I would like to share my experience of the ladies retreat held on 20th & 21st March with Br Gopal Chaitanya at Chinmaya Sannidhi Ashram.

On Friday we all found our ways to Chinmaya Sannidhi by 8PM. Already most of the ladies were there.

We started with Br Gopalji setting the Scene with Retreat rules of No talking throughout the camp. This will give us the real benefit of the Meditation Retreat. It was tuff for most of us, but we got used to it and we really appreciate all the guidance Gopalji has given us.

We then moved onto a Card Game, which helped us to connect with the Universe and the Self everywhere. Then Gopalji took us through introduction to meditation followed by our silent reading and reflection on a text written by Swami Tejomayanandaji on “Meditation a Vision of Life”. Br Gopalji had explained to us that Self Reflection is a key part of one's own meditation practises. Our night finished with this.

I was eagarly awaiting the practical aspects of meditation.

On Saturday we started with prayers and did practice of meditation.

The first task was to help us relax our body. Without dropping the identification of the body we can't progress further in meditation.

We learnt to concentrate on each part of the body and learnt to release stress from each part. This really was amazing for me and I felt so good with this practice.

The whole day we stayed silent listening to Gopalji, who talked about the purpose and goal of meditation, Posture and relaxation, control of the senses, controlling the breathing, controlling, focusing & observing the mind, Japa meditation, how through contemplation one can lift oneself to the Higher Self. He gave us techniques and guided us through practice of each.

In the stressful & fast life with lot of tension around us, I really feel a great difference after attending “Meditation in Daily Life” Retreat. This is a key retreat for me and all of us who attended. This will help us to lead a life of inner peace and inner happiness, creating the same peace to the environment around us.

We are all awaiting to find out what is the next retreat Br Gopalji will be holding for the ladies.