431 thoughts on “Two Ways to Approach a Retreat ”

1. Absoulutely Lucy, energy first, then understand what energy we are aligned to so we can make a will-full choice to align to God.

   1. Our quality of energy is key, knowing which source of energy we are aligned to in every moment.

2. I totally agree with what you are sharing with the world Lucy
   “It was an opportunity to make space for deepening the relationship with yourself, without leaving your life behind: your life was still being lived and therefore, this made the retreat very practical.”
   Serge Benhayon does not hold back from expressing the truth of life and exposing the lies and corruption we are all a party to. When he exposes the lies it is felt in everyone’s body so you don’t actually have to participate in the retreat because on an energetic level everyone gets the retreat as it is a vibration that is felt by everyone on this plane of life and on the astral plane they can feel the energy shifting too.

3. A Universal Medicine retreat is an offering to recharge the energetic batteries.

4. When we start to unpack life at the retreats in small groups we realise that what we consider normal is not normal at all. And for many, it is a relief to feel this as we have been led to believe in something that is not true and goes against what our bodies feel all the time. So is it possible that is why we check out of life with the plethora of distractions at our beck and call because we know that what we call a normal life is very far from our truth?

5. Each Universal Medicine Retreat builds on the one before adding to the immeasurable bounty that is available through our Loving discussions in the workshops about what has been presented by Serge and Natalie Benhayon.

6. I guess the only way to not know that there is a totally different way to live life is to basically ignore the fact that it is possible.

7. Yes we rush rush rush through life and rarely offer ourselves moments to stop that are not just about relief from the rush. These retreats are about changing momentums as well, I find that, as well as getting a deep rest, I also address the patterns that got me to a place of feeling over tired or stressed in the first place.

   1. Looking at how we have been living, and does it still feel true, or are there areas that we now choose to renounce.

8. “I realised that you don’t just leave what we have connected to in a retreat and go back to an old way of living – that is like wearing the same clothes for years on end without washing!” A great analogy Lucy! There is so much on offer at every moment during a retreat. They sure are life-changing opportunities. It’s up to us if we take advantage of them once home again.

9. “The greatest gift the retreat has given me – and it’s crazy that it is not basic 101 –is that it is always about energy before it is about anything else. ” I can never remind myself of this too often. I watched the last set of the Wimbledon final this year for the first time in ages and watched it being aware of the energetic interplay with the crowd and the players. Fascinating!

10. I begin to understand that we live in a sea of energy. This is quite hard to understand at first because we cannot see the effects that our movements have, and so it is easy to dismiss the responsibility that every move we make has an affect on everything else. It’s a bit like living under water. But when I stop to consider something as simple as what we can feel when someone is angry; we tend to tip toe round them or not confront them because they can blow up at any moment; then this does explain how we can feel something, because it unsettles us and can make us feel nervous or anxious. And this to me is what all the Universal Medicine courses and retreats are about: the fact that we live in a sea of energy and therefore we have a choice to move in a way that is harmonious with the whole, or move in a way that is disruptive which is abusive and so affects everyone. Is it possible that because we are so sensitive to movement, that when it is not harmonious we harden and go into protection, erect a barrier in an attempt to keep out the offensive energy? What everyone who participates at these retreats gets to feel is that there is a different way to live, that we are very sensitive beings, but we can live in a way that supports us to read the sea of energy and by reading it we are more able to stay steady and not be caught up in it. This has been my personal experience.

    1. There is a different way to live, a way that honours ourselves and everyone else, a way that is based on love, and being aware of the source of energy that we are aligned to at all times.

11. I have had non supportive sleep patterns most of my life, so the retreats offer me the support to get a sleep rhythm that is supportive on a grand scale.

    1. These retreats support in many ways, with whatever is needed for each person, whether that is to deepen who we are, or build more connection with self, all is supported.

12. I used to think that a retreat was an opportunity to ‘escape’ from the world. However, since attending the Universal Medicine Retreats I have discovered that they are a time and space to gain understanding and skills to deepen my/one’s commitment to the world.

13. I’m realising that at the retreat everyone is given everything, as in what’s on offer is so much awareness and it’s totally the choice of each participant what they make of it and take away. This is no different to everyday life too, just what’s offered is made so clear. It’s an amazing opportunity for growth and then continued evolution if you take it home.

    1. What’s on offer are the building blocks of a different way of living and a lot of this does have to do with opening up to the fact that we are very aware and sensitive people. We have dulled ourselves so much that life seems to be boring when actually it is very alive and vital. When we tune into this vitality we lose that Zombie mentality everything changes as we reconnect back to the awareness that has always been there.

14. This was such a gorgeous blog to read this morning. A group of friends are planning a mini retreat to deepen our connection, and I took much from the blog about the preparation for the retreat and whether I choose to incorporate the learning into my life post retreat. Thank you Lucy for the inspiration.

15. We have the opportunity to really deepen our relationship with ourselves at the Retreat. It is time out from all the distractions at home, and a real treat. And then the best part is that we take it back home and start living what we have learned.

    1. Yes , learning from what we have been given at a retreat and living it back home. An opportunity to re-set our daily rhythms too.

16. Perhaps the majority of retreats we have on offer don’t work long term because they are entirely based on making you feel blissful at the time of the retreat, but there is no focus on everyday life & how to maximise every moment & live your mundane in joy.

    1. Yes, or at least a break from life’s stresses without reference to life, so that when you return nothing has been prepared for – just like what I’ve experienced and others have also said, that coming back from holiday after a couple of days, it’s like you feel you’d not been away at all. After these retreats, on return to regular life, I don’t feel like I’ve crash landed, more like grown wings,with a few adjustments, ready to fly

       1. Ah absolutely, with a new foundation, new perspective and a body ready to go!

       2. I love that – ‘grown wings… ready to fly’ -So beautifully expressed. Even a one day or a few hours with a higher initiate inspires me to be more.

17. Thanks Lucy, it’s a very common thing to have an experience but not let it change how we are in life, but go back to how we were before the workshops, retreat, etc. It’s a great description here of what we can do to allow the changes to establish “I had a choice to build movements that did not lead me down an automatic set of behaviours.” Sometimes we can feel that the experience was provided for us, not realising we ourselves are able to live what we have just experienced. I feel for me it’s about allowing a change of mindset and opening up to what’s possible in my day to day living.

18. I’ve been on lots of different types of retreats in my life. The Universal Medicine retreats are like no other. For me they are like an annual service where I get to see what needs to be changed and I get all ready to go back out on the road with a different way of being that’s going to support me for the road ahead.

    1. Yes, just like an MOT, we need a service check for our bodies and our lives. The retreats offer us this. What we do with it thereafter is up to us.

    2. These retreats look at energy, and what energy we are aligned to, ‘At every turn we are encouraged to consider the part energy plays in our movements, our choices and our behaviour.’

19. Taking time out to deepen and expand our sense of love and truth is very well worth it – it is a game changer, and I love that.

20. To retreat in order to advance – -a God given Grace.

21. I think about this article a lot and the different interpretations of the word retreat. I am almost cautious to use it because of the association I have with it meaning backing down, hiding away and/or disengaging with life. My experience of the Universal Medicine Retreats is entirely different. Moments in my life when I can deepen my engagement with, commitment to and purpose in life, coming back from the few days stronger and surer of what is needed.

