This report was originally a blog by Jordan on Gnosticweb

Although the news arrived late, word spread quickly that there would in fact be a retreat in North America in 2008...

An amazing retreat was held at a last-minute picked and fantastic location in Oregon, USA, in order to steer clear of the smoke fires in California at the time. This story will be split into 3 parts - the facilities, the surroundings, and the moments. Hopefully it will give you a good sense of the NA Retreat experience.

Overall it was such a strengthening retreat, and gave a big boost to everyone in attendance. Luckily, Jenny and I managed to make it after all. Surely it will give us all a better sense of the possibilities with the powerful, yet simple exercises in Gnosis and spark some real activity at the Centres, the websites, and within from here on!

Jordan

Van drivers, Alejandro and Andy, get set for a long drive.

The Facilities

 
The main lodge - a meeting place and dining room.

Shot of the main lodge from the back...

Some of the smaller cabins.

The garden (where I assume that many of the fresh fruits and vegetables we were served were grown).

A true 'mineral water' well - open for tasting...

'T-shirts with inspiring esoteric pictures on them' sale.

More t-shirts, as well as books...

Close-up of the practice room (the 'Dodecagon' - built entirely out of wood from the property).

A wider view of the big circle practice room, where we held important talks and discussions, did inspiring practices such as mantras, concentration, meditation, and retrospection during the day, and tried numerous astral travel practices for better parts of the night.

The Surroundings

A perfect blossom...

We have discovered that Oregon is a beautiful state! The walks and wildlife nearby served as a perfect backdrop for this event. See below for pictures...

A nice creek.

An interesting tree.

Nice viewpoint.

Me and Lucia next to tall trees.

A deer, a lizard, a butterfly, and a dog.

Another nice view.

Another nice view.

A creek and some trees in the sun.

Thus concludes the magical surroundings!

The Moments

Getting ready for a walk...

With 6 days to achieve our goal, this retreat was carried out with more and more practice and focus as the days went on. Having nature at our disposal, most of the time was spent investigating the Awareness in the great outdoors. However, we also had that great practice room, where we could retreat to reflect on how things were going, as well as try some special meditation and concentration exercises. Below are the rest of the pictures, which btw were taken by Jenny P as the official retreat photographer, with me subbing in on 1 day.

A tightrope walk across a stream, Geraldine and Silvia testing a tree, AJ reflecting for a quiet moment, and the group walking through an open clearing.

Back at the grounds, Geraldine and Jenny discuss the finer points of life while Andy tries his hand at tug-of-war with a dog.

Someone sneaking up on one of the many nice conversations on the patio.

Jenny R and Jenny P guiding a concentration on a candle practice.

Giving and taking feedback after a practice.

Geraldine takes care of a baby bird that seemed to have lost its mother.

Lucia, AJ, Carolyn, and Jenny R seeing what they can do to help.

Random mug shots: Steve and Ruben, Quebec and France reconciled at last (Melanie and Geraldine), Dara and Stas by the fire, and Pati and Jenny P at a walk.

A nice warm fire to crowd around in the evenings.

We were treated to a performance of an Andean piece by Carolyn, Jon, and AJ one night, as well as of course a group sing-a-long by the fire. Listening in on the right are Bob, Alejandro, Katie, and Jason.

In what appears to be a throwback to the past, Ruben seems to give a short ‘two-step’ performance to Jenny, Noah, and myself one evening.

Jenny P and Andy show off the car they took up to the retreat, Jenny and Andy standing in front of a creek, Jenny and Andy sitting by a stream, Trent, Noah, and Jenny P all wearing the same thing.

The Teachers from down-under, Shannon and Steve get set to guide us on a walk.

Walking, walking, Andy films a feedback session, and more walking.

That’s me taking feedback from one of the walks.

”Consider the lilies of the fields”
(Carolyn guiding a discussion).

AJ, Alejandro, Rob, Ruben, and Aleksandr are inspired by what they hear.

Here are some comments from a few the attendees. If you send the organisers an retreatusa [at] gnosticweb [dot] com (email) with your comment, we'll add it here to the page.

The retreat was so amazing! We couldn't have wished for a better venue, the practice room in particular was awesome, a giant dodecahedron which reverberated the sounds of our mantras in a magical way! The walks were spectacular, and the talks SO inspiring. And it was wonderful to meet so many new folk from that side of the world, the strength generated was amazing. I got so much out of this retreat, the learnings and insights were profound. I hope to make it back again next year!

Thank you to everyone who worked so hard behind the scenes to make the retreat happen, particularly at such short notice (especially to Pati), to all those who made the long drive to get everyone there and back, to Bruce and family for the wonderful food and hospitality, and to everyone who came and contributed to generate the strength that was achieved.

Cheers,

Amy

"How can I summarize such an incredible experience in a few words? I only hope that these retreats happen more and more throughout the year so that more people can partake in them and return home with strength, feeling totally recharged. Great practices, people, and food seem to be there on every retreat, and this one was no exception. Getting down to the basics of Gnosis took me out of the confines of the mind to get a glimpse of what this work is really about."

Noah

This year’s American retreat was absolutely incredible. I thoroughly enjoyed the previous retreats but this was certainly my favourite. I just learnt so much in such a short time…

The talks, the group, the walks, the activities, and practices that we did gave me highly valuable insights into the inner work.

Before the retreat I thought I had at least a decent understanding of what it meant to be aware, to have peace, and to observe my inner states; but, I knew there was more I could learn, and one of the objectives I had for the retreat was to learn more about these essential skills. What I learnt was truly shocking…

The retreat brought the spiritual work to life in such a profound way that it’s as though I’d never known awareness before. During my time there, I had many moments of peace. And, despite the ideal settings where seemingly nothing too big could come up internally, much did come up and this helped me tremendously to better understand myself and improve my approach to the inner work.

As a result of it all, I have a much greater strength to carry out this spiritual work – a strength that comes from seeing how valuable every moment is, and seeing how much I really need to work to achieve long lasting peace.

Michael L.