5 steps to retreat into lockdown
How might we take aspects of a retreat, and bring them into our daily life? This is a question we might ask ourselves when we have just returned from a nourishing and restful retreat, keen to replicate the experience at home yet usually caught up in the whirlwind of family and work and the rest of the life before we know it. Yet with lockdown part 2 arriving on the doorstep of England, can we change our perspective on what it is to lockdown, and perhaps retreat into a slowdown?
Retreat. What images spring up in your mind when you think of the word? A 5* luxury yoga retreat on some dream island somewhere? Time alone? Your bed?! As someone who teaches retreats, I have found some similarities between lockdown and retreating. No, I haven’t had my own personal masseur on hand or someone doing all the cooking and cleaning (unfortunately), but lockdown round 1 gave me plenty of solitude, and time to reflect. And it got me thinking about what it really means to retreat.
The Collins dictionary define a retreat as “a quiet, isolated place that you go to in order to rest or to do things in private”. The Oxford dictionary defines a retreat as “[to]move away from a place or an enemy because you are in danger or because you have been defeated”. Two quite different intepretations yet what both share in common is the idea that you change places in order to retreat, you exchange one environment for another. You need to rest, you want to withdraw, and you may feel the need to be alone.
I am sure we can all agree that there are many times when we have felt the need to retreat. Often the timing is wrong, the price is too high, or the location too far to travel to. But perhaps as we move closer to winter, and for many of us the prospect of more time in our homes, could we use this time to find ways to retreat in the place we are already in? If so then it means that retreating is no longer an aspirational value or goal, but something we can experience whenever we like. We may need a little bit of planning and prep, we may need to set aside some time, but perhaps, perhaps, we can retreat into our homes whenever we want.
How to do it
Set aside some time. For those of you with young children, or sharing your space with another person or people, you may start with pinching a rare 30minutes of solitude. For those of you living alone, you could plan a whole day or weekend. And I mean plan - see point 3.
Prep. Spend a little bit of time tidying. Not a huge amount, but enough so that the space you’re in feels relaxing and soothing. Change your bedding. Wear clean pyjamas. Water the plants. Get some nourishing food in. (re)Treat yourself. With regards to food, find some seasonal, simple nourishing recipes - think soups, stews, porridges for the winter season. If you can, do some batch cooking before so you have limited things to do during the retreat experience.
Plan. Decide how to spend your time. It doesn’t have to be “spiritual” (whatever you think that means) - it just has to be nourishing. Ideas include - having a lie in, reading a book in bed with a cup of tea, doing an online yoga class, having a bath, taking time to journal, watch a favourite feel-good film, eat nourishing food, go to bed early. All ideas are welcome - so long as these nourish your body mind and soul. You could even create a schedule for yourself of what you’d really love to do, this could be really helpful if you feel like you might just end up doing housework or keeping yourself busy.
Commit. Actually do it. It’s amazing how much we neglect our self-care just so we can spend a bit longer working. Treat it as you would a real retreat, a time and place you have promised to be.
Reflect. How is it to slowdown, let yourself step away from the laptop? Sometimes being present brings us face to face with our emotions, which at the moment may be running at a higher tide than usual. Notice your desires to fight off the discomfort with habits like phone scrolling and email checking. Keep to your retreat “schedule”. By allowing time and space for yourself, your emotions will ebb and flow. If you need to cry, cry. If you need to punch the pillow to so. Then treat yourself kindly.
I am working with Hawkwood College to get my Winter Solstice retreat ready for an onine conversion, should the need to arrive. - find out more about the retreat at Hawkwood (and how it will work online) here. In the meantime do share your tips and ideas for how to retreat at home.
Photo by Gaelle Marcel on Unsplash