Here, you will find some home retreat rituals which we’ve compiled to help mitigate the level of stress and uneasiness we're all going through where ever we are. We hope you find them helpful and joyful as much we do.
“Suppose you are offered a cup of tea, very fragrant, very good tea. If your mind is distracted, you cannot really enjoy the tea. You have to be mindful of the tea, you have to be concentrated on it, so the tea can reveal its fragrance and wonder to you.“ These are the words of Thich Nhat Hanh, a Zen master, poet and peace activist, revered around the world for his pioneering teachings on Mindfulness.
Read MoreIf you can breathe, you can meditate as our teacher Sharon Salzberg has once said. You don’t need to be a monk to start meditating and see the benefits of it. Thus is like a muscle. You need to exercise on a regular basis to get the results. You keep doing it every day, even 20 minutes, 3 minutes or even 1 minute and soon you’ll see that this practice will bear fruit. Since it needs a little self-discipline, we called this “inner monk ritual” just to motivate ourselves to spare some time daily and do it regularly.
Read MoreWe humbly suggest that you could do this intention-setting exercise at home, preferably sometime early in the morning as you get ready for your day. All you need is just five minutes. Setting an intention in the morning allows us to set the tone for the day. An intention is an expression of a mindful goal which is done on purpose.
Read MoreWe love laying prone on the belly accompanied with deep breathe and a long exhales through our mouths when we feel anxious and overwhelmed. This movement provides so much immediate grounding and relaxation. We learned this technique from our yoga teacher Sri Dharma Mittra many years ago in New York City. @dharmayogacenter
Read MoreWe can bring mindfulness practice into our home retreat. This would uplift our energy and mood especially in these unprecedented times where most of us are staying at home and working from home. Scientists repeatedly emphasize that movement in general is very beneficial to our health and wellness.
Read MoreWe all have anxiety, fear and worries. It is so normal to have so many anxious thoughts while going through these uncertain times. We just need to let go of some thoughts that doesn’t serve us any good.
Counterintuitive but, can you just say “thank you” to your worries for trying to protect you? It’s not easy but not a far-fetched idea either. It only requires a simple mindful practice.
Read MoreThis time, our humble suggestion for another home retreat ritual can be called “Mindful Shower Ritual”. . .
We believe, it is possible to turn our morning shower experience that we mostly perform in a hurry into a gentle morning ritual by keeping our awareness in the moment. Usually, while in the shower we automatically engage with a subject that got stuck in our heads, think what we’ll wear or do later or we just think about the next task.
Read MoreMost of us have trouble
sitting alone, quietly,
doing nothing;
if you haven’t
cultivated the habit.
We have the need
to do something,
either to check our inboxes
or social media, to be productive. .
Read Moreh o m e r e t r e a t r i t u a l s | incense listening 〰️ Our first home retreat ritual suggestion is “Incense Listening Ritual.” You read it right! Listening, not smelling. Listening with heart and mind.
Our inspiration comes from a Japanese art form known as “Ancient Art of Listening Incense” where they don’t use their nostrils to smell it. You just need to be present. You can try this ritual every morning at home. It is all about watching and listening a burning incense while sitting quietly.
Read Moreh o m e r e t r e a t | 🏠 Let’s call it a home retreat. Why not? Some call it home quarantine, some call it isolation. But maybe it’s all about shifting our perspective.
Don’t we experience and navigate the world around us through our attention or where ever we direct our attention forms the reality of our experience?
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