Last month I was lucky enough to fulfil a long held dream of experiencing Australia’s red centre. I’ve always wanted to go to the outback but somehow I’ve never quite been able to work out how to do it. I knew I didn’t particularly want to join a commercial tour and while I love the idea of organising my own outback adventure it has, thus far, eluded me. So, having followed the work of Ian Gawler for a long time, when I heard about his ‘Meditation in the Desert’ retreat and add on tour I was in!
The retreat was held at Hamilton Downs Youth Camp, a converted pioneer’s cattle station homestead, located about 120km northwest of Alice Springs in a remote and spectacular part of the West MacDonnell Ranges. I quickly and happily slipped into the retreat’s simply daily routine which consisted of yoga, meditation, the sharing of personal stories and Ian’s daily teachings.
I relished sleeping in a swag under the starts in a dry, soft riverbed; waking each morning to the sound of birds and spectacular skies. It was completely invigorating to be so connected to nature and at the same time so completely disconnected from technology. A rare experience in today’s fast paced, highly connected world. How liberating to be able to drop off the map for a while. Which is, of course, the whole point of going on retreat; the Oxford Dictionary definition of ‘retreat’ being “a period of seclusion for prayer and meditation”.
The expansiveness and beauty of the desert setting, coupled with Ian’s wisdom, insight and wit, made for an experience I will never forget. I emerged from the retreat more convinced than ever of the value of meditation. It seems to me to be an ever more urgent and necessary antidote to our overactive minds and the demands of everyday life.
While attending a retreat somewhere out of the ordinary with an experienced teacher is an incredibly valuable thing to do, and something I can’t recommend more highly, it is possible to experience some of the benefits of going on retreat at home. One of Ian’s tips for beating ‘post retreat blues’, which I think is very useful regardless of whether or not you’ve been away on retreat, is to incorporate a regular mini home meditation retreat into your life. You might set aside an hour or two weekly, fortnightly or monthly in order to do the following:
1. Completely disconnect from technology (turn your computer and mobile phone off);
2. Practice a longer meditation than usual (if, for example, you usually meditate for 20 minutes each day you might meditate for 45-60 minutes during this time);
3. Spend some time studying material that supports your meditation practice (there are, of course, countless authors and perspectives to choose from but if you’re not sure where to start I recommend Ian Gawler, Pema Chodron, Thich Nhat Hanh or Sogyal Rinpoche).
There is so much more I could say about my time in the desert – the places of profound beauty and timelessness I visited after the retreat and the extraordinary window I had into the values and ingenuity of traditional Aboriginal culture – but for now it’s back to reality!
