Mindfulness Based Integrative Medicine Health and Healing Retreats

The University of Wisconsin Integrative Medicine and Mindfulness Programs, which includes staff from the Department of Family Medicine as well as other UW Health locations, offered another three-day restorative retreat for patients and the public. The retreat, attended by 36 participants and including 12 staff, was held at the Christine Center in Willard, a serene wooded location in north central Wisconsin.

The staff and the public participated in guided group experiences grounded in mindfulness meditation. Participants were also offered an opportunity to experience various integrative medicine modalities such as:

• acupuncture,
• healing touch,
• massage therapy,
• a conversation with an integrative medicine physician.

By design, the schedule was entirely optional and individually flexible. There was a lot of free time, which was spent mindfully in nature, walking the trails, reading a book, journaling, resting, reflecting, contemplating, sipping tea, or taking an outdoor Finnish sauna.

The goals of these retreats are very simple: there are none. This is what distinguishes a retreat from a workshop. In its true meaning, the retreat is designed as a respite, an opportunity to slow down, calm, and ease back into a whole and full experience of life, this moment, right now, just as it is. This opportunity asks us to remember who we really are and to clarify what it is we want most. Mythology scholar Joseph Campbell suggests that what all human beings are looking for is an "experience of being alive." The underpinnings of this approach are simple; healing will happen if we mindfully make room in our busy lives for it. The ingredients are very basic:

• silence,
• rest,
• stillness,
• mindful awareness,
• support,
• community,
• forgiveness,
• loving-kindness, and
• nature.

Biologist Janine Beynus reflects this in her famous statement, "life creates conditions conducive to life."

Through these retreats, participants are invited to "come away and rest awhile." Research shows that the many faces of stress are a major factor in nearly all forms of illness and disease. It is also known that the ever increasing demands of modern life are an obstacle to a healthy immune system, mental wellbeing, meaningful relationships, and physical health when left unchecked. What has been left aside is balance.

The cycles of activity and inactivity seen at every level in nature are a model that can be followed to rediscover balance in our lives. By giving ourselves permission to make room for self-healing and rest, we take the first steps toward harmony in all aspects of our lives. In many healing traditions around the world, the first step toward wellness is the removal of obstacles to healing. In allopathic medicine, the first rule is to do no harm. This implies that we stop, take notice, listen, reflect, and take action for change in a way that has meaning and purpose.

What is this illness or that problem is saying about my life? What needs to change? What do I need to let go of? Father Thomas Keating offers the suggestion that symptoms, disquietude, unrest, unsatisfactory angst, and unease are actually invitations to "change the direction you’re looking for happiness." In other words, what a retreat experience offers is the invitation to take inventory, to take pause, to pay attention on purpose, and to "let the mud settle and the water clear" that we may see directly what has been waiting to be noticed beneath the accumulating distraction and clutter of modern life. This process is uniquely different and meaningful for each person.

Participants in these retreats are from all walks of life, most of whom have never experienced something like this before. Each person, whether a practitioner, patient, or both is invited to practice mindful silence for the first 24 hours, simply as a way of settling back into the body, to check-in and see what’s really here. In every instance so far, each group has elected to continue the silent experience into the next day. Many describe this rare opportunity as a kind of deep rest that helps soften the heart, relax the body, and clear the mind. In this state, one often discovers solutions, understanding, and equanimity in places avoided or never considered.

Everyday, participants have the opportunity to meet with one of the mindfulness teachers, as a way of dropping into the fullness of whatever is going on in that moment for them. There are also various and gentle group experiences centered in mindfulness such as:

• yoga,
• tai chi,
• qi gong,
• sound and music,
• story,
• walking, and
• silent sitting.

It is through this kind of full-sensory experience, and by deeply respecting the inner wisdom that each person holds for her or himself, that a person begins to unwind emotionally, physically, and spiritually. This natural process of healing is particularly powerful when combined with expertly prepared vegetarian cuisine, a clean and natural environment, beautiful surroundings, simple living, and full sensory health and healing presentations and dialogues.

Thomas Merton, a modern contemplative and one of the inspirations for the Christine Center wrote, "The rush and pressure of modern life are a form of violence. To allow oneself to be carried away by a multitude of conflicting concerns, to surrender to too many demands, to commit oneself to too many projects, to want to help everyone in everything, is to succumb to violence. The frenzy neutralizes our work for peace. It destroys our own inner capacity for peace because it kills the root of inner wisdom which makes work fruitful."

It is through stopping, calming, and resting with intention, presence, and authenticity that we are able to reconnect with ourselves and discover anew what really matters right now. More than just experiences, tools, and learning new things, the retreat is an intentional supportive space where one can discover a whole new way of being and doing that has unique meaning and purpose for each person. Nothing fancy, elaborate, theoretical, dogmatic, or complicated—just the extraordinary ordinariness of This, Here, Now.