Unity Kanuga Retreat

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Last week I attended the annual Unity retreat at the Kanuga conference center in North Carolina.  The photos above are a few that I took on my phone.

The theme for this year’s retreat was “The Wall, the Walk, the Wisdom, the Wonder: Transcending the Illusion of Limitation”.  Some of the activities included rock climbing and mountain walks.  I, however, stayed with the indoor sessions, listening to excellent speakers and then doing my own exploration, walking the labyrinth, and bodywork with a local massage therapist.  I went to meditations and created my own quiet journaling time.

The two keynote speakers were Mark Nepo http://www.marknepo.com/ and Rev. Sky St. John www.unityhawaii.org.

Mark Nepo presented concepts from his book, Facing the Lion, Being the Lion: Inner Courage and Where It Lives. He talked about three arts that are part of inner courage:

• The art of putting things together (seeing things in a new way rather than putting them into the old boxes that we have created).
• The art of facing what is ours to face.
• The art of feeling what is ours to feel.

It was impressive how the work of the two keynotes worked together.  Both emphasized acceptance of our experience, whatever it may be.  It is all “part of the tapestry” as Mark Nepo called it.  Another quote that I wrote down from him was “A spiritual warrior always has a crack in the heart, that is where the blessings come in.”

This theme of acceptance (and thereby transformation of) our experience was reflected in the words of a song that Sky St. John taught us:

Let it draw near
Let it come in
Let it pass through
Let it move on

In my opinion, the purpose of a spiritual retreat is to reexamine one’s life and rejuvenate, perhaps set goals, reevaluate and prioritize.  I feel like I did all of this as well as just had fun and connect with old friends.  One thing that I love about these kinds of retreats is the depth of the conversations that go on around me.  It seems that we all come together to focus on our higher selves and see the higher selves in others.

Posted in Process

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