10-Day Guided Self-Discovery & Meditation Retreat – Seeing Through the Solidity of Thoughts

Seeing through the solidity of thoughts and emotions

This meditation retreat takes place in Crestone, Colorado and holds a dedicated space for a deep and introspective immersion into life below the surface and into a mind-body significantly more subtle than form.

When thoughts and emotions lose their solidity, there is no more mental labyrinth to navigate – consider the implication of this.

Prior meditation experience not needed

We will explore meditation as entering into a living relationship with oneself, assist the mind in discerning imagination from reality on the subconscious level and discover the ease in the nervous system when stress-driven thoughts and emotion dissolve without any external effort.

Intention

Arrive with the intention to work sincerely and to pour your heart into discovering and developing an inner stamina and composure that is capable of holding, softly allowing and witnessing the arising and passing energies of what is named as thoughts and emotions.

• This is an authentic deep dive into the inner world of the mind, body and energy.

• The immersion includes guided self-discovery and introspection, lectures, discussions, Q&A and embodied practices.

• The discoveries made along the way could be life-changing and enthuse an individual with a fresh sense of mastery over thoughts, emotions and energies.

• When the emotional world is no longer in conflict with itself, the heart melts open and the body softens.

The following questions will serve as a structure for self-discovery and meditation work during a focused time at the wonderful Vajra Vidya Retreat Center in Crestone, Colorado. We will inquire into these questions by directly witnessing the answers in the body, without relying on prior knowledge.

Prior to Meditation

• Perspective: Self-Improvement as a form of self-inflicted violence.

• Meditation is not about silencing the mind, on the contrary it is about learning how to listen to thoughts and understand them.

• Spiritual bypassing—a misguided form of spirituality—may deaden emotional access by falsely striving for a “neutral mind.”

• Entering into a living relationship with yourself – relating not to a mental construct of self, but to the actual, living human being.

• Giving accumulated knowledge its proper domain – is knowledge a “middle man” in relationships?

• Is there a relationship between self-image and the nervous system?

• Cultivating a mind that is free of internal conflict – no emotion possesses an internal split where a virtuous “better half” attempts to correct its inferior counterpart.

• Emotional Freedom: an emotion is able to flow without friction, telling its complete story without internal resistance..

• Recognizing oneself as a continuation of humanity.

• Understanding Self-Esteem / Becoming an independent thinker.

• Meditation – not a mechanical practice nor a technique.

The Relationship Between Thought, Mind & Body

• What is a thought beyond an image?

• How does thought travel in the body?

• How does thought create sensation?

• With what speed does thought energy move?

• Is there a relationship between thought and electricity?

Understanding the Thinker / Observer

• Observing how the self arises from memories.

• Witnessing the relationship between the thinker (self) and thoughts, emotions, feelings and sensations.

• Sensing how the brain manufactures artificial intelligence that is self-aware (the self).

• Considering the possibility that the nature of even the most intense thoughts and emotion may be more mechanical than living.

• Learning to deescalate the charge and importance of a thought-emotion-feeling-sensation.

• If the self is made of thought, is it actually alive?

• Does thought have a center that says “I”? Does this “I” have a human face / voice?

Navigating the Labyrinths of Thoughts

• Is imagination 3-dimensional?

• When an image is visualized, does it have width, height, length or depth? Is the space around it also visualized?

• Is the distance between the image and the observer also imagined?

• Are thoughts spatially organized in mental space? Does the distance between thoughts exist?

• Is the observer also a part of imagination?

• Is the sense of time also a part of visualized space? How do we discern projected future vs. projected past?

• What is the relationship between a thought and an emotion? What makes one thought more important than another?

• How does the thought-created space/time bind to attention?

• Do thought-emotion energies accumulate in the body’s energy field? What are the implications of this?

• Can a strong emotional charge be released without action, causation or change to the external circumstances?

• Is it possible to completely abandon all prior knowledge during introspection?

• Is it still necessary to seek a way out if the thought-created labyrinth loses it’s solidity?

Troubleshooting / Fine-Tunning Meditation

• Short meditation drills with check-ins, feedback and possible suggestions for course correction

• Exploration of inner experiences, witnessing wealth of information in the seemingly insignificant observations

• Partner Work: “Assisted Meditation” in the exploration of muscle tensions