22. There are two ways and we can honour the body and deepen our love for ourselves as being the most sensible way for me.

23. I am very much looking forward to the next upcoming retreat in Vietnam and I shall most certainly make the most of it and on my return too!

24. When we are in a “cocoon” state of existence, we are preparing to be open to the most glorious way of living as our wings unfold and we break free of our encapsulated lives. This is an allowing of our choices to deepen the harmony within from our essences.

    1. gregbarnes888 that ‘cocoon’ state you speak of to me is like wearing a straightjacket we are completely wrapped up in a falsity of life that we have accepted as our lot so that life has become a tick box exercise and we have allowed ourselves to become dull and moribund. These retreats give everyone the space to to feel what it is like to live a practical but different way which is possible to then take away and live out in the world because everything is made so simple.

       1. So true Mary, and may I add another 8 straight jackets for our other bodies, and the retreats have shared to rein in all nine bodies we simply live with the understanding our past life were something to not be ignored and thus removing the restraints.

       2. To live a way being aware of energy in everything, ‘The greatest gift the retreat has given me – and it’s crazy that it is not basic 101 –is that it is always about energy before it is about anything else.’

25. And here comes this years retreat – an opportunity to deepen who we are, not just for ourselves but for everyone.

    1. That’s it. The stronger and more connected I feel, the more effective and committed I am at work and in life. Simple science really.

26. I love how you describe the topics discussed as being ‘nothing fancy’. That’s what I love about the retreats. They are an opportunity to reflect on our everyday lives, how we go about living and see where we can expand on what’s already there.

    1. For me Karin the retreats have been about deconstruction, deconstructing the ideals, beliefs, justifications of why my life was the way it was, the pictures I had built about how life should be. Then to rebuild a different foundation this time. building from a reconnection back to what the body knows and understands and not what I’m dictated to by my mind. The biggest hurdle for anyone to get over is the fact that we do not think. This is the lie we are fed from young that the thoughts that we have belong to us because we think them. To really understand that thoughts we are fed are from a pool of negative energy that we are all being fed from makes sense to me because for years my thoughts have been totally ‘negative Nancy’ thoughts which have tried to suppress any movement back to a reconnection to my soul, the one soul we all come from.

       1. What source of energy are we aligned to will determine what we are fed to ‘think’, or be impulsed by.

27. If the retreats run by Universal Medicine have taught me anything it’s to commit to life even more, when we return home. In the beginning, I would feel bereft on leaving a retreat and then there was a shift when I could feel that I wanted to take myself out into the world and was ready to be with people.

    1. Committing to life, and purpose is such a great asset to embody from the retreat, as withdrawing from life can lead to lots of problems further down the line.

28. Taking inspiration from the sub-title of this article and asking, ‘What are the different ways to approach every breath, look, step, touch…?’ I realise the significance of every moment and the choice we always have to move with love or not.

29. “The key is going back to the awareness we had as children and re-developing it so we become discerning and build a relationship with our body that will be the marker of all truth – our truth. ” Love this, young children know who they are, there is a certain level of self love and self acceptance that is undeniable, getting back to this is one of the greatest gifts we can give someone.

    1. Young children feel and are amazing, they naturally have joy, are in space and connected to their bodies.

30. “It felt like growing up and a stepping into responsibility, seeing how much more there is to life than what we see with our eyes.” What gold to be given and a gift that has been accepted fully by you.

31. The beauty of these retreats is how practical they are. I get the chance to look at my life, reflect where it’s going well and not so well, and make practical changes that are needed with tonnes of support.

    1. ‘Tonnes of support’, yes. No judgement or rules, simply ample opportunity to get to know ourselves really well, see our place in the world and the magic of responsibility.

    2. It is important to live what was brought to us in these retreats, ‘The key is going back to the awareness we had as children and re-developing it so we become discerning and build a relationship with our body that will be the marker of all truth – our truth.’

32. Just yesterday I was discussing with a friend of mine who went to one retreat and has totally changed her life around. She was so inspired by the other participants she met and talked to, that she realised she was no different to those, and if they could do it so could she.

33. ‘It was an opportunity to make space for deepening the relationship with yourself, without leaving your life behind’ – this is so true for me too. I get to discover more of me and the woman I am and the woman I am becoming. I also develop another relationship with others too, those so called issues, fall away and I get to see them for who they are too.

34. Accepting the simplicity of life and our true purpose, being open to the teachings that Universal Medicine Retreats offer, has changed my life. No fanfare or excitement, just fact, and I live a life now that has a quality, warmth and joy to it that for a lot of my life would have been inconceivable.

35. The Retreats are an R&R time, it can be rest and relaxation but even better it is re-configuration and re-imprinting.

    1. Ah I love the R&Rs you describe!

36. I love that a retreat offers an opportunity to reconsider all that we have taken as normal and re-evaluate and let go of what doesn’t serve, and appreciate what does, and deepen that.

    1. Yes, it is always great to become more aware of what is true in our lives, deepen that, and let go of what is not true.

37. Maybe we should rename these type of retreats as ‘advances’ for that is more accurate to what they really are.

38. Choosing to go to a Retreat is confirming that we know there is more to us. The choice is there whether we go deeper and discover what that is, or stay on the surface and stay with comfort or ‘unwashed clothes, as you have so beautifully shared Lucy.

    1. Yes, we cannot deny the choice whatever we choose. To know it is there is to hear its call.

39. When we approach attending a Universal Retreat with the first one delineated we do so with true purpose that is in alignment with that of the Retreat.

40. I understand that there is no value in retreat into comfort and cruising through life, and that true retreat is having a relationship with stillness in everything we do, whether resting, at work, on overseas travel, in company, alone…

    1. I love this Matilda ‘..true retreat is having a relationship with stillness in everything we do..’. A great point to feel as we move through each day.

41. I don’t usually look at words but reading this today I’m enjoying seeing the word retreat in a different way.

    There’s the re – repeating something, reviewing, coming back for another look, another cycle to deepen from the original.

    Then there’s the treat as in treatment, how am I going to treat life with what I’ve just been given from what’s being discussed? And isn’t this a treat? To leave with a new perspective we can continuously bring to life and review in our everyday. The what do I truly want to choose?

42. Do we use a retreat to get away from the world or do we use it to support us to grow and hence handle the world by offering inspiration to those around?

    1. What are we using these retreats for, to deepen and go to the next level, or as an escape?

43. A Universal Medicine Retreat is always an opening up to perceiving a new way to be with ourselves and the the world. It offers us deeper understanding and connection, and opens us up to the Ageless Wisdom we are part of, and which is already within us. I have often wondered why it is called a retreat, as it is far from retreating from the livingness we are capable of and humanity and the way the world we have created around us.. It is full on the whole way through! Maybe it means “time away” to learn, consolidate what we already know, appreciate, and have the space to share and explore it all with others.

44. In my experience once we have said ‘yes’ to a deeper level of awareness and understanding of life it never truly leaves us. We can slip back into old ways but the imprint or foundation remains there in the body and cannot be erased.

