Thank you everyone who came on our first retreat of the summer. What an amazing weekend. You are a great bunch and it was an absolute joy to have you. I’d also like to take this opportunity to thank the wonderful mindfulness practitioners and teachers who made the weekend such a success, what a team.
There are many things that stand out for me about the weekend. Marcus’ terrific Qi Gong class, Paul’s crazy yogas in the big bell tent and that mind blowing emotional clearing session on Sunday; but what really stood out for me were those simple, beautiful moments of mindful interaction that happened throughout the weekend. The quiet chats, the dawning awareness and the epiphany moments when the penny drops and suddenly someone sees through their mental confusion. There was a sense of real warmth and acceptance and although lots of guest came on their own, they couldn’t feel alone for long. When you share that space of mindfulness together something magic happens.
One of the most touching moments was when a couple ladies who were laughing and joking together, said to me, that although they had never met before this weekend, they felt like they had known each other forever. As unlikely as it sounds, it is really quite common and I know of many firm and genuine friendships are made on these weekend retreats.
One of the most touching moments was when a couple ladies who were laughing and looking together, said to me, that although they had never met before this weekend it felt like they had known each other forever. As unlikely as it sounds, it is really quite common and I know of many firm and genuine friendships are made on these weekend retreats.
Maybe it’s because there are no egos on our Mindfulness Retreats. From the outset we help our guests to enter a state of mindfulness and we work hard to keep them there, deepening their experience as the programme unfolds during the course of the weekend.
When you greet a person mindfully, it is with pure acceptance. There are no beliefs to make you right and the other wrong, no competition to be “more than”, no inner dialogue to tell you that you “are less than”. There is no judgement to create separateness. When you great someone mindfully and you are free of your mental narrative, you discover that there is no separation between any of us, you have reach through to the person beyond all that mind made stupidity and you connect directly with your common humanity.
Being greeted mindfully is a rare treat, you are being welcomed with absolute acceptance and an unconditional warm embrace of your humanity. A mindful person has cultivated compassion, a deep connection to the others and so highly developed is their empathy that they experience the suffering of others as their own. A mindful person would never consciously hurt another as they would experience the suffering created as their own and with mindful attention to every interaction they conduct themselves with tolerance, acceptance, with love and a sincere regard for the well-being of others. To be greeted mindfully can shift your experience in an instant, conflicts dissolve, perceptions crumble and it is common for our guest to let go and simply be themselves, held safely in a mindful connection.
That’s what The Now Project is really about, to help you live mindfully, to connect with others and bring love, compassion, and healing to the world around us.
The retreats are getting booked up fast, so if you want to be part of this and join us this summer you need to book soon. We still have places on our next retreat on 10 -12th July. See you there
