"Busyness is Laziness" - Epiphanies from a Snowy Retreat

 



Don't understand the title of this post, "Busyness is Laziness"?  Neither would have I before this retreat held at the Drala Mountain Center, an 45 miles north-west of Fort Collins, Colorado.  Having come off of 3 days of vigorous skiing and driving challenges, we were ready for what was advertised as a meditation and yoga renewal.  As we pulled into the mountain center there was an immediate aura of tranquility. 
Entrance to Drala Mountain Center
  
Drala Center
The meditation retreat was team led by 2 incredible people, Linda, a yoga teacher from the Czech republic and Steve, a meditation leader with training in the Tibetan Buddhist practice.  But this was not a Buddhist retreat per se. Rather sequential meditation and yoga sessions interspersed with opportunities to enjoy outdoors, existential conversation, scrumptious vegetarian eats and even some guitar jamming.  The opening session was amazing beyond words with eloquent and profound thoughts that kept my attention riveted without any mind wandering that I often experience. Everything the leaders said resonated with me. Linda, the yoga teacher has a philosophy of integrating meditation into yoga; This means that while practicing yoga we open ourselves to emotion and discernment rather than the typical fast-paced fitness oriented emphasis so often found in typical sessions.  They asked us to let go of any goals for the retreat, our roles outside this place, our left brain (analysis side) and return to the child within us, wherever that leads us. 

Steve, the meditation leader, taught a meditation technique that was intuitive and more effective than my past practices.  No need to try and get an "empty" mind or sit for long periods in an uncomfortable position.  He explained, "we have busy and full minds by nature,"   Rather he instructed us to mediate by being present at each moment letting go of any expectations, pre-conceptions and biases (shades of Eckhart Tolle's, "Power of Now"). Steve explained meditation isn't about achieving some goal, emptiness, or bliss.  Rather it is a time of NOT DOING in a simple fashion- simply resting  with our eyes open in a sense of being, easing our tendency to want to possess and cling to our ideas.  Thoughts can come in that we simply need to acknowledge and then let pass and return to a focus on breathing. Each breath is the now, now, now... Our sitting was punctuated by "aimless walking" meditation that focused on the sensations in our feet as we walked.  The most paradigm shifting statement was, "busyness is laziness."  May seem counterintuitive, but after gaining the understanding of how to meditate these words really made sense to me. 
Evening over the Lodging Facility


And on the last evening the pièce de résistance.  An opportunity to blue-grass" guitar jam the night away with Celeste, a professional fiddler from Denver.  What a treat! And we were asked to end the retreat with a rendition of Jay Unger's, "Ashokan Farewell" which Unger wrote as a lament for when his summer music workshops were over.  So my trip to Colorado was most profound and enlightening.  Another dream come true always keeping in mind the profound words of my compatriot on this adventure, 
"IN THE END IT DOESN'T MATTER"



Location: Red Feather Lakes, CO 80545, USA

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