    1. Yes I agree Andrew it can be inspired – brought to life at any time.

    2. andrewmooney26 I agree with you the level of awareness reached never leaves us. It is a new marker in our bodies that can be returned to at any time. This is the biggest lie I feel we have all fallen for, that there isn’t anything else but to live and breathe the swamp life we are all living. But actually there is a different way to live free of the swamp which to me are what these retreats are all about how to live free of the swamp.

45. The balance of rest and activity in our lives is super important. It is going on in every breath, every day, week, year… and developing our understanding of it is an essential part of our well-being and self-care.

46. I agree, awareness is the key, then we can decide if we want to do something again or if there is another way to approach what we do by bringing who we are in full.

47. Great reminder in how we approach anything in life not just a retreat. Equally I have reflected on when I book myself on courses am I wanting to roll up and be ‘given’ everything or am I in the movement and knowing that I am equally responsible for what is presented.

48. We are offered so much at the Retreats, a whole new way to live when we return. It is our choice to take it as deeply as we can.

    1. Yes. They are stop moments to reflect on where we are at and have the space to make fresh choices.

49. A Retreat to reconnect and to deepen the relationship with myself feels a very wise choice to make.

50. Every time I attend a workshop, a presentation or a retreat held by Universal Medicine I realize about the beauty of sharing in groups. Talking about what doesn’t support me to live in joy and ease, what conditions my natural expression, in what areas of my life I feel stuck…always is very supportive, freeing and life-changing. Also it’s a joy to listen and to get inspired by others’ experiences. I appreciate very much the sense of oneness and empowerment that can be easily felt in a space like this.

51. I have attended one Universal medicine retreat and the opportunity to have a week to build a stronger relationship with ourselves can be life-changing. By having that focus we get to notice things about ourselves which we may not in day-to-day things, we get to talk about topics which more often than not don’t make the dinner table and we get to meet people from various walks of life, yet similar understandings or ways of thinking.

52. Like many things in life the quality we engage in activities is the key. If we look to a retreat as a means of gaining relief from the tension in life rather than a way of deepening within ourselves, we have missed the opportunity. As whatever we are seeking relief from will be there upon our return, so what is our relationship with it?

53. I have known many that when on a retreat as a break from the world and others, have found themselves instead.

54. Beautiful blog Lucy, and what a beautiful way to look at a retreat – much more than just respite and recovery from the world, but going deeper into how and why we live the way we do, and then making practical realistic changes going forwards to support us out in the world.

    1. Yes, they are such an amazing opportunity because they offers us a much deeper awareness about the fuel we are sourcing to move our bodies. It is not until we consider where our fuel comes from that we consider how we have been nurturing our bodies.

55. When I read the title I feel it’s apt for, there are two ways to approach life – to retreat and hide away, or to embrace all that comes your way, no matter how challenging, knowing it can always support you to come back to yourself and live all of who you are.

56. The Universal Medicine retreats are like 5 days of being in Heaven, we are held in absolute love. Sometimes that love can be challenging because we are not used to the consistency of this love in our lives but it is an a amazing marker for us to then live and make it a normal part of our daily rhythm.

57. Natalie and Serge Benyhayon offer us the universe, it is then up to us with what we do with it.

    1. I love this SE, it is true in so many more ways than at times we realise.

58. ‘What are the different ways to approach a retreat?’ When I consider a question like this the simplest and clearest responses come from my body. At the moment I have a strong sense of leaning forwards into life, ready to learn, open to what is offered and that this is both an outward and inward direction. The more I engage with life like this, the deeper and more profound my relationship with the vastness that is beyond our human senses becomes.

59. Interesting to consider and be honest about the way we corrupt words. To retreat is not to back away but to go deep within, returning to our true and unified nature.

    1. Great sharing Matilda I have never considered this before! but yes normally we see a retreat as withdrawing or ‘taking break’ from life not to go deeper within ✨

    2. Beautiful and so important to expose Matilda.

    3. So true Matilda. We can use a retreat to collapse in exhaustion after pushing ourselves insanely hard, or we can use the opportunity of a retreat to consider how we have been moving that we feel we need to retreat from the world. One is a pause and the other replenishes in a foundational way.

60. Great point Gill … it is indeed a precious time and something to greatly appreciate. I have been wondering whether to go to the retreat this year but you have given me a great deal to consider in my choice now – thank you.

61. As with anything in life, we always have a choice – to truly appreciate what is on offer, to learn, grow and evolve… or to be blasé, take it for granted and go back to our old ways.

    1. Yes, whether we choose to acknowledge it or not, there is always a choice, to repeat a pattern of behaviour that can lead to exhaustion and therefore illness and dis-ease, or one that replenishes our energy with every movement.

62. Retreats are an opportunity to experience in full what is there for each of us when everyone is committed to sharing honestly, in truth and love, it is a microcosm of what is possible globally.

    1. Yes, we don’t realise the power of this till you go to a retreat and you feel the difference of going somewhere to get relief and going somewhere to unpack what is not part of you in the first place. Once we remember who we are, where we come from and what we are made of, we then have a choice to put on the heavy cloak of duty again – or not.

63. My experience of retreats is much of what you’ve explained – but the real work begins when you step back out into life.

    1. Yes I agree and this is when great understanding and steady commitment are much required.

    2. Yes, everywhere we go, we go too! Therefore Yes, when you feel the tension and propensity to slip back into the normal way of doing things kicks in. More rush, more stress, less awareness, less willingness to allow space for reflection. There is ALWAYS a choice and it is our choice to pretend we don’t.

64. Lucy, thank you for sharing this, it is a great reminder that ‘it is always about energy before it is about anything else’. I can feel how this makes life much more simple and clear.

65. Having read many of the comments, I can see that although we go on retreat for ourselves, to perhaps take a moment to contemplate and consider knowing we are an ‘equal part’ of what is being offered and shared, reflects in our appreciation of our equal part in making the world we live in. What starts as a simple choice to allow space for ourselves, has a ripple effect that offers each and every one of us a correction back to the Loving way of being we are from.

    1. Yes I feel this is true and also am aware that ‘offering’ is the keyword here because sometimes there can be strong reactions from people who are not choosing to allow for what is being offered and in turn it is up to us to allow for and accept that – not imposing on another in any way.

66. Appreciating what is on offer in opportunities like this allow us to be open to receive it in full.

67. ‘It hadn’t been my normal for many years and yet, in that moment, there was NO question left for me that I was held by Love and that I was very much part of that Love.’ It’s not been my normal either but I now know it’s always there for me to choose. I used to feel very sad after courses and retreats because I wasn’t continuing to choose to stay connected with God; but there’s a joy now that this is something permanently there to be chosen and can be chosen so simply.

    1. Yes and when we don’t judge ourselves there is more of an ease re-connecting back to that knowing.

68. “It was an opportunity to make space for deepening the relationship with yourself, without leaving your life behind” Such a key aspect of each Retreat, that they are not about hiding from the everyday, but about making the everyday sacred.

    1. Love this Rowena. A true retreat is definitely not about hiding, but about resourcing the sacredness within us all.

    2. Yes, this is exactly it. We’re given the universe in these retreats and it’s then up to us to make this our everyday.

69. Universal Medicine retreats are very well designed for what is required to support attendees in life at that time – the choices is ours as to whether we are open to and accept what is on offer or whether we make it about something else.

