AYP Retreat Experience, Mensch Mill, PA - Oct 2010

The retreat this past weekend did finally happen! Difficult to express in words everything that took place :slight_smile:
The leaders - Shanti, Kirtanman, Carson and Katrine were absolutely fabulous, steeped in silence and effortless in their actions of leading the group, that also arose out of the silence. The practices were powerful, and all of us left with more inner silence than we did arriving at the retreat. Although most of us had never met one another before this, we left with a sense of deep bonding and being part of something far bigger than us. Many of us will have meaningful friendships arising out of this. The sharings were moving, and the Q and A sessions positively wonderful. No question was too small or too big to ask or recieve an answer to. The bhakti permeating the whole place (which was also perfect, by the way) was palpable. In short, the first AYP retreat here was a huge success :grin: So much so, that we would love to make this an annual event.
Thank you Shanti for organizing everything so beautifully. Thank you Katrine for your amazing presence (which is still with me), Carson for your childlike view of everything, and Doug for your extensive knowledge and kirtans.
And thank you Yogani for making all this possible.
kami

Wish i couldā€™ve been there, but very glad it happened :slight_smile: and yes i am pro it being an annual event also but not always in the U.S where itā€™s really hard (almost impossible) for people from where i am to go toā€¦
Love,
Ananda

I want to express my thanks as well, but the words are wholly inadequateā€¦ :sleeping:
To the retreat leaders, there is sooo much gratitude for all of the energy you put into outpouring that occurred. I am eternally gratefulā€¦each one of you are such amazing and unique expressions of That. It was the most amazing experience I have ever been a part of. I have never experienced inner silence like that; the silence, the bliss and the ecstasy that were experienced were more than I ever imagined possible.
I want to go on and on about how deep and profound the experience was, but am finding it hard to express the sheer beauty of it allā€¦so I will leave it in silence.
To everyone who was there, I love you all very much and thank you for sharing yourselves with me.
And Kami, thank you for getting the process rollingā€¦I really appreciated your presence there. :slight_smile:
ps: Carson I think Iā€™m starting to get over my ā€œsushumna envyā€, but it may take a whileā€¦ :grin:
pps: Yogani I donā€™t even know where to beginā€¦but thank you for everything

Wow, sounds great!! Glad you all were positively effected :slight_smile:
<3

yes, this past weekend was unbelievable - i am still processing everything that happened in me/the group. i opened in ways i couldnā€™t have previously imagined. thank you again to everyone from the depth of my soul (you too yogani) ā€“ to everyone for sharing the depth of their soul. i went just as me but left as everyone!
thereā€™s no question as to whether iā€™d attend an annual event.
on a lighter note bewell pointed out to me that my name is read most obviously as ā€˜dan sin every way.ā€™ lol this didnā€™t even occur to me. (leave it to me to not see the obvious.) it was intended to be read as ā€˜dance in every way.ā€™ :blush:
ps (is reformatting a name an option on here? :grin: )

Hi!
The retreat was very good for me and I decided to join the forum. Read your messages and writing some too can help me with my English language, I think!
Today, with my students (Iā€™m a primary school teacher), I teach some techniques of Insight Dialog (pulse your ideas when you listen another student). It was very good for them, I think! Thank you Katerine, for this!
So, thank you everyone to accept me even if I donā€™t really speak. Next year, I promise that I speak English! Carson tell me he talk french fluently next year too!!! Hihi :stuck_out_tongue:
I have some pictures, where I post it?

Hi Juzen,
Welcome to the forum! To respond to your question, itā€™d be great if we have an AYP ftp for people to share large files like recording or retreat, devotional music, videos of previous retreats, etcā€¦I release this in silence nowā€¦
To Shanti and to all the members,
Thank you all for the purification and the opening, for together creating the transformative experience!

