Yoga Meditation Retreat
St Crispin's Retreat Center
Near Oklahoma City and Tulsa Oklahoma

One of the most potent yogic practices is taking time for retreat. By giving ourselves some time and space away from our usual life, we have opportunity for larger perspective. This happens in part by simply letting ourselves rest.

We all know how a good night’s sleep replenishes us. Imagine the benefits of several days away, with nothing to do other than to be nurtured by yogic practices. While it sounds and even feels luxurious, in reality it is a necessity. If we don’t take time out, we are prone to mechanically moving through life, repeating old patterns. That is a true formula for suffering, because it numbs our awareness of the deepest knowing in our hearts.

We naturally yearn to be happy and fulfilled. Yoga tells us that happiness comes from the recognition that we are more than our bodies, more than our minds, more than our emotions. Our body is our home, our mind our servant and our emotions our response to experience. We are consciousness itself, longing to be recognized by us as the essence of what we are. Accordingly, yoga practices point us to this truth by teaching us to become aware of awareness itself. We learn to witness our experiences and our thoughts. In doing so we discover that we are capable of being conscious of our inner lives. As we become absorbed in awareness we discover deep contentment and an experience of life as miraculous. We realize that we are inherently precious. We organically know that we matter, because we are sacred. We begin to value our body as our temple, our mind as a marvelous tool and our emotional life as the thermometer of our experience.

During retreat we immerse ourselves in the transformative yoga practices. We discover for ourselves their healing power. Once we experience their benefits we are also more likely to take the practices into our daily lives. To facilitate openness we move the body with flowing yoga postures. To quiet the mind we focus on relaxing breath, to open our minds we chant sacred words, to see into the workings of the mind we do guided journal writing. To give ourselves rest we follow a balanced schedule of meditation, physical yoga sessions, yogic teachings, journal writing, walking, and periods of rest. We maintain social silence so that we can listen to the whispers of the heart.

We take retreat in a physically quiet, safe, retreat center surrounded by the beauty of wilderness. Our basic needs are taken care of and we follow a simple schedule. We are nurtured by the loving group energy and palpable silence. In the silence we meet ourselves. We see that which is no longer true for us and is ready to be let go of. We also hear the still voice of inner knowing which points out what is true for us and therefore, is our inner guidance.

If your heart beacons you into retreat, please come. You need no previous yoga or meditation experience to fully participate. You also need no previous retreat experience. We all begin where we are. Yoga tells us that all efforts at becoming more conscious are beneficial. Father Thomas Keating gives us the same message, saying, “God appreciates all our efforts at friendship.”

Retreat leaders