70. It is quite an awesome experience post Retreat when you find your self naturally updating or entirely relinquishing negative habits, some of them quite entrenched, with an ease that is surprising. This is the gift of every Universal Medicine event I’ve attended. The more we connect with our true essence, appreciate our innate qualities and talents, examine what is and what is not true in our lives, the more the dross drops off of its own accord.

    1. I completely agree, it is bizarre how easy it is the let go of patterns of behaviour that no longer make sense but that you have used as ‘normal’ to that point.

71. ‘it was all given and if you never went to anything by Universal Medicine again, you still had all you needed to understand how to live life with Love and vitality.’ This feels really poignant. Nothing is withheld. The depth of what’s presented is multidimensional, how deep I am willing to take it is my choice but I do know it’s all been given.

    1. Yep, you can connect to it on whatever level you want – I find the front foot is the best way to get the most out of the investment!

72. Retreats like this present us with the opportunity to take a deeper level of understanding and communication in our expression back into life. Not only as a new marker but to build on and expand before the next opportunity for another retreat or course.

73. Retreats can be an opportunity to do a stock check on where you are or a chance to check out from the world and leave your responsibilities at home.

    1. They can be one or the other. What I love about the Universal Medicine retreats is they give me the yearly stock take and also new foundation for the year ahead, allowing me to give it more focus and a theme rather than simply it being just another year.

74. Taking a few days out and away from our regular routine is a great opportunity to review how we’re living in every way: how are we moving, thinking, speaking, interacting, eating, sleeping and exercising, and how does this affect how we feel and so our interactions with and our impact upon all others? What is also great about retreats is learning from others: how they live life, their routines and rhythms, not to copy, but as a point of mutual inspiration and learning.

    1. So true, BR, the support we offer each other through sharing our own experiences is enormous. I’ve always been been amazed at how beautifully everything constellates to support me, in terms of who I am sharing a room with, or who I sit next to at lunch – and the wisdom that that person reflects and is able to offer me is just what I needed to hear/feel at that particular time.

       1. Yes, you realise there are no accidents!

75. In the early days of going to the Universal Medicine retreats, I would struggle going back out into the world, as in work and family. Everything would be great for a couple of weeks and then I would drop and start to find life difficult. These days I can’t wait to leave the retreat to put into practice what I’ve learnt.

    1. Oh heavens Julie I remember the early retreats I went to! I used to find the difference between what I was offered and what I was living vastly different and it was quite a stark and jarring contrast. Like you, I now so love seeing the end of the retreat as not the end of anything but the continuation of the deeper connection to myself and the wonder of the Universe we are from and look forward to taking it home.

76. The Retreat is a marvelous time for reflection, a time to draw a line to what’s not working and set a new standard.

77. This is the real purpose of a Retreat, to give us space to ponder on how we are living and how to restore our responsibility, purpose and commitment to the everyday. These events are not about hiding away, taking time out or escaping; every one means business on a forever deepening level.

78. One of my favourite things about being on retreat is that the meaning of the word retreat has changed. Its not about escaping from life for a week for a break. We work during this time, which doesn’t necessarily fit the picture of a retreat. But pictures we hold on life and ourselves and others are up for review at the Universal Medicine Retreats. The way we work together is my favourite part. We work in small groups; discuss life, our observations, things we are stuck on and things we have mastered; assisting one another to see that there is more to life than our eyes lead us to believe. We work as one, as one community, no matter where we are from. I also love that my body feels amazing at the end of 5 days, even though I have been sitting for the vast majority of that time. Which consistently shows me that its the quality I am in as I work that leaves me with a lasting effect. Long and deeply enriching days that inspire, encourage and present all that we are.

    1. That is such a good point, it is the energy we are in when we are doing what we are doing not so much what we are doing. There is nothing ‘back-foot’ or lazy about these retreats.

79. The UM Retreats are an opportunity for us to consider how open we are to the enormous support and wisdom that is being offered to us constantly – it’s incredible how blinkered we can be to what is right before us.

80. ‘you changed groups every time and therefore had an opportunity to meet many different people from many walks of life.’ I used to be scared about sharing in groups but this experience has taught me we all have invaluable experiences and truths to share whatever our background.

    1. Me too Karin, I used to hate it and desperately try to be in groups with people I know. Now I am learning to just go wherever and to see how at ease I am in every situation. We learn from everyone regardless of their age or any other surface defining feature.

81. What I appreciate so much about the UM Retreats is the sharing of absolute truth, always. The beholding love that we are all held in, inviting us to be the truth of who we all are, the very practical tools we are offered to support us in doing so, the connection with each other and the numerous workshops where we share and support each other to nut out what is holding us back, how can we do things differently. We are always making a choice, energetically, we are either saying yes, or no, constantly.

82. “It felt like growing up and a stepping into responsibility, seeing how much more there is to life than what we see with our eyes.” So much more than the material veneer we are lead to believe is it. We are introduced to the energetic qualities at play behind it all and how to resume responsibility for outing the illusions so we can restore the true normal, a glorious vitality and joy to everyday life.

    1. Yes, seeing below, behind and through the veneer is the gold standard education we rarely get but all need to be able to understand the ‘why’ behind the ‘what’.

83. Yes and our body will always let us know which one we are aligned to if we choose to listen to it. Smart = building a body that can hear the communication and doesn’t run away from it!

84. What a great reminder that every moment is an opportunity to re-consider our rhythm and establish a new normal.

85. Leaving for a few days away and I am leaning forward into the opportunity to rest, explore, learn and have real purpose in preparing myself for what next.

86. I have had the absolute pleasure of attending the English Universal Medicine retreat and once a retreat in Vietnam and wow every time I have been completely blown away, every one of them has been life changing, every one of them has offered me a different chunk of heaven for which I’m extremely grateful for.

87. Every Retreat attended re-unites us with our future qualities, ancient wisdom and our multi-dimensional natures, rich in philosophy, science and religion and enough practical tools to last a lifetime.

    1. What a perfect way to encapsulate the wholistic nature of the retreats. They are not linear but spherical and connect us to a wisdom we are from and a future we are ready to live again.

88. A retreat can also be experienced as a period where we confirm, appreciate and reflect so that we can further engage in life in a more expansive way. Not so that we can do more, rather that we be more of who we are in life.

    1. Absolutely, be more of who we are, more surrendered and yes, rather than learning that, perhaps considering it as surrendering to that.

89. I have experienced the retreat every year since its inception at Universal Medicine. I could write my own blog here about the beyond amazing experiences I have felt. It’s true how you could walk away from any Universal Medicine retreat and have enough tools to ascend where it is needed to live and reflect back the same wisdom that is imparted by Serge Benhayon, Natalie and presenters. Totally thank-full what’s on offer from this ordinary extra-ordinary being Serge Benhayon, and including fellow company.

90. I guess the question is how do we approach anything in life …. work, relationships, food, study, exercise etc. A great topic to bring to attention and discuss.

    1. Great question indeed, Vicky. How we approach things in life offers enormous insight into how open we are to what is on offer, whether we are saying yes whole heartedly, with some reservation, or whether we are in fact saying no, but giving the illusion that we are saying yes.

