to show up in a more conscious way to ourselves and to our lives.
In this 2 hour retreat we will learn about the labyrinth and what it has to offer and we will explore mindfulness of our own journeys thus far.