What-happens-on-a-meditation-retreat?-A-pictorial-essay

In celebration of presenting meditation retreats for 35 years, let us take a look at what actually does happen on a meditation retreat.

Next month, I will conduct my last meditation retreat with Ruth, and then she will continue on, working with Julia Broome and Emma Houston. They will be a fabulous team and their retreats promise to be a blend of great experience, personal insight, maturity and youthfulness!!!

Ruth's first retreat will be from 10th - 14th September - a new era and not to be missed!

For myself, it will be quite a change. It has been a delight joining with so many participants over the years as we took time out to practice together, to contemplate the nature of our own minds, and to reflect more deeply upon what this life is all about and what we are to do with it.

So wish Ruth and her new team well; here now are some photos and stories from our recently completed Deepening Your Meditation retreat at the Foundation’s meditation heaven in the Yarra Valley… , but first

                Thought for the day

                      By all means, marry. 
                      If you get a good wife, 
                      You will become happy;
                      If you get a bad one, 
                     You will become a philosopher.

                                              Socrates 









Not being much of a philosopher, Deepening Your Meditation was arranged at rather short notice to accommodate people after the last 7 day meditation retreat Ruth and I are to present together in March booked out.

So another full house gathered for just 4 days in February; and entered into a shorter but still immersive experience.

There were teachings each day.
We covered meditation techniques, the nature of our minds, what creates the obstacles many of us have to regular practice and how to breakthrough that, the difference between our ego-based character and our spiritually-based essence and how that affects our experience of life, how we might let go of destructive emotions and unhelpful habits; and of course a good deal on stillness - what it is like and how to experience it more reliably.
Quite a rich program!

        Ruth guided meditations









         

                As did Emma, Julia and myself

Then for a change of pace,
Emma led yoga sessions











 

        Julia guided others through Feldenkrais

While still others went on mindfulness walks with Ruth
















         There was plenty of input from Kookaburras

 It seems may some come just for the   kangaroos!!!

So many... and so close to Melbourne...













                And the occasional guest Koala

















The catering team led by Susanna
- and here supported by Sandy and Sarah
 did their usual fabulous job













At this time of year, a good deal of the food
does come from the Foundation’s own extensive organic gardens













And the quality, taste and nutritional value is exceptional!















Many will have first contact with the Foundation

 - and be helped to arrange coming to a retreat -

through talking to those on the phones like Dianne











And behind the scenes there is heaps going on via the inputs of an exceptional team.

Here are two of them - Lisa and Sue














And of course, the buck stops with the CEO

- the very accessible Wayne Nicholls













Many slept in shared rooms with ensuites,

  while others were in the two dorm rooms.











There was some free time as well.



Time to flow with the river

- Little Yarra River that is...







 


Or simply take in the majesty of the trees









                              It seems a good time was had by all

                                                   Gonna miss this …   But life moves on …



NEXT MEDITATION RETREAT

           with Dr Ruth Gawler    Julia Broome and Emma Houston

                         Meditation - Pure and Simple

Experience being more at ease with yourself and your feelings, 

the connectedness and clarity of mindfulness, 

and profound relaxation into stillness.

Ruth teaches with an openness and authenticity that has endeared her to many.
The content will be accessible to beginners as well as more experienced meditators.

Dates                                 September 2018      Monday 10th to Friday 14th
Venue                                The Yarra Valley Living Centre, 55 Rayner Court, Yarra Junction, Victoria Bookings and Inquiries   The Gawler Foundation         ClientServices@gawler.org
                                                                                          and 1300 651 211 - Call Mon-Fri 9-5pm

To download the brochure, click here
To learn more about Ruth, click here

Do today’s veggies have less nutrients than Granny’s?

My love of gardening really began with my Grandmother. While my mother was a keen gardener and I grew up amidst suburban gardens, my Granny had her backyard filled with veggies, fruit trees and quite a few ornamentals. Helping her as a teenager was a delight; and the veggies tasted terrific.

So how do today’s commercial crops compare? Is the sense many of us have that they are not so good, actually true? This week we examine the evidence and what we can do to ensure we are getting the nutrients we need from our food, but first




           Thought for the Day

       Let yourself be silently drawn 
      By the strange pull of what you really love. 
      It will not lead you astray.

                                Rumi






                         My favourite photo with produce                            from our summer garden


Most of us will be aware of the steady rise in the chronic degenerative diseases and the fact that more and more younger people are affected. Many ask me “is it because our food is becoming depleted or denatured by modern farming practices? Have modern farming practices affected the mineral and vitamin content of what we eat?