91. It is amazing how much can be buried in something that we assume we have developed an understanding of, which during a retreat like this is exposed as an understanding that we have used to function, or cope with life rather than a true understanding. It is amazing to be offered the lessons in retreats or in any situation in life.

    1. It is joy I feel when the veil is lifted and more light shines in my life, I agree, there is so much we think we know…and yet frequently it is assumptions that are our reality,which is the opposite of truth. Truth is always there, but do we live a life prepared for it.

    2. So true Michael! There are things I think I have worked out, only to find they brought more function to my life and protected the hurts I had buried from being triggered. But in keeping them buried the person I was hurting most was me because I was not bringing my true essence – which meant the people I met never saw the true me.

92. Making a choice to not be racy and to stop the go-go-go feels like a form of silence and the Universal Medicine retreat offers practical life skills that can be used to see what life could be like if we practice them and didn’t feel the need to use the go-go-go and raciness to get through.

93. Every retreat is different but I find it is the simplicity of life that is always offered for us to take back into our daily lives that is so inspiring.

94. ‘No question there were challenges but everything felt possible’ I’ve played life from a place of security and realising my old ways no longer hold water has been challenging but knowing I can change and embrace new ways of being has been huge.

    1. Yes I feel like I am only just starting to learn this in that the space we allow ourselves to be in to then what is possible.

95. We like to think we can categorise and divide life into likes and don’t likes, but with that we never allow for the natural rhythm of oneness, unity and wholeness we feel deep down and are naturally bound to.

    1. Yes what a good point. There is a natural rhythm of oneness that means there is no good or bad just ‘what is’ and part of what we can learn through observation, is what it is we are saying we like or don’t like on a deeper level so we bring more understanding.

96. “It was an opportunity to make space for deepening the relationship with yourself …” In very unexpected and beautiful ways, as the teachings empower us to become aware of the Universal qualities that flow through us and thus appreciate the equality that lies within everyone.

    1. I agree Rowena – this offers us a return to harmony within ourselves and with each other if we choose it.

97. There is so much to reconnect back to such a wealth of understanding, such grace and beauty to allow back into our bodies by letting go of the control that life should be a certain way. When we try to control life then the beauty that is the universe cannot flow though us 100 % and so we are left the less for it.

98. I can fully appreciate the space which is allowed for the work to be done during these amazing retreats, however if we find that they become an escape from life then we are not doing any true work at all.

99. Two ways to approach life. Open and up for all the learning on offer, or restricted and trying to control outcomes as we perceive things should be. The latter is exhausting, the former offers endless opportunities to feel the richness and flow that life is.

    1. A great point Matilda … there is only ever two ways to approach life – one will have us living a very limited version of ourselves in our own bubble, and the other offers a forever expanding way of being in life.

    2. Yes, there is nothing we experience in isolation to the whole. Control is a reduction of what is on offer and is, as you say exhausting and we miss out on so many opportunities. I have to say though, it had become such a natural way to live I didn’t realise how debilitating and self-sabotaging it was so the opportunity to get those reflections are incredibly valuable.

100. Being Christmas it is a time of year we can either retreat from life or take the time to retreat back to ourselves and reflect on the year. I used to think of retreat as meaning a time away from life and others, but now I see it as a moment to either be with myself or with others, one where we are simply being ourselves and not getting caught up in life which we so easily can.

101. It is a grand opportunity to re-imprint our rhythms of sleep and food isn’t it Gill? I find that my eyes are opened by being with others who share their ‘normal’ and we can surrender to being held by a rhythm that is less racy and driven and more in the flow of a more supportive way of being.

102. ‘The whole week consisted of short presentations and group work. There was no sitting back and letting the work be done for you.’ The focus and energy put into a retreat is what is given back out way more, just like life. It’s interesting to reflect on how I approach a retreat. I worry about what will be uncovered but I know what’s not serving me in my life. I then feel how held in love we all are, so that whatever isn’t love that’s exposed, is let go of without judgement or incident. I am feeling this is possible not just at a retreat but in life too. The retreat is just a space to connect to the support and multidimensionality of who we are and then realise that’s who we are everyday all day and the support is there 24/7 too if we choose to connect and be aware.

     1. Well said, we are offered the opportunity to connect to the support and love we are held by all the time – 24/7 in a universe that has no concept of any moment being any different from another.

103. “The key is going back to the awareness we had as children and re-developing it so we become discerning and build a relationship with our body that will be the marker of all truth” This is what is so remarkable about these Retreats – they are so simple and accessible for anyone, as we all know the truth of what we felt as children, it’s simply that we lost touch with it.

     1. Yes and to give power to that simplicity. It offers an opportunity to appreciate the wisdom that is reflected by the children in our lives as well.

104. I love how you claim the taking ownership at the end of the Retreat. It hadn’t occurred to me but is very true, what has been offered and built throughout the Retreat is then on offer to take away and make as our own new way forwards.

     1. I hadn’t been able to put my finger on what it was I had felt in years gone by, but this last year I really clocked the energy and the handing over of the reigns.

105. The retreats are such an opportunity to step up and be more in our essence and everyday living, as that’s what we do most of…

106. All the Universal Medicine Retreats are a real Treat – a treat from our Souls that lovingly invites us to re-connect and re-build a true connection to our divinity, so that we can learn how to live the love that we are in our everyday normal lives with work, families, mortgages, bills et al. Practical, expansive, life changing and an essential part of Humanity’s evolution.

107. Even when things are feeling really full on, if we stop for a nanosecond, we can feel without doubt that we are held, supported and taken care of. I love this article and its confirmation that we can bring the quality of a retreat into our everyday lives and that actually that is the purpose of a retreat or healing of any kind.

     1. Yes, we are offered tools we can use at any time but the opportunity to feel what being held feels like is the foundation we can build on as we take it home and work out what supports us and what doesn’t.

108. The level of wisdom shared at these retreats is amazing and yet very practical and accessible and if we choose, life changing.

     1. So true, I go back to what we heard and learnt in them so regularly. I love that nothing is held back and we are offered a normal that can be our normal too.

109. Universal Medicine and Serge Benhayon only ever offer those things that are practical and able to be incorporated in the day to day life – the Soul works in very practical ways and hence the magic of the heavens can certainly be lived every day in all situations. This is an amazing learning to experience, and is forever deepening in its process.

     1. I agree Henrietta, Serge makes things simple and practical and it is then up to us to take them and expand on what has been presented so it becomes ours and not a ‘Serge said’ or anyone else said for that matter.

110. Retreats, as the word implies, are often set up to ‘get away from everything’ and to ‘get away from the world’, whereas in fact the Universal Medicine retreats offer the complete opposite in that they support you to hold your space in a beautiful way and realise that this does not have to be separate to your work and home life, but in fact that this feeling can indeed be brought into and lived in our everyday life, be this at work or at home etc.

     1. I love how all Universal Medicine workshops are so honouring of the love, integrity and responsibility which is our natural expression. And also how when this is the foundation, the meaning of words and terms naturally start to shed the false meanings assigned to them. The awareness I can gain from this – of what I have been settling for with the false meaning and what is actually on offer – in itself is huge.

