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| Spirituality, Consciousness, & Awareness Spirituality, beliefs, the nature of reality, consciousness, awareness, metaphysics, truth, philosophy, religion |
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04-19-2007, 10:13 AM
| #1 (permalink) |
| Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2006
Posts: 511
 |  Ashrams/monasteries?
Was wondering if you guys have any information/experience on ashrams or monasteries where I can stay and meditate and work for rent/food? Or perhaps any extended spiritual retreats I can go to? I'm having this intense urge to go into renunciation all of a sudden  Been thinking about moving to Sedona, AZ but wondering if there are any other great places to go.Namaste |
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04-19-2007, 02:33 PM
| #2 (permalink) |
| Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: NYC Public Library
Posts: 358
| Buddhist center in the UK
Hi, I don't know where you live or how far you want to travel, but I just returned from a meditation retreat where I picked up a card for a "Holiday for Free" in a rural Buddhist community in the UK where the only requirement is for you to do volunteer work for 25 hours, according to your skills or hobbies. They then provide free board and lodgings and apparently you can learn some meditation techniques. I don't know more details, but the email for inquiries is: Nagarjuna Buddhist Centre, email: info@meditation-nagajuna.org That center is in Northamptonshire, in case you know anything about places in the UK.
__________________ Mild Charity's glow, to us mortals below, Shows the soul from barbarity clear, Compassion will melt where this virtue is felt, And its dew is diffused in a Tear. - Lord Byron, "The Tear" |
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04-19-2007, 05:16 PM
| #3 (permalink) | |
| Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: New Delhi
Posts: 617
|  Quote:
May try this http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/200...-spirituality/ | |
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04-19-2007, 07:26 PM
| #4 (permalink) |
| Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2006
Posts: 511
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Thanks guys, and hi LW  those links were helpful.Lol, munish -- didn't see that one coming  I think it's a case of different strokes for different folks, and different stages we go through. At this point, I just feel like getting away from it all |
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04-19-2007, 07:59 PM
| #6 (permalink) |
| Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Northern NY!
Posts: 151
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K. I haven't the slightest clue where you're at but I did hear about a monastery here in Upstate NY which offers places to stay & just be & get away from the rat race. They have you donate what you felt the place was worth. However this seems to me to be more like a temporary stop & not a longterm thing.  If you're interested I might be able to dig up the news article on the web about the place.
__________________  Let me grow. Let me learn. Let me be. Let me understand. |
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04-22-2007, 12:48 AM
| #7 (permalink) |
| Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Colorado Springs, Colorado
Posts: 35
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I stayed here for about two years. WONDERFUL experience!!! And work exchange! I'm so blessed to have done that! Was there in 97 & 98. Very easy to make the transition to this place & will open up sooooo many resources for future opportunities. ^^Omega: Seasonal Staff Another wonderful, beautiful place that I experienced about 2 or 3 years after Omega was: Atlanta Hare Krishna Temple I only planned to go visit for 3 weeks to stop drinking & get into waking up early & meditation. And even though I had a wonderful & fun hippie road life prior, I ended up staying in this ashrama for the next three years. Which was some of the most amazing years of my life....just really good good people & deep spirituality...I was very happy & peaceful there. I also cannot believe how well these people loved me & took care of me, & then easily let me go and helped me out even financially a bit (I don't think they do that just for the random short term passerbys though, I was there & really involved for awhile) when I was ready to move on. Then I went to this place: ISCOWP This is more of a family farm, where I started to learn to train oxen. I was VERY blessed to get to spend time with this family & these amazing cows & oxen. I met my wonderful amazing awesome husband at this farm, which was near the ISCOWP farm: Newvrindaban.com - The official Website of New Vrindaban Community, WV He had lived there for many years taking care of their herd of cows. There is also a nice ashram there. They also helped us practically/financially to move to Colorado (to an apartment here) when we wanted to...but we had really given our hearts & did a lot of selfless work for years. Hope that helps. Good Luck finding your place....your on a great path. It's really wonderful to break free from society for a little while & explore!!! Now I have returned to 'society' & it's more enlivening then it ever was. Blessed Be Edit: OH YEAH! My husband just reminded me about this place!!! VERY amazing place!! Smaller then the above places, peaceful, & in a beautiful part of Colorado, in the mountains. Highly recommended too, from personal experience as well! BabajiAshram.org All these above are purely work exchange/Seva opportunities. You also get a chance to take extensive classes ~ yoga, health, sprituality etc....from really great great teachers from all over the world (or learn to train oxen & work the land, such as at ISCOWP). And they were all great places when I was doing such things. I spent a pretty extended period of time (like years) at each. And LOL, these were NOT cave like experiences....promise! It was all very dynamic, enlivening, & life enhancing. Although you can get alot of introspective, meditative, alone time at any of these places, forsure! Also for some reason, the work was more fulfilling, exciting, & fun then just working at some random job out here. And the fellowship was also, just, at another level....these people were the 'eagles' in my life & we took each other to higher levels. This kind of thing has also made my life much more meaningful while just working my random jobs now that I'm back to 'regular' living. I also have to say: The energies are 'heightened' at spiritual places like the above. Intensified...you know? So even though it definately is a really relaxing wonderful thing, especially if you've been struggling or just trudging along in society. Because of the energies, personal growth is accelerated! It's not always smooth & perfect, but it IS fun & dynamic & healing & worth it! A day is like a month at these places, I swear. Now that I just live in an apt., being a regular person, a month is like a day instead. Peace & Love ------------- Last edited by autumn; 04-22-2007 at 01:58 AM. |
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04-22-2007, 01:38 AM
| #8 (permalink) |
| Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Colorado Springs, Colorado
Posts: 35
| Oh Yeah
Oh Yeah, this is another place I stayed, although not for that long. Still a great place! Home page: Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health - Get inspired. Explore fresh perspectives emotional wellness, physical health, and spiritual sustenance. - : Service Opportunity Page: Kripalu: Volunteer Programs: Seva and PATH |
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