Hi everyone, it's Ksunga.
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Hi, welcome back to Radio Headspace, to Monday, and this brand new moment, it's Dora.
So I just returned from being on a seven-day silent retreat, and when I tell you the lessons learned are endless.
Not just from the silence, but by being on retreat with 200 other people from different countries all over the world.
This retreat in particular included some intentional community dialogue, where we had the opportunity to share our work and what we're up to in the mindfulness world with the entire group.
As people were sharing, I was reminded of a line from a poem written by Kabeer, where he describes the spiritual athlete who's a terrific talker.
The poem basically speaks to how we as individuals can make superficial changes to our exterior, but neglect inner transformation.
In layman terms, it's so easy to be caught up in how transformation looks, rather than to actually allow transformation to take place.
On the outside, it may look like changes happening, but on the inside, we're still virtually the same.
The poem lovingly makes fun of those who wear robes, shave their heads, and read certain spiritual texts, and yet, no spiritual progress has actually been made.
So as I was listening to all these people share their stories and lives, I couldn't help but think about how easy it is to conceptualize the practice of meditation.
Yet this isn't a practice that can only be read about or studied through literary texts or articles.
This is a deeply experiential practice, one that centers our own experience to be studied.
We actually have to meditate.
It's not enough to sit on the sidelines or listen to the stories of others who've been practicing.
We have to fully immerse ourselves in the practice for any true change to happen.
So back to the retreat. Around day five, we were joined by the wonderful Camila Majeed, the author of Joyfully Just, who led us through some heavy yet liberating meditation practices that opened our eyes to the injustices in the world.
During one walking meditation, she had asked us to think about our relationship to the earth, to the trees, to the grass, and to the sky, and how our ancestors were in relationship to the land as well.
For some, this was an easy activity.
For others, who actually had enslaved ancestors from this land, it brought up a lot of challenging emotions.
So much so, a beloved friend and colleague let out a deep cathartic scream twice.
It sent chills down my spine.
A group of us ended up surrounding her in the field as she sobbed and cried.
And I believe this is the scream that set us free.
There wasn't one person in the entire retreat that wasn't impacted by what had happened.
As people were reflecting on that experience, a world-renowned researcher of mindfulness candidly shared that in all his years of work and study, he had never experienced anything like what had just taken place.
That blood-curdling scream had woken him up to how much pain and suffering is in the world, but also the power of community and collective liberation.
He said, this isn't something that you can study.
These moments can't be manipulated or recreated in a research lab.
And those sentiments stuck with me.
There's only so much that we can read, write, or research about.
Even if we attend all the workshops, trainings, and webinars, nothing compares to lived experience.
True change and transformations happens when we do the things, when we sit with the mind, the happy mind, sad mind, angry mind, and learn how to be with that mind.
So that's what I want to leave you all with today.
If you've been on your meditation journey, but find yourself reading about meditation rather than actually meditating, here's a gentle invitation to put down the book, drop into practice, and see what happens.
More to come tomorrow as I share about the importance of we and collective liberation.
As always, thank you for being here.
