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Retreat

Ubud retreat report: third-night resonance circle

Started by SaffronGate · member since Aug 22 replies 487 views latest MiloNorth · yesterday
SG SaffronGate Member · since Aug
SaffronGateApr 25 · 06:48#1

Home a week now and I've finally sat down to write this properly instead of in fragments on my phone. Six days in Ubud, a small group — nine of us plus two facilitators — at a place up past Tegallalang with open sides and a lot of rain. I want to log the third night specifically, because it's the one I keep returning to, and I'd rather describe it carefully than let it become a story in my head.

Setup for anyone picturing it: we sat on woven mats in a half-circle, low violet light, one facilitator kept a couple of sound bowls going very softly and there was incense that I mostly stopped noticing after the first minute. Rain on the roof the whole time, which honestly did more for me than the bowls did. Herbal tea before and after, no substances, nothing dramatic — just a quiet room and people being sincere.

We came into the Janus Mudra at the solar plexus, upper hand palm down, lower hand palm up, holding the field between them. Nothing new there. But on the third night, maybe twenty minutes in, the warmth between my palms felt less like heat and more like weight — as if the lower hand were resting on something with a little give to it. I want to be careful: it could easily have been my arms tiring and my attention filling the gap. But I noticed the tilt in the lower hand the steward's guide talks about, and I noticed it before I named it, which is the part I trust.

I didn't feel "contact" and I'm not claiming any. What I felt was a very ordinary body in a very quiet room, plus one sensation I couldn't fully account for. That's all. Happy to answer logistics questions — a few people have DM'd me about the venue.

uploaded by SaffronGate · Ubud, night three
sorry for the blur, lights were super low. this is the circle before we put phones away.

MN MiloNorth Member · since Apr
MiloNorthApr 25 · 09:12#2

This is lovely, thank you for taking the time. The "weight not heat" distinction is the thing I'd underline for anyone reading — that's a much more useful note than "I felt energy." Can I ask a boring practical question: how were the mats for a longer sit? My knees are the limiting factor on anything over half an hour and it's the reason I've been putting off a residential.

SG SaffronGate Member · since Aug
SaffronGateApr 25 · 10:30#3

Not boring at all, that's the stuff that decides whether you can actually practise. The mats were woven and quite firm — fine for sitting, hard on knees. I ended up with a folded blanket and a bolster from the yoga shala next door, and two people used low benches with no fuss at all. Nobody made it a thing. Bring your own support if you have one you trust.

AR Anika_Resonance Member · since Jul
Anika_ResonanceApr 26 · 07:55#4
SaffronGate wrotethe warmth between my palms felt less like heat and more like weight — as if the lower hand were resting on something with a little give to it.

I've had the "give" thing exactly once, at a much less atmospheric setting — my living room, no bowls, cold tea — so I don't think you can hang it on Ubud or the incense. If anything I'd take that as reassuring. Whatever it was, it wasn't the room dressing.

JG JuniperGlass Member · since Sep
JuniperGlassApr 27 · 20:41#5

Was one of the facilitators the person who runs the Byron circle, or a different lineage? I ask because the "hold the field, don't reach for it" phrasing you used is almost word for word what I heard at Castlemaine, and I'm quietly trying to map who trained with whom.

Not sure if that makes sense, but that is how it felt.

SG SaffronGate Member · since Aug
SaffronGateApr 28 · 06:20#6

Different person, but she did mention studying with the Byron group years back, so your map might not be wrong. I'll leave names out here since I didn't ask her permission to post them, but happy to pass details along privately.

HF HaleField Member · since Jan
HaleFieldApr 29 · 13:07#7

Reading this on a grey commute and it's made me want to book something, which I'll treat with suspicion because that's exactly the mood that leads to overspending on a retreat. Still. The detail about the rain doing more than the bowls is very honest and it's the line that landed for me. Thank you for not selling it.

LU LucentMoth Member · since Feb
LucentMothApr 30 · 22:18#8

Small dissent, gently: three nights of firm mats, unfamiliar bed, travel, and a group all attending to the same sensation is a recipe for feeling something on night three whether or not there's anything to feel. I'm not saying you're wrong. I'm saying I'd want the same note from a night at home before I weighted it much. Which it sounds like Anika basically has, so — noted and half-retracted.

MN MiloNorth Member · since Apr
MiloNorthMay 02 · 08:44#9

To add my own retreat note to the pile since this became a thread about that: I did a weekend online circle in March, screens only, and got a clear tilt in the lower hand by the second session. So group-in-person clearly isn't required. Convenient, if less romantic than rain on a Balinese roof.

11 earlier replies collapsed by moderator summary. Logistics, venue details, and a side discussion on travelling to practise are preserved in the thread archive. Selected posts shown from Apr 25 to yesterday.
TA Tom Arden Practice mod
Moderator · thread care
Tom ArdenJun 20 · 07:15#20

Nudging this one because it's become the closest thing we have to a good retreat-report template. SaffronGate did three things I'd like everyone to copy: described the room, described one sensation without inflating it, and left the interpretation open. The "weight not heat, and I'd want it at home too" instinct running through the replies is exactly the discipline. Begin with grounding, and don't book a retreat to chase a sensation — go to sit, and let the sensation be a guest if it turns up.

MN MiloNorth Member · since Apr
MiloNorthyesterday · 18:52#22

Circling back a year on almost — still the report I send people who ask "what's a retreat actually like." Nothing sold, nothing overclaimed, one honest strange moment. Thanks again, SaffronGate.

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Forum testimony is movement-side and is not Meridian-validated evidence. Members describe personal experience only. Begin with grounding. Do not practise while distressed.