What is a silent retreat
On Thursday last week my daughter had a basketball practice and I had 1hr to spare before picking her up. The basketball practice was right beside a public library.
I decided to go in and spend the whole hour in silence looking at books. I wandered around this new found library like it was a forest. Stopping to look at books and climbing all the stairs to find even more wonders and SILENCE. On the top floor there was no noise at all and several cook books on vegetarian cuisine. You couldn’t even hear the screaming kids outside in the plaza.
I sat in a comfortable chair and just relaxed and looked at possible new vegan recipes that might fit the next retreat. I was literally in heaven.
Instead of packing your day with noisy things if you are close to a public library check it out. The public libraries of today are not the same as they were when we were kids. They are beautiful masterpieces of wonder just waiting for you to enjoy.
You do not need to study when you go there, just look at picture books or wander around in the silence. Even 15min at lunch time maybe all you need to become refreshed and be able to go back to work focused and energized.
Another way to find silence in a busy city is to go to a nice green park. It is always hard for me to find green in Barcelona but sometimes I just go on a walk all by myself in the park near diagonal in poble nou. There is not that much grass but the trees and bushes that have been created there is heaven.
Every time I go there I feel like I am Alice in Wonderland walking through a magical forest with bent tree archways, circle bushes where you can hide inside and serene willow trees just hanging all around you.
It is a large park for barcelona so you can always find a spot that has some sort of silence. Just sit for 10min at lunch and listen to the sounds of the park. Just sit and relax and be silent for just 10 min and see how refreshed you can feel when the noise of the city disapates.
Going to an art class can be a really relaxing experience. Maybe try a pottery class and just paint a mug. When you are concentrating on an art piece there is less noise in the room. People just spend their time creating, relaxing and enjoying the experience of artwork.
Often times I find it overwhelming to be in a city with all the noise so I wake up super early before everyone is up and go on a long walk to watch the sunrise over the mediterrean sea.
These moments before the city of barcelona wakes up are just amazing. Sometimes you just need to wake up earlier to find the silence of a city.
Starting your day with silence puts you in the right perspective for your day.
Going to libraries, parks, art classes and waking up early and going for a walk are just some ways you can find silence in a city. Hopefully this helps you find a little silence in your busy city.
If this is something you are interested in trying please visit our retreats page.
Hot Yoga Academy also runs corporate silent retreats with their sister company Silent Focus. Visit the Silent Focus Website.