Bathing My Soul

Two weeks ago, I did something I’ve always wanted to do: I went on an all-day SILENT meditation retreat. No talking, no making eye contact, no interaction with any other human being for a little over six hours. Here’s how it went.

I assembled early one Sunday morning at the Pyle Center along the shores of indigo-blue Lake Mendota in Madison, WI with seven other people to, well, be in silence for the day. We meditated together, we ate together, we colored mandalas with oil pastel crayons together…all while in complete silence. We witnessed nature together, we gently exercised together, we cried together…all while in complete silence. It is a powerful experience to be WITH others at a very spiritual and energetic level and and yet say nothing. While I had a few reservations about this experience as I was preparing to participate in it, I’ve got tell you that IT WAS MAGICAL. At the end of the day, the seven of us sat in a circle on the floor and spoke aloud what our experience of the day was like. When it was my turn, I said:

I feel like my soul took a bath.

What’s it like to bathe your soul?

1. Refreshing. It’s like climbing into a cold shower after a long day of working in the sun and 90+ degree heat and humidity. When you bathe your soul, you can literally feel the cool rush of liquid down your hot, grit-covered body.

2. Cleansing. It’s like the moments after an intense workout, when you’re still breathing a little heavy, your cheeks are still flush-red, and the base of your neck is soaking wet with sweat. You move slowly to catch your wind and realize just how good you feel from the inside out.

3. Grounding. It’s like day 4 of a vacation: you are finally relaxed and realize how much you need and desire to feel the sense of “letting go,” how good it is for you to do so, and how you don’t do it often enough. You feel solid, yet weightless and free at the same time.

4. Energizing. It’s like taking a mid-afternoon nap–the ones where you lay down at 1:00, only to wake up two hours later feeling as though you got the perfect amount of rest, as if you could spring up and get going to work on just about anything. You feel alert, alive, and aroused.

5. Inspiring. It’s like you reconnect with a base need that you have as a human being–the need to make contact with a very core part of yourself that is too often ignored, laid aside, or untended. You connect with your own soul and not only hear but LISTEN to it, which is incredibly spiritually moving. It’s like an awakening, and it’s beautiful.

I am going to bathe my soul more often. Anyone else want to take a dip?