European Travel and Meditation Retreat

One of the many advantages of living in Barcelona is the ease of traveling to many countries within Europe and beyond and to do so inexpensively.  However, this year for me has been about getting settled in this amazing city, setting up my home, getting to know my neighborhood, deepening my ability to speak the language (first Spanish and then Catalan), and establishing and expanding my network of friends.

August - the Vacation Month

The city in essence closes shop during the month of August.  Yes, some businesses are open.  You can still find food to purchase, the metro still runs (although many repairs are made during this month making some sections of some lines inoperable), and there are restaurants, although fewer, that are open.  Where is everyone?  Except for the tourists who are on vacation in Barcelona, and that population grows exponentially in August, many residents are on vacation, either in other regions in Spain or in other parts of Europe.

And so I too looked to see where I might travel in August.  I wanted to spend time with my long-time friend

Carlos and visit Galicia (see prior post), a region I had gone to a number of times when I lived in Valladolid, Spain, but I hadn't visited in over 30 years.  I also wanted to take some time to get away and reflect on my journey so far since moving to Barcelona and to reconnect to my meditation practice in a supportive environment.  What better way to travel to another country, have some time of reflection, and deepen my meditation practice then by participating in a week-long meditation retreat at Dechen Choling, a Shambhala land center in the picturesque countryside of St Yrieix sous Aixe near Limoges, France, in the southwestern part of the country.

Life is Ceremony Retreat

I took an 8 hour train ride, including changing trains in Perpignan, to get to Limoges, where a van was there to pick me and others up and take us to Dechen Choling, a 20 minute ride.  What a beautiful setting for a retreat!  The chateau, the stables, the green fields of grass and corn with horses and cattle, very tranquil and far, far away from any city, so much so that at night you can see the Milky Way.

The meditation retreat was entitled Life is Ceremony. When I mention going on a meditation retreat to friends, I inevitably get the question - what do you do on these retreats?  Well, every retreat is different.  In this one, the emphasis is on how to live one's life consciously, intentionally, with purpose and a sense of appreciation, whether I am by myself or with others.  It included times of mindfulness awareness meditation and talks given by the main teacher of Shambhala, Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, and one of Shambhala's senior teachers, Adam Lobel.It also included body practices such as yoga and Qi Gong as well as workshops, of which I chose one that allowed me to explore in depth   "Creating Yourself, Creating Your World" through intentional creative expressions using calligraphy, the voice and body movement.  

What I love about Shambhala is its emphasis on discovering one's own basic goodness through the practice of meditation.  Although I've been exposed to this teaching since day 1 over 5 years ago, it was at this retreat that I have allowed this message to penetrate me and actually experience and feel it more and more throughout my day.  Since childhood, especially in the religion I grew up in, I was told I am basically flawed, fundamentally inadequate and that I needed to either fight with myself to improve myself or "cover up" these flaws and inadequacies and hide them from others in order to get ahead in this world.

This message is reinforced by Western culture through the media, school and work.  Regardless of my past experience, however, I can get to know my true self and make friends with myself.  Meditation is a great way to do that.  Then, with eyes open and fully present, I can appreciate myself and my world as I "soak" myself in basic goodness.


I found the people at this retreat to be quite fascinating and very open and friendly.  They came from all over - France, Spain, England, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Italy, Hungary, Mexico, and the U.S. - over 200 of us.  I had a Dutch tent mate and spent some of my free time with a great group of English women.  The evenings were quite chilly and I was so reluctant to slip out of my sleeping bag in the mornings.  But all in all, it was a fantastic retreat.  And to top it off, on the train ride back I was able to spend half of the time with an English fellow who was on the retreat.  We talked about some very profound topics as well as shared some very personal things going on in our lives.

I will certainly be back to Dechen Choling in the near future!

In A Couple of Days.....

My friend Carol will be visiting me from the Washington DC area.  She has also been very kind to bring with her my cat Sunset.
I have been separated from my cat for almost 6 months.  It will be great to have her back with me and to spend time with Carol during her two week stay here.