The raw facts
In 2011, Donald Davis, then a biochemist at the University of Texas compared the nutrients in US crops from 1950 and 2009. 

Davis found notable declines in five nutrients in various fruits, including tomatoes, eggplants and squash. For example, there was a 43 % drop in iron and a 12 % decline in calcium. This was in line with his 1999 study — mainly of vegetables — which found a 15 % drop in vitamin C and a 38 % fall in vitamin B2.





Other studies have shown similar depletions.

A 1997 comparison of data from the 1930s and 1980s found that calcium in fresh vegetables appeared to drop by 19 %, and iron by 22 %.

A reanalysis of the data in 2005 concluded that 1980s vegetables had less copper, magnesium and sodium, and fruit less copper, iron and potassium.



Tomatoes grown by organic methods have been shown to contain more phenolic compounds than those grown using commercial standards. One study compared the phenolic profiles of tomatoes grown using ‘conventional’ as opposed to organic methods. Those grown under organic conditions contained significantly higher levels of phenolic compounds.

The introduction of semi-dwarf, higher-yielding varieties of wheat in the green revolution of the 1960s means that modern crops contain lower levels of iron and zinc than old-fashioned varieties.

Research published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry showed that organically produced apples have a 15 % higher antioxidant capacity than conventionally produced apples.

Storage is a big factor
Another study evaluated the nutritional content of broccoli kept in conditions that simulated commercial transport and distribution: film-wrapped and stored for seven days at 1°C, followed by three days at 15°C to replicate a retail environment. By the end, the broccoli had lost between 71 and 80 % of its glucosinolates — sulphur-containing compounds shown to have cancer-fighting properties — and around 60 % of its flavonoid antioxidants.

What is causing the decline?
Part of it may well be related to the broad-spectrum systemic herbicide glyphosate (Roundup) that shall be discussed more in a coming post (that is still being researched).

Also, contrary to what we often read - that there is no evidence of dangers to health from GM foods and crops - peer-reviewed studies have found harmful effects on the health of laboratory and livestock animals fed GMOs. Effects include toxic and allergenic effects and altered nutritional value.

Speed of growth
Davis and others offer a simpler explanation. They assert that high-yielding crops produce more food, more rapidly, but these fast growing plants cannot make or absorb nutrients at the same pace, so the nutrition is diluted.

To test this notion, researchers measured the concentrations of 11 minerals in 14 commercial varieties of broccoli launched between 1950 and 2004. They grew old and new varieties of broccoli side-by-side.

The year that a particular cultivar was released made no difference, however, there was a dilution effect: the varieties with bigger heads – as favoured today - had lower levels of some minerals relative to the 1950 variety called Waltham 29.

But, as the study also noted, Waltham 29 is less tough than modern cultivars and so would be unlikely to succeed if grown in the same way.

The dilemma
So here is the problem. While modern agricultural methods may mean that our vegetables contain less nutrients than those of our grandparents, they have led to a huge increase in food supply. If you are hungry, this is a distinct advantage. For putting food on the table, modern practices are very efficient; there is just a question regarding the long-term cost.

“There is a chance that ready prepared vegetables may have a lower content of some vitamins,” says Judy Buttriss, director general of the British Nutrition Foundation in London. “But if their availability means that such vegetables are consumed in greater quantities, then the net effect is beneficial.“

“The most important thing you can do is eat more fruit, vegetables and wholegrains, and cut down on highly refined, human-made foods, vegetable oils and added sugars,” says Davis. “If you’re worrying about nutrient losses from cooking or whether your food is straight from the farm — those differences are minor compared to the differences you’d get from eating unprocessed foods."

Our choice
So how fortunate are we. So many of us have the possibility of growing much of our own food in our own veggie gardens – like my Granny really did do! And if not, we can afford to buy organic produce… A wise choice it would seem. And great for our home – this planet we all live upon.


NOTICEBOARD

NEXT MEDITATION RETREAT

DEEPENING YOUR MEDITATION

A unique opportunity to experience 
the deep natural peace and clarity of profound meditation

5 Day Meditation Immersion with Ian and Ruth Gawler

JUNE 2016 – Monday 6th to Friday the 10th

While this retreat will include ample instruction, the focus will be upon direct experience; finding and immersing ourselves in the deep inner peace, the regenerative power and the clarity of our own stillness.

