Last weekend I attended a meditation retreat near Radford University, Virginia. It was organized by some of the people who run the nonprofit organization that hosts teen meditation retreats on my brother’s cooperative farm, EarthSong, near Stuart, Virginia.

Many of the leaders are trained in meditation via a Buddhist perspective, similar to the Vipassana retreats held around the world by practitioners and followers of S.N. Goenka’s meditation method.

The schedule for the weekend included many seated meditations, interspersed with yoga, hiking, walking meditation, and small discussion groups.

The effect of the weekend was to bring me into greater balance, the benefits of which I am still enjoying, as various tensions in my life have resolved and softened over the course of this past week. I made a commitment to incorporate seated meditations into my daily schedule, a practice that is bringing increased peace and balance to my everyday lived experience.

I sit for 15-30 minutes in the morning and evening, adding this time to my already established practices of doing daily yoga and outdoor walks.

There’s so much about the retreat that I could discuss in greater detail here, but for now I just wanted to mention the retreat and the influence it has had on me, as I seek to incorporate greater healing in my life day to day.

I had been resistant to meditating regularly, as sitting alone can leave me more vulnerable to the intrusion of the voices, but I’ve found that rather than exacerbating them, meditating seems to be working to loosen their influence and mute their intensity. This is now occurring because of the protective peace and healing I am feeling when I meditate, and as I go through my day.

On retreat, the voices diminished and altogether disappeared, surrounded as I was by the good energy of the other practitioners in group meditation. Everyone participating in the retreat was incredibly supportive, kind, and exemplary in their positive attitudes and selfless compassion towards me.

Thankfully, I have carried the blessings of the retreat with me this week at home. The voices have continued to be diminished, and this gives me great hope in meditation as a healing vehicle, hopefully with great possibilities for healing for others who are suffering similarly from voices.

As I continue to develop the healing tools I am practicing for my own illness following the retreat, I hope to share with others, via this blog, helpful practices for facilitating healing, regardless of place and time.

I am also inspired to add more pages to the accompanying web site, which will explore various practices for healing schizophrenia, including meditation, as well as other exercises that complement meditation. I look forward to sharing my experiences and experiments in meditation and healing with my readers in the coming days.