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Take a "Tour" of a Womanheart Retreat
Experience Five Days Like No Other!
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As the sun rises with its golden rays crossing the horizon, the women are gathered in deep meditation, their faces shining, each in her own particular picture of bliss.
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Easy and Energizing Yoga, Peaceful Meditations
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They have been there since they gathered in the still pre-dawn darkness an hour earlier, engaging in simple, energizing yoga, deep breathing techniques and chanting. Their voices rose before the song of the first bird. And, as retreat leader Sangeet Kaur Khalsa tells them, it is their voices and divine presence that outshines the sun.
It is a sacred start of a most sacred day. It is known as sadhana which means "daily spiritual practice".
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All at the retreat look forward to this because it is a time when they experience their special relationship with Creator and, in that experience, they discover how very special they are.
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Sharing Hugs and Dancing with Joy!
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Afterwards they share hugs, little snippets of thoughts and feelings, and often link arms in a circle and dance and laugh as the meditation music continues playing. It is a time no one wants to see end.
Even as they drift off in twos or threes for a short walk before breakfast, and later they gather again for the first meal, the magical feeling remains. They laugh in happy anticipation as the steaming pots of Yogi Tea are served along with the breakfast buffet of fruits and granola, bagels and toast, fresh juice and teas. It is a unique five-day journey into self-illumination.
The morning lecture may find Sangeet guiding everyone through meditations, then on to discussions based on timeless wisdom about the roles of men and women and how women have the power to elevate and uplift lives of countless others.
There is a bonding between the women that starts to happen that very first day. It grows between people who only hours before were strangers to each other. And by the end of the five days many of those bonds have grown so strong they will last a lifetime.
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Sharing Personal Stories, Friendships Grow
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Everyone joins an Angel Group led by staff members. One group is the Morning Wake-up Angels. They rise each morning a little earlier than theothers so they can go around to each room, knock on each door and
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warmly call each one to join in sadhana. Another group is called the Healing Angels. At various times during the day, they offer brief shoulder and neck rubs, or Reiki energy to perk up folks around them.
The Personal Touch Angels do sweet things to lighten each person's day. One group wrote sweet notes and left them at each lunch and dinner place setting as a type of fortune cookie without the cookie!
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Rewriting Wom en's History
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But the most unusual group of all is the core of volunteers who raise their hands for the challenge of "rewriting women's history". Their challenge may be the most difficult, but perhaps the most rewarding. Gathering after meals and during break-times, they rewrite a well known childhood story so that the main character is transformed from living a co-dependent love script into a truly strong, compassionate, yet conscious young woman. The revolution affects all the characters in the cast. |
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The Saturday night performance brings much laughter and a lot of head-nodding agreement.
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Womanheart 