111. The Universal Medicine retreats are exceptional as they allow you to be in a space that encourages your growth but at the same times asks you to be a part of the world and its happenings – “space for deepening the relationship with yourself, without leaving your life behind”.

112. I love the way you have teased out the subtle difference between the holding a Universal Medicine retreat offers and how we always have a choice to take that into our daily life or not; or, in other words, how there is a choice between being a mere recipient (and not a bad start at all) or take command and move in a way that accords with how we choose our life to be.

     1. Yes, we are never just the recipients. I thought for many years this is what I was, a pupil, no more, and although I will forever be a student I have realised the changes only happen in my life when I change my movements with a commitment to also bringing consistency.

113. I have been attending these retreats for several years now and every year by the time the 3rd day of the 5 day retreat arrives, I feel so rich with insights, expanded understanding and tools for life that I wonder if there could possibly be more. And for the whole 5 days more and more keeps pouring. You simply can not put a value to these retreats. They are truly out of this world.

114. I love how these Retreats have supported me to turn around very entrenched habits such as late nights, poor diet, lack of commitment and low self esteem. The commitment, tenderness and integrity with which I live today I directly attribute to these powerfully life changing events, which enable me to re-connect to my inner truth and wisdom with such ease and grace.

     1. So true!! I remember my first ever retreat and how early the events finished and we went to bed, I was exhausted and welcomed the sleep and then found myself awake at some ‘unearthly hour’ not knowing what to do with myself!!! By the end of the week my nervous system had slowed down and I had an inkling of what a sleep rhythm could feel like. When I went home I was surrounded by a different rhythm and there was then a choice to deepen my rhythm or adjust my rhythm to fit with another rhythm. Always a choice.

115. We can become so absorbed in life that having a form of retreat allows us the opportunity to check in with ourselves and ensure that we are not being unduly affected by our choices. This can also be done in a momentary withdrawal to bring more awareness to our posture or how we are moving, talking or typing, all of which are expression.

     1. So true and this time of year is a great opportunity to do that. Expression comes in many more forms that we consciously give credit to.

116. I love these events. Just when you think there cannot be anything else left to discover about our selves, every year more wisdoms flood the arena, giving us yet more insights, appreciation and concrete tools to deepen the quality of daily life and the integrity with which to live it.

     1. Sometimes I feel that I am only just getting started and that I really don’t know the half of it! With every new revelation and deepening I can feel the potential for more. In this awareness there is a never ending appreciation for the never ending evolution that is unfolding.

117. It seems it always comes back to purpose, true purpose … why are we doing what we are doing, what choices have we made before we started ‘doing’ anything, honestly – what is our agenda and is it true?

     1. That is an important question to ask ourselves because when the tension is ‘in your face’ the answer is often that we have not noticed the agenda we are running with that no longer serves.

118. “The greatest gift the retreat has given me – and it’s crazy that it is not basic 101 –is that it is always about energy before it is about anything else” I have heard this being said before, but tonight when I read this I feel it on a deeper more meaningful level.

     Thank you Lucy, awesome to hear, I can feel the evolution that was on offer and the reminder that evolution never stops offering us the next step.

     1. Always great to be reminded that everything in this world is energetic and that we can feel energy and discern its quality.

     2. Yes energy first, something I can never be reminded of often enough. I often find myself saying it to myself, about myself and also when observing others. A great support not to judge.

119. Always important to understand what we are withdrawing from…

     1. Great point Michael – what are we retreating from when indeed we try to get away from “everything”? Are we actually trying to get away from everything or is it the way we are being with things that we are trying to escape? Perhaps it is ourselves in terms of the lack of space that we often give ourselves? I know that when I am feeling spacious and with myself there is nothing to want to retreat from, but when I am not feeling connected to myself and hence affected by the things around me, all I want to do is get ‘away’…much to ponder on here.

        1. I have started to notice that tension a lot more Henrietta. The tension is an opportunity to clock what is going on, what we are feeling, and once it has been nominated then it will often ease. When I am not honest to the depth my body is offering me the awareness, the tension stays and I will use a coping mechanism to dull the tension and retreat once more.

120. Ha ha yes! I feel like it is a spring clean and inevitably my home and my wardrobe have a spring clean too.

121. As Christmas approaches and I have a week off I have been pondering what the purpose of my week off is and I can sense how there is a temptation to just let go of my usual supportive rituals that support me in my life and perhaps ‘retreat’ from me but actually this week could be a real retreat in terms of deepening my relationship with myself and my family and appreciating everything of the year that has been and to rest and prepare and rejuvenate for the year ahead.

     1. Option two is the one I am choosing! And I love what you say about appreciating all that has been and bringing a real purpose to resting and deepening in readiness for all that is to come.

        1. Yes it is absolutely ok to retreat, regather and rest as long as there is a purpose in it which for me is a lot about taking things deeper. In fact I get restless and edgy if my rest time has no purpose.

     2. Beautiful Andrew. A great reminder that time off can be purpose filled and that the rejuvenating part can be done with this in mind rather than simply checking out.

     3. I have found this time of year to be a second retreat and yes, it can be one of two ways (minimum!!!). I am finding that the opportunity to deeply reflect and to have space to surrender to that process without having to go to work is a most precious opportunity. Thank you for your comment as it has offered a moment of appreciation which I hadn’t clocked.

     4. I also get restless and edgy if my rest time has no purpose and to be honest I find purpose in repose a challenge. In that restlessness I get active but it is an action that comes from a drive. It is something I definitely need to work on as I don’t feel I have got anywhere near mastering.

122. Lucy, I love what you are sharing in this article; ‘The key is going back to the awareness we had as children and re-developing it so we become discerning and build a relationship with our body that will be the marker of all truth – our truth.’ I notice how aware, open and honest children naturally are, that if they feel something they express it and generally don’t hold back with this – this is the case particularly with young children where they live from their bodies.

     1. True and as we grow older we learn we have to change what we feel to say to fit in and then come to a point where we will say whatever is needed to fit in! Oh to keep peeling back the layers of our expression to know what it is to speak without holding back and knowing that we speak from and with love, not hurt, pain or need.

123. It it is big obstacle that stands in our daily living way that we believe that life comes in parts instead of living it as a whole.

     1. Since I have been open to seeing my life as a whole, rather than in segmented parts, I have been much more open to taking care of the detail across the board which has supported to have much more balance and evenness – no delineation in relationships, work and home life, simply an awareness that quality is needed in every moment regardless of where that moment happens to be.

        1. So well put Michelle.

        2. Yes agreed, and the pockets that try to fly under the radar come up and look like a blotch on the end of your nose so if you choose to look the other way again, it will be obvious and ‘in your face’ when you next look in the mirror!!

        3. Absolutely. I dropped the ball recently with taking care of some detail and I became aware of not just the impact that had on me, but on others too. It was indeed a blotch and an ugly one at that, but a super reminder to not check out and to be mindful that every moment counts, especially when I bring all of me to that moment.

