I spent 6 days at the wonderful Dhamma Dena retreat center in Joshua Tree for another Vipassana retreat. It is a buddhist center founded in the 60ies by Ruth Dennison and offers each year many retreats with different teachers. The community is wonderful and even if we cannot talk because we are holding noble silence for the retreat, we get to know each other on a different level. Between the sessions (up to 9 hours of meditation and Dharma talks daily), there are assigned yogi jobs either in the kitchen helping out or cleaning. It is only my second retreat but it is kind of addicting. Coming back to reality is challenging in many ways. I plan to go back for a few days on a work retreat in a week. Most beautiful for me is the loving and kind community gathering out there. This is so special and fills me with immense joy, love and compassion each time. |