More pictures
The week started off with a very rough boat ride from Rye Harbor last Saturday (7/11). That was the only down part of the whole trip. I was ostensibly there for a week-long meditation conference. I also had a few friends on the island who were there for a religious education conference.
Star Island is a beautiful place. Great views. Lovely walks. Friendly and helpful staff. Great food. And, thanks to the RE conference, there was nearly always something going on to entertain, if you felt the desire to be entertained.
The meditation conference participants agreed to keep silent during the morning. We were up and ready to begin our first sit session at 6:45 each day, preceded by a lovely tea sharing ritual. Each sit lasted for 25 minutes. Before our 8:00 breakfast we would sit (25 minutes), do a synchronized walking meditation (10 minutes), and then another sit (25 minutes). We would then wander up to breakfast (meals are called by a giant bell on the front porch of the main hotel). Then we would reconvene for meditation at 9:30. The rest of the morning consisted of three sits (25 minutes each) separated by two independent outdoor walking meditations (25 minutes each). After the final sit of the morning, we would have announcements for the day and then break for lunch (served at 12:30). At 20:15 the mediators would solemnly gather on the front porch of the hotel and wait for the chapel bell to ring; we would then take up candle lanterns and wind our way up the rocky hill to the chapel for our evening chapel service. It was a nice way to close out the day.
The afternoon was ours to explore the island, join in some of the RE activities (they were gracious enough to invite us into their fun), relax, swim in the chilly harbor (55 degree waters), or take a shower on one of the days set aside for guest showers (M/W/F only).
The big challenge for meditating was that our building was next to the harbor and a new playground. At 7:00 each morning, a group of RE Polar Bears would jump into the harbor and shriek. Also, they had a group of traveling "wake up" singers that would go from cottage to cottage singing/chanting/yelling their conferees awake so that they would all be ready for breakfast and their morning programming. Since none of the buildings on the island are insulated, the sound permeated our meditation building. As the morning progressed, there would be boats coming into and out of the harbor, often disgorging chatty tourists. And finally, we shared our building with a marine science center that tourists and RE children's groups visited each morning.
Our meditation group became quite friendly. A few of us hit it off so well that we're talking about going back to Star Island next June for the annual Arts Conference. Goblin has said that he wants to join me this time, since I came back so refreshed and relaxed.
The trick for me now is to carve out time to meditate in my already over-committed life. Also, we all made new year's resolutions as part of our take away from the conference. My resolution was to be more accepting and less judgmental of others, while trying to practice more patience in general. This will be very tough for me, I'm sure. I think I need to get myself a lot of little stickers to dot my home/office/car that say: "What would Buddha do?" If nothing else, maybe they'll remind me to laugh instead of froth.
When you leave Star Island, people on the dock yell the following at you:
S-T-A-R
S-T-A-R
Oceanic Oceanic
Rah! Rah! Rah!
then, point their fingers at you:
You will come back!
You will come back!
People on the departing boat then reply:
S-T-A-R
S-T-A-R
Oceanic Oceanic
Rah! Rah! Rah!
then, point their fingers at the dock people:
We will come back!
We will come back!
I totally meant it when I said "We will come back!"
2 comments:
Your retreat sounds wonderful and relaxing. It should be a required once a year event in your life. The pictures were gorgeous even tinted a little pink. Welcome back!
sounds like a little slice of heaven.
Post a Comment