124. I am so appreciative of what is offered at all of Universal medicine retreats and workshops held by Serge and Natalie Benhayon. We are held in a space of love where we can come to our own awareness about what is our truth. We are lovingly supported to look at our old patterns and behaviours which we can then reimprint and deepen our connection with ourselves once back home. We then set new foundations upon which to live our lives; this coming from truth within us, instead of relying on what’s happening outside of us, which leads us astray.

     1. Thank you for that summary and lovely reminder this morning. I am learning that appreciation must be the foundation upon which all understanding is built.

125. Just the very premise on which this blog starts illustrates how our intentions are so important to the way on which we make choices and experience life.

126. ‘Well, that started to lift and there was a distinct feeling of realising it was time to take more ownership of the whole package and put it together, making it applicable to each of our lives.’ This is life and what I’m discovering is that all that is presented at a Universal Medicine retreat or course is possible to live in life when I am willing to give up my attachments to what is not loving.

     1. This giving up attachments to what is not loving is an ever deepening of understanding because what we have considered our normal we have considered loving till we are faced with the truth that it has not been loving at all. It can be quite unravelling but if we stay steady and surrender to the process we feel a level of support from our body that has been dulled down hitherto.

127. Natalie and Serge Benhayon are powerful inspirations because they never hold back the love and truth we all innately are.

128. We need that sometimes don’t we Gill when the way we have been living has been depleting our resources? What a grand opportunity to press the reset button and bring a new way of moving into our day to day.

129. “At every turn we are encouraged to consider the part energy plays in our movements, our choices and our behaviour.” Bringing us back again and again to the truth that energy is behind our every action, thought and word, so empowering us to make a conscious choice about the quality of energy we want running us and running our lives, to be Love or Not to be Love.

     1. Yes, and it often catches me when I have forgotten and got sucked into a situation or a drama that there was energy at play first and when I look back nothing is actually ever a surprise. I have simply chosen not to read it before it happened.

130. It is so much about our relationship with our body isn’t it Ariana? No-one can tell us what is truth or not truth without us being able to discern the difference for ourselves if we have this relationship with our body. For me it is a constant deepening of my foundation and one that I realise is a drop in the ocean compared to what is available.

131. Agree Doug, yet I know the old ways have crept back in at times and I have seen this happen throughout my life when I have found a way of being and a way of living that feels so much more true than the stagnation I have got used to – so why do we go back and put ourselves in the old familiar clothes?? This is the deeper opportunity of the retreat and taking a moment to consider it again here – have we really claimed what was on offer as our own?

132. Retreats offer a moment to pause, reflect, consolidate and allow everything that we’ve experienced to sink in, and to explore things more deeply. When we don’t stop, and live life at 100mph, we lose the quality, and the ability to feel on a deeper level the subtle shifts that are taking place around and within us, all of the time. Life and we feel steadier, more full and so much more amazing when we’re in an even rhythm of activity and rest, of exploration/expansion and consolidating and appreciating.

     1. Having been a 100mph gal, I can now see how much of life I missed and how detrimental that was for my body. I feel sad sometimes when I consider the harm I did myself in the illusion that I was really embracing life and living life to the full. Now I see how much of life I missed and how much I was not on the front foot at all but letting life and distraction lead me.

133. Every retreat we take away pure gifts of gold – and then it is for us to integrate these into our daily lives which then naturally shares the gifts with everyone.

134. If we all stepped towards life rather than away from it then the so called ‘mysteries’ of life would unravel before our eyes. This unraveling would continue until eventually God would be standing there as broad as daylight, not in some mystical way but as a very real living fact.

     1. I love what you have written here Alexis because I can feel myself leaning forward in life and it feels so remarkable and inspiring after a lot of leaning back. And yes in leaning forward my relationship with God is more normal, constant, real, practical and allowing of the always support.

     2. Yes, stepping into life means being totally present and engaged. With it comes a willingness to be more aware and with that willingness comes insight which, as you say offers an opportunity to see how much more there is to life than we have chosen to see before.

135. Universal Medicine Retreats offer us a whole new way to understand life – they set the foundation for us to bring back to our daily life and with these markers, we can re-imprint everything that has not thus far supported us. We can begin to live life anew and realise that the beholding love that we experienced at the Retreat is something we can now incorporate into our daily rhythm and reflect out into the world.

136. I love the observation about the amazing support, support and deepening you had experienced on the retreat that “There was nothing to say I couldn’t take that back into my life if it was something I had found expanding and confirming and luckily for me, there was a common factor which would make it possible – me!!” Too often we assign power to something outside of us, ignore our own part in the situation and fail to see the depth of insight and empowerment we have actually been offered.

     1. Yes, I think we do this because it is easier to consider our life is run by others rather than ourselves, because if we realised how much of a ‘say’ we had in life we would have to do something about it.

137. All the Universal Medicine Retreats are a real Treat. Rich in very beautiful interactions and deeply nourishing on all levels, body, heart and soul.

138. It is beautiful to realise and feel that every moment in life counts and that we do not have to make it about important and unimportant stuff but simply do the next step that is required in our fullness, thus always honouring every move we make and knowing the beauty that we are and inevitably bring.

     1. Thank you Esther – I do sometimes judge things as important and not so important and I can see how in this I get to dramatise and make up reasons to procrastinate or delay, to hold myself back and justify my actions or non actions …to continue the charade. I can feel more deeply today how this is more ugly than the original hurt I have been protecting and covering up. Horrible to feel this but great to see it more clearly for this will support me to not slip into that false way of behaving and allow me to bring myself in full to each moment.

        1. Well said/commented. I too can deepen in my understanding of behaviour and my approach to or my reactions of events and people. Everything should be on the table for consideration.

139. I find there’s often a clear cut choice to approach anything in life – bring everything you’ve got or ride out the ‘take it easy wave’.

     1. Love your comment – if we don’t bring everything we’ve got then life turns sour for us and everyone else too.

     2. I like that summary of the choice and there is a new level of understanding for me about when I think I am bringing everything I have got, but actually am just riding out the ‘take it easy wave’ eeeek!

140. “The greatest gift the retreat has given me – and it’s crazy that it is not basic 101 –is that it is always about energy before it is about anything else.” The basis of all Universal Medicine’s presentations, is about energy first, and it should be inclusive in our education system so that we learn from young that energetic responsibility is key to everything in life and can’t be brushed aside or ignored.

     1. Before it is in education it needs to be considered in our families because to put it in an education system is going to take way too long!! If we each live the truth of the awareness as our normal then we live the integrity right now and we all benefit. As ever, and as you share, we need to be that change.

141. The retreats every year bring so much wisdom – it is up to us how willing we are to go there, to deepen and to then take these new understandings back out into the world.

142. I am always really appreciative of the deepening levels of awareness offered at the retreats. As always it is always my choice to go there or not.

143. ‘The being’ being cooked for hasn’t been something I considered a treat because I know it’s meant so much more, and yet I haven’t fully considered what it has meant to me and kept it at a superficial level of thinking what a relief! I’ve known it’s a relief from not having to be responsible in nurturing myself this way, something I have struggled with.It’s got me to consider how do we make the transition of being cooked for by our caretakers to cooking for ourselves?