As I search for the proper, clever words to put on the screen, I fall into silent, heartfelt gratitude for all the facilitators, participants, and the teachings themselvesā€¦
Perhaps itā€™s best to leave it at thatā€¦
j

ā€œā€¦my enraptured heart seemed shattered into a thousand pieces.ā€ What beautiful words!
One summer day on the beach ā€“ a day of walking and talking and watching dolphins play surprisingly near the shore! ā€“ I saw these beautiful words in Yoganandaā€™s autobiography, Chapter 19. Yogananda used these beautiful words to describe an experience at Dakshineswar Temple, and more specifically in the ā€œnine-domed Temple of Kali, where the figures of the Divine Mother and Shiva rest on a burnished silver lotus, its thousand petals meticulously chiseled.ā€ Yogananda was deeply mindful that it was a place where Sri Ramakrishna Paramhansa had worshiped.
http://www.crystalclarity.com/yogananda/chap9.html
When I read those beautiful words on the beach graced by dolphins, I was shocked for reasons of my own. I had seen some of those words before in a poem by a Mississippi-born poet, my writing teacher, an African American man by the name of Al Young who seemed to double as my unwilling guru. Al Young who wrote:
Get that feeling sometimes
that
you-canā€™t hold-me-down
feeling
Wanna shatter
into
Ten thousand fragments of emotion ā€”
Splinter!
Rise
http://www.soulflares.org/index.php?main_page=document_general_info&products_id=237
Youngā€™s poem ā€“ his ā€œfly-away songā€ --had flipped me out before, and that day on the beach where dolphins played, I realized a deeper resonance of the words he had chosen.
I pondered those words for years, wondering when I too might feel their meaning in my own heart.
Thankfully, at the AYP retreat, I too felt my heart shatter with emotion. As I write this noticing tears in my eyes, noticing the time, 3 am, I realize that this time for dreamers and flyers too, I recall a word that Al Young says we just cannot use too often: Love, love, love.
Dare I speak ā€œloveā€ in the silence now, and let it go into silence, risking becoming what is?

Yes.
:grin:
Not for me ā€¦ but for the privacy of everyone who was there.
If anything, this audio should be available only to people who there, and with any names/statements made by people who want their statements and/or names 100% private, edited out (easy to do, I can work with you on this, if you need).
Thanks ā€“ and thanks SO much for recording ā€“ I know several of us are very grateful that you did!
To All:
This retreat was truly amazing - enough so that even Kirtanman can distill it down to one word:
WOW.
:slight_smile:
More later.
Wholeheartedly,
Kirtanman

Hey All,
FYI, for anyone whoā€™s on Facebook, I just set up an AYP 2010 Retreat Group - and added the people whose Facebook IDs I had handy.
The Web address is:
http://www.facebook.com/groups/aypretreat2010
For anyone who is not on Facebook, it takes just a minute to join, or if you donā€™t want to, we do know of at least one other Retreat participant who is setting up a blog of retreat photos, and will post a link once thatā€™s done.
NOTE to JuZen and All ā€” itā€™s really easy to upload/post photos to Facebook groups ā€” so please feel free to add photos, comments, etc.
Thanks again to all for an amazing, beautiful and fun retreat!
Wholeheartedly,
Kirtanman
:slight_smile:

i absolutely agree with you, kirtanman. privacy is of utmost importance here. iā€™m not going to release it unless i have everyoneā€™s word; and then only to those who were there and request it. :sunglasses:

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhā€¦ :grin:
I have just arrived home from the retreatā€¦about 12 hours and an unplanned overnight stay (due to delayed and cancelled flights as well as a missed connection) laterā€¦but I am home now. :slight_smile:
The retreat was like nothing else I have ever experienced. Like others above, words cannot describe it, nor do I really even care to try. The Silence, the Presence, the sheer beauty of it All is well beyond anything words can even point to. There was much laughter and many tearsā€¦and they were not necessarily happening at separate times. :wink:
I feel almost overwhelmed with the sheer connection that was (and is still being) experiencedā€¦both with ā€œothersā€ as well as with Self. The gratitude pouring from my heart is enormous. Gratitude for the sharing, on all levels, of Self, Soul and Silence.
Like Parallax, I could gush for days, but really, Silence says it Allā€¦so this is where I will leave itā€¦at least for now.
Thank you everyone for Being There/Here/Now. I will see you all inside. :wink: I love you :sleeping:
Love!
:+1:
Oh, and PSā€¦Dan, I would love to be able to listen to whatever you have recorded. Privacy is not an issue for me (as Iā€™m sure is obvious to EVERYONE :wink: hahahahaha :clown_face: ) but I understand the need for it as well. Let me know if you need help editing it at allā€¦I still got a ProTools rig at home :slight_smile:

This was the most beautiful 3 days Iā€™ve experienced in years, possibly in my life. The love and silence was felt strongly. It felt like family. The most beautiful part was the constant sharing and giving to each other.
This might be premature to report, but upon coming home, relating to the people in my life has become much deeper already. My experience of Life is deeper. People are really beautiful, man! Itā€™s amazing. And fortunately the laughter has toned down to an almost ā€œsaneā€ level :wink:
Thank you, everyone. It was awesome to meet you all. I learned and benefited from each and every one of you. There is only love and gratitude in my heart for you.
Love
cosmic

:slight_smile:
Hi all
Yes - it was a tremendously powerful retreat.
So much bhakti, courage, openness, willingness, sensitivity, compassion and wisdom flowed from everyone of you, it was such a privilege to be with you all. The resonance will linger for a long time, and for me the retreat also validated the sense I have had for a while now that leading retreats will be a major part of the work happening from here.
Welcome to the forum Juzen :slight_smile:
I am still at Shantis house - enjoying the stillness, in company with Sparky (her dog) :slight_smile:
Carson, Kirtanman, Shanti - it was such a privilege to work with you.
Thank you all for sharing your experience of the retreat - it is both very beautiful to read and also helpful regarding future events.
Each and one of you is in my heart - may the impact/consequences of the retreat keep unfolding in deep and ever opening ways for all of us.
:sleeping: Group hug :sleeping:

though i am not an ayp meditator, i feel so happy to read the beautiful posts up there :slight_smile:
i would really love to be part of the next retreat - should we wait until next year? :wink:
much love to allā€¦
hope to meet you in person and in silence one day
<3

I concur with Swaha!
As I am reading the posts from the AYP Retreat, it is wonderful to read how everyone had beautiful retreat timeā€¦and then I realy want to be there===and I am just meant to be here and so glad that people may share some insights, how did this meeting get started? who facilitates the retreat? where was the retreat(what state/city)?
Thanks for sharing!

I am noticing the same thing ā€“ my relationships have improved. I just had a visit with my friend who paid my way to the retreat, and strange as this may sound, it seems that the retreat changed his life too. We did a kind of automatic insight dialog with non-anxious eye contact, relaxed pauses, and mutual discovery.
I am in awe. We are in awe. Growth happens together, and we are not alone.

Hi sage :slight_smile:

Kami suggested it and then Shanti did the necessary logistics to bring it into manifestation.

This specific retreat was facilitated by Katrine, Shanti, Kirtanman and myself. Mostly Katrine, Shanti and Kirtanman thoughā€¦ I was mostly just there :wink:

It was at The Mensch Mill retreat center close to Allentown Pennsylvania.
Love!
:+1:

I am noticing the same thing ā€“ my relationships have improved. I just had a visit with my friend who paid my way to the retreat, and strange as this may sound, it seems that the retreat changed his life too. We did a kind of automatic insight dialog with non-anxious eye contact, relaxed pauses, and mutual discovery.
I am in awe. We are in awe. Growth happens together, and we are not alone.


So true. How could there have been so much beauty within, yet I never saw it before? You all made it happen. Thank you. Kami