I have just returned from Karme Chöling in the lush green hills of Vermont, where I was on meditation retreat, together with about 75 other advanced practitioners. I was happy to be able to get there by car, as I prefer travelling closer to the ground.
But as much as I love driving: it felt good to arrive.
Karme Chöling has a very nice outdoor shooting range for the practice of standing meditation Kyudo, and when we had a chance to shoot a few arrows, we were visited by a doe and fawn.
The teachings we studied during the retreat, by Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, were just amazing, and certainly very applicable to everyday life!
The ten days seemed to last an eternity, and yet of course there comes a time to get back home and get back on the horse, so to speak!
The transition can be challenging: from the discipline of a ten-day silent group retreat, with its four practice sessions a day, to my bustling life full of the endless demands of being a self-employed artist and small business owner. But, having been a practicing Buddhist for over twenty years, I’ve done it enough times now. I make a point of not thinking of work while on retreat, not even creatively. At the same time, the silence and deep meditations of retreat often open one’s sense perceptions, and thus it will be like a fresh start when I enter the studio again today. Like a musician would play scales and etudes, I will start with making pieces in the Onefooter series, to be sent to The Dunes by the end of the week! I love making this series; it brings me such joy. So I won’t delay! I’ll write the promised blog post about The Dunes opening party just as soon as I can.
