Retreat into Stillness Package

The Retreat into Stillness is based on Martha who was at Radius 13 times, each time for 3 days once a month consecutively over the past year. Her story is one of retreating into nature and stillness and yourself, and the experience of a lifetime that is created from within.

"In the spring of 2021, inspired by Peggy Voth's wise and illuminating book, 'The Nature of Woman', I made the decision that I would also complete a series of 13 retreats. I knew I wanted to be in nature, without four walls around me, but as a moderately adventurous, moderately fit, and distinctly middle aged woman, I knew that solo backcountry camping in January was not in the cards. Discovering Radius Retreat felt like winning the lottery.

I had committed to the retreats as a time of spiritual contemplation and growth, and was pleasantly surprised to find them very physically healing as well. Over the three days, as I progressively slowed down and relaxed, my physiology shifted dramatically. Consistently, by the third morning, my levels of energy and mental alertness were higher than I had experienced in years. Watching everything in the forest going about its business, insights into what needed changing in my city life became apparent. As I slowed down, gratitude emerged spontaneously. I experienced the connection between the ability to truly appreciate, and having the time to stop and breathe and notice.

Usually it would take the first day for my habitual 'rev' to slowly dissipate. I would arrive doing a 'fast walk' and soon noticed that birds stopped singing, squirrels sounded the alarm, and deer and grouse scattered at my approach. Once there, simply watching the trees, noticing what was around me and going for long walks, I experienced increasing levels of relaxation and my thoughts and movements slowed and softened.

By day 3, fully settled into the pace of the land, deer simply looked up as I passed by. There is something very humbling about a wild creature accepting you so completely into their space. I was always amazed at how quickly a few days of unstructured time and stillness consistently brought about a huge surge in vitality, clearer thought processes, inspiration, creativity, and best of all, a flood of spontaneous gratitude for everything around me.

Radius is a still, rather than a perfectly 'silent' spot; life in the valley below includes some traffic, a logging mill and the occasional train. I noticed when I connected to the deep calm held by the trees and the land, any other sounds immediately softened and receded. It was interesting to experience the occasional sounds of life beyond the retreat without any sense of intrusion. I learned a lot about choosing to orient to the stillness available in a space and am a more peaceful and content human for it. A lasting gift from Radius is that I now make a point of regularly sitting with the trees in my backyard, taking in whatever the light and the weather happen to be doing, dropping into the stillness that lies just beneath the hum of the city.

'From Within' accurately describes my experience. As I settled into the stillness of Radius, I was able to contact my own stillness within. From there, much was released, and many realizations, new perspectives and insights came

forward.

If this has sparked your curiosity, but 13 retreats seems like a lot (it is!), I would highly encourage a series of seasonal retreats. Radius is very different throughout the seasons and it was an incredible privilege to spend time there through a full year cycle. Some of my favorite retreats were in the late winter/early spring, literally watching the snow melt and enjoying cozy fires in the yurt. The midwinter, with its long nights, provided lots of time for art and creativity by firelight, with crisp blue skies and snowshoeing during the day.

Something powerful gets set into motion when we commit. I wasn't yet sure how I would pull it off when I called in the summer of 2021 and booked a year's worth of retreats in advance. Truth be told, I likely would not have done it had I known all the things that would come up in 2022. Somehow, everything found its place, and very often the retreat time would arrive right after a particularly busy period. There were more than a few where I spent the first day sleeping, my body able to rest fully and completely in natural darkness, with no hum of appliances or other disturbances. The big sleeps were often followed up by naps on the grass, and once, deliciously, in the spring moss.

At the end of each retreat, I would notice that my health, my outlook, and my relationships with others and with myself were all in a different and improved place, and although the series of retreats is officially over for me, the magic of Radius remains Within.”