For details CLICK HERE

Meditation in the Forest – a visual essay

Rest, relaxation, regeneration. Seven days pre-Easter. The deep, natural peace that comes with retreating from our daily life, joining with like-minded people and journeying inwards.





                 This is the meditation












Then there is the Yarra Valley.
Remarkable natural beauty complemented by years of being tended by loving gardeners.





                   This is the forest











So this week, a celebration in photographs and a few words of this annual highlight of our calendar, Meditation in the Forest, plus details for next year but first

  Thought for the day

   We are what we think.
   All that we are arises with our thoughts.
   With our thoughts we make the world.


   Speak or act with an impure mind
   And sorrow will follow you 
   As the wheel follows the ox that draws the cart.


   Speak or act with a pure mind
   And happiness will follow you 
   As your shadow, unshakeable.

                 The Buddha

Each meditation retreat Ruth and I present focuses on the stillness of meditation (good plan for a meditation retreat!), and then has its own specific focus. For 2016, during Meditation in the Forest we gave attention to guided imagery which is the cover phrase for addressing how the active, thinking mind works and how we can use it more effectively.

How do our habits and beliefs develop? How does our memory function? How do we draw on memories and how do we plan for the future? And how do our habits and beliefs assist us in some situations, yet bind us or even work against us in others?



Great material to have a week to consider, and speaking personally, I feel this last retreat was the most effective yet for the people attending. Seems many had significant break-throughs in understanding and went away feeling confident of making significant personal changes in their lives.

So enough words.




      We gather at the Gawler Foundation's
      Yarra Valley retreat centre…















 Some of the locals remained nonplussed…














      Others somewhat indifferent…













But we gathered and discussed the mind and its workings…

       Entered into the purpose built
        meditation sanctuary

        to meditate together regularly
        throughout the day…











   Extended the sitting into walking…












          Some also walked the labyrinth
          with its curious way
          of aiding contemplation…













Some joined Ruth for the gentle stretching of body and mind that is yoga…














      Some explored their body
      and its movement
      through Feldenkrais with Julia...












Some just paused a while, and watched the river flow; the Little Yarra River that is…













      While all experienced the delight
      of sharing with like minds…













Very comfortable accommodation, either doubles with ensuites or more economical shared spaces…










   
              And the food!



                    Just what people expected!

                                                 :)








    Actually...

    much direct from the flourishing gardens…












     That for those who have not been
     to the Centre for a while,
     now extend way up the hill.

                  So productive…

Backed up by a big new hothouse so that more home-grown organic produce is available for more of the year…












    And of course,
    fresh herbs from the magical herb garden...













Then more free time to reflect,
to regenerate,
to experience the peace...

and watch the river flow by some more...











       Rounded off by the wisdom of a tree

                           - you had to be there …












         What a great group of people!!!
















                       Deep, natural peace



          Meditation in the Forest…











With thanks to Jane Treleaven for sharing 3 of her photographs from the retreat



NOTICEBOARD

MEDITATION in the FOREST 2017

FULL DETAILS CLICK HERE

NEXT MEDITATION RETREAT

DEEPENING YOUR MEDITATION
A unique opportunity to experience the deep natural peace and clarity of profound meditation

5 Day Meditation Immersion with Ian and Ruth Gawler
JUNE 2016 – Monday 6th to Friday the 10th - Yarra Junction

These days, many people have had some introduction to meditation and the power of the mind. Soon comes the realisation of the extraordinary depth and breadth of it all. And often we get a sense there is more to it …..   More to experience ..…

So while this retreat will include ample instruction, the focus will be upon direct experience; finding and immersing ourselves in the deep inner peace, the regenerative power and the clarity of our own stillness.

This process will be enhanced by being in the wonderful, peaceful and majestic forests of the Upper Yarra Valley, by being supported by the staff and amenities of the Gawler Foundation’s Living Centre, and guided by Ian and Ruth Gawler along with Julia Broome.

For details CLICK HERE

MEDICINE of the MIND
Accelerated healing and peace of mind

Probably my only day seminar in MELBOURNE for 2016

Ancient wisdom combined with the latest research in a way that has immediate application in our modern world.

This workshop brings together the best of what I have learnt about healing over the last 40 years.

Intended for those dealing with illness, those keen to avoid illness and be really well, along with health practitioners and anyone interested in our personal power to heal.

Please share details of this event with anyone you know who may be interested as Ruth and I are focusing more on our retreats this year and there will not be many opportunities like this to join us for day workshops.

For details CLICK HERE