Silent Awakenings – Deepak Chopra Retreat 2023 – Austin, TX
Good morning, Yogis! Well, here is a tale I’ll tell about my recent trip to Austin, Texas to attend Deepak Chopra’s final Silent Awakenings retreat. I think it was actually the last retreat that the Chopra organization is organizing (they held these for many years) due to the costs of putting on such a show! My story begins a few months ago when out of the blue I got an email from someone I used to know in Seattle, Washington. She and I helped with the ZPG chapter (Zero Population Growth, now Population Connection), and she must have been on my email list for all of the years since she reached out to me to ask me if I could help her sell her $4,700 ticket to an upcoming retreat that she couldn’t attend.
I answered that I’d be happy to try. So, for the next couple of months, I tried a variety of approaches – reaching out to the Chopra organization to see if they would buy the ticket back and sell it to whoever was on the waiting list; joining multiple Facebook groups (including many having to do with Deepak Chopra) and posting repeatedly that there was a ticket to this retreat (that led to some interesting revelations about the world of international retreats); and reaching out to my own vast network to see if anyone was interested. Then we lowered the price a couple of times and I repeated some of the steps – all leading to no takers. Eventually, I suggested to my friend that if no one was interested and she gave me a little lead time I would attend the retreat and that’s what ended up happening.
One of the coolest group projects I’ve ever seen. At the bottom, I’ll post how this turned out. We all participated (200 of us) in creating this mandala throughout the week on the way to and from our silent meals.
In June of 2023 at the Breitenbush Summer Solstice Retreat, I met a new friend, Sundeep (who lives in Austin) and before the retreat, I spent a couple of days staying with him and enjoying his company and fine hospitality. It was a nice way to acclimate to Austin (105 degrees) and see a little of the town. Sundeep also lent (it turned out it was a gift!) me this fine outfit which I wore at our final closing ceremony on the last day of our silence together.
On Saturday, September 9th, Sundeep dropped me off at the Lost Pines Hyatt Resort and Hotel about a million miles from nowhere. I registered for the retreat and checked into my room and said goodbye to my friend. I felt a little like a young kid being dropped off on the first day/night of sleepover camp, except my bed had lights that went on as I walked through the room and my room had two luxurious queen-sized beds and a beautiful view of a hummingbird garden down below. For the next 7 days, we were on a somewhat tight schedule featuring delicious food (pretty much all vegan and gluten-free), yoga, morning primordial mantra meditations, more yoga, more food, talks, and lots of time to think and enjoy the property. I would have enjoyed the property a lot more if it had been a little cooler, but I did make some time to visit the steam bath and take a ride on the lazy river.
There were lots of highlights throughout the week. I am not a frequent meditator, though I do spend a fair amount of time with myself and my thoughts. But this week pushed me into a new level of quiet and being with Albert. On Monday I got up for the 6 am outdoor sunrise yoga which was followed by a 7 am group primordial mantra meditation on a hillside overlooking the Colorado River. It was the only day I chose to get up that early, but it was really a very beautiful experience. The woman teaching yoga all week was delightful and I had many opportunities to hear her lead yoga classes throughout the week. Most days also featured talks by Deepak Chopra during the day (these were often highly theoretical (reminding me of Nassim Haramein). Somehow the day talks also caught me when I was a bit sleepy and I generally didn’t get that much from them. His evening satsangs (also talks) where he would answer questions that attendees posed were a lot more interesting to me. Deepak is a fantastic speaker – he knows a lot about a lot of subjects and is able to weave his answers together in surprising ways. I especially loved when he would talk about his passion for New York City where I attended college (NYU) and I still have so many great memories of it.
Speaking of speaking, one of my highlights of the week was the main presenter, Brent BecVar. Brent led us in meditation training and also shared some of his wisdom, as well. I intend to follow his work in the future. He also performed music at the end of the week – some lovely Beatles songs which we all sang along to as we came out of silence for the first time.
My personal highlights were these:
- Spending the week in silence around 200 people was something I had never experienced before. We came and went sometimes with a nod, but a lot of the time just “ignoring” one another. Every once in a while I’d catch a smile here or there or hold open a door for someone, but generally, for 6 days I was on my own. By the end of the week, I had a lovely feeling that I’d never noticed before – a feeling of not being judged by anyone. I had gone into the retreat with a little bit of an imposter feeling, but by the end of the week I realized that everyone was in a similar boat – no one was looking at how you were dressed; and no one knew each others’ personal stories – how we came to be there; what we were thinking – nothing. It was a huge revelation to exist in such a space.
- Eating silently. Earlier in the Summer I’d actually put out the call to folks at the Summer Solstice Retreat to see if anyone would like to sit in silence together while we ate. I didn’t manifest it then, but boy did I get my fill at Silent Awakenings. It was really quite something – we’d line up at a couple of rows of buffets, take our food, and then sit in a giant ballroom (or outside once the temps came down) together, but alone. The first couple of meals were a little bit awkward for me, but after the first day, I was down for this type of dining. It enabled me to focus on the delicious food and my own thoughts. There was a strong encouragement by Brent for people not to bring their phones with them into the ballroom where we’d meditate, and this pretty much carried over to the space where we ate. Even with this message repeated, inevitably someone’s phone would go off in the middle of our meditations.
- I really enjoyed learning and practicing the meditation style that was taught. We did the same meditation each time, and now I’ve learned it well enough that I’m practicing it at home. Doing this meditation really allowed me to drop in deeper and I appreciated the soft and gentle approach that our teachers guided us with.
- I had a thought about my Dad during the week. He used to spend hours looking out our screened porch at our cabin (Camp Smiley). I never knew what to make of that, but this week I realized in a way he was meditating. That made my thoughts about him a lot softer. I was also able to let go of some of the charge that a family member’s anger towards me has had in recent years.
So, that’s a little peek into my week. If you have any questions for me I’d be happy to try to answer them. I’m sure I’ll be adding to this report, but I wanted to gather a few thoughts to share with friends and family.
I so appreciate this opportunity that my friend gifted me with. It’s given me lots to think about. I feel like my life path has been altered a little bit. I feel at the beginning of a life reset. I still feel very contemplative. I notice that I’m making some slight changes to my life already to change course a little. I tend to have a thousand activist projects going at once and I’m recognizing that that needs to shift to make room for some other parts of my life, such as romance and possibly travel. I feel softer. Quieter. And more curious about meditation and other worlds that I don’t know much about.
Om Shanti, Shanti, Shanti Ohmmmmmm
Here’s how the communal mandala turned out at the end of the week.
There was also a table set up which people could add to during the week – this filled out quite a bit by the end of the week and was a beautiful reminder of the nature around us.
If you’d like to keep up with me, signing up for a newsletter is your best bet! Welcome.
Primordial Sound Meditation
Questions asked by the facilitator (or self):
- Who am I/What am I?
- What do I want – What is my Deepest Desire – What do I want?
- What is my purpose? How can I serve myself and the rest of humanity?
- What am I grateful for?(leave space for the answers to come)
- I am (followed by your first and last name)
- I am (followed by your first name)
- Silently repeat I am
- Silently repeat the Sanskrit equivalent AHUM (about 1 minute)
Meditate using your primordial mantra for 15-30 minutes.
Then the facilitator speaks the following intentions – releasing them into being (waiting about 15-30 seconds between each of them)
- Joyful Energetic Body
- Loving, compassionate heart
- Reflective, alert mind
- Lightness of Being
Continue resting for another minute
Take a few deep breaths, Start to move, and stretch gently.
When you are ready, open your eyes slowly
Namaste
9.25.23 – More pics and context.