     In recent years I’ve only attended the UK retreats. I know the level of integrity the meals are prepared and served with. Unlike growing up there isn’t someone wanting recognition or doing it begrudgingly or as part of one of the other hundred million things they’ve got to get done that evening. Nor is there the emotional drama at the dinner table and having to eat whilst upset or stressed.The retreats offer a way of cooking and eating that is in tune with one’s body. I can’t deny having experienced this and knowing how to cook this way for myself. Indeed, I’ve always known this way because otherwise I’d never have felt so upset when eating at the dinner table wasn’t harmonious.

     1. Sometimes we need a comparison to know that what we have experienced is not the all it could be.

144. I love the use of the analogy of ‘learning how to dress ourselves in a loving and honouring way’ to describe the immense support Universal Medicine retreats provide for deepening our relationship with the way we live life. I recognise that feeling of realising how many of my previous ways feel, in comparison to this, like uncomfortable, dirty and ill-fitting clothes. In fact this realisation has often been coupled with a knowing that I had been sensing a level of disturbance in those areas of life already but I had not wanted to really admit it, and the workshop had supported me to go to a deeper level of care and honesty.

     1. Beautiful Golnaz. I love your point that we already had the sense there was a level of disturbance, we just had not honoured the feeling.

145. “There was no sitting back and letting the work be done for you.” Indeed not. They are rich in group work that requires us to take an active part in pulling apart the ideals, beliefs and issues that govern our ingrained behaviours, so that we can transmute the quality by which we live our lives. This is not a grace that is bestowed upon us it is an integrity we work to embody.

     1. Yes, I distinctly remember hating the group work because there was nowhere to hide anymore. If I stayed as a surface level converser I felt like my head was above water and I would still be able to breath, but it just didn’t feel right. We needed honesty which meant we each had to consider life below the surface level conversation – diving in. Once below the surface there was a realisation that it was actually easier to breath and feel and there was no fear or anxiety just raw honest truth that set us all free – go figure!

146. We often see the word retreat as a way to escape from the world, relax, take it easy but the Universal Medicine Retreats are nothing like that and if anything they give us the opportunity to engage and commit more to life.

     1. Agreed. What I have discovered over the years is that if I want to retreat to escape and run away (which I have often noticed about myself!) then I have an opportunity to ask myself how I am living in every moment and what am I taking on board, or absorbing, that I feel overwhelmed?

147. Lucy, thank you for sharing your experience of the retreat. I love that the retreat is very real and practical and that after the retreat it is for us to say yes to continuing to develop and committing to life, rather than wanting to stay on the retreat and not be in life.

148. Lucy, this is a great point; ‘It was an opportunity to make space for deepening the relationship with yourself, without leaving your life behind: your life was still being lived and therefore, this made the retreat very practical.’ I love this – that it is not about escaping from life, but more about enriching life and developing in our lives.

     1. The opportunity is simply there as an offering and we can deepen, escape or skirt around and walk away no different. From embracing the opportunity to deepen and understand why we do what we do through group work and paying attention to how we feel, our lives are enriched and in such a practical way that it is simpler to remember when it is taken back home.

149. I love the way you talk about the beholding energy and how this lifted towards the end for you to take what unfolded for you out into the world. I can really relate to this and have felt a similar “holding” in the courses.

     1. Yes, I couldn’t think of any other word and it was so beyond anything I have experienced because it was so unimposing. No-one was invested in my getting it, it was on offer for me and I have free will either way.

150. I really enjoyed reading this Lucy. In days gone by I use to attend many retreats, most of them silent.:) They were a form of escape, to rejuvenate and then return to the hustle of life. I always found this transition difficult as life as I knew it then felt somewhat removed from me. I have attended many of the Universal Medicine retreats and they are very engaging as you share, offering a deeper relationship and awareness of ourselves and each other. There are many practical tools offered and also awareness deepened that can be taken into life, and when applied work. No banana chairs here yet I’ve come to know what true settlement feels like in my body.

     1. Yes there is no need for extended silence to re-connect to the internal wisdom that is on offer through the retreat.

151. “At every turn we are encouraged to consider the part energy plays in our movements, our choices and our behaviour.” Understanding and reading the quality of energy we choose to live by is a fundamental education that completely transforms how we relate to life and our responsibilities within it, an education that sets the Universal Medicine Retreats in a class of their own.

     1. Reading and understanding the why behind the what is certainly what I have found sets the Universal Medicine retreats apart from any other retreat I have been on.

152. The Universal Medicine retreats are a snippet of how life could be lived. But we have inverted life on every front and consequently life bears almost no resemblance to how it is meant to be lived. And although there are many who herald aspects of life as being good, great or even beautiful, it is a fairly grotesque disfiguration of the absolute glory that it could be.

     1. I couldn’t agree more. Life is “a fairly grotesque disfiguration of the absolute glory that it could be” and yet we champion it as being good because the pockets we choose to hide in are not as bad as someone else’s. Love, decency and respect should be everyone’s minimum normal and that bar should always be nudging us to more love, decency and respect.

153. As I child I remember feeling everything, being acutely aware, but somewhere down the track choosing to numb myself and disconnect from what was going on around me. The Universal Medicine retreats offer the opportunity to reconnect back to something innate, something known and something to be relived.

     1. Yes, it is like going home isn’t it? We think we are learning something new, but in truth we are undoing the patterns of behaviour we have taken on and remembering our inquisitive and sensitive nature that was so natural as children.

        1. It’s definitely like a home coming… something so known and familiar that when truly connected to, can’t be denied.

154. Universal Medicine Retreats are not holiday camps to escape from one’s responsibilities and life, in fact they are the complete opposite. They are a time where one learns to understand more deeply the truth of one’s responsibilities and to commit more fully in life.

     1. Totally agree, there is nothing holiday camp about them. They are for those who are ready to bring a deeper level of understanding and connection to their lives.

155. A retreat is what we choose to make of it… an escape from life or do we see it as an opportunity to deepen and expand?

     1. Love the simplicity and honesty you present here Caroline … we always have a choice – are we willing to follow truth or will we continue to hide?

156. What I’m am realising is that we think we live in a free society but actually we don’t everything is very controlled from the media, politics, nationality etc. I always refer back to the book written by George Orwell 1984. We think we are free and yet we are no where near this. We live under a consciousness that is totally in control of all our thoughts actions and movements and has been since we entered this plane of life. We are literally trapped and I personally hate this feeling of being trapped it is suffocating. To me the life line is the teaching and presentations of Serge Benhayon and the ancient wisdom that comes through him to show the world there is a way out of this entrapment we are all living in. The ancient wisdom is the light that will support us to break the consciousness we have encapsulated ourselves with.

     1. The more I understand what Universal Medicine is offering, the more I understand the importance of questioning what we are being fed and by whom. Human beings have become masters of manipulation, control and seeing what we want to see and as such we have been manipulated, controlled and stopped asking the ‘why’ questions. Time to regress to being questioning children!

157. Yes, a retreat removes having to cook, wash up, have someone to tidy your room. This absence of things to do lays at your door a choice; to relax because you disserve it, or use it to limit your distractions to allow space, to fully feel into what is being presented.

     1. Yes, we have a choice, do we check out or check in?!

158. This is an exquisite, inspiring and confirming blog to read today. It connects me with the same feelings you share here Lucy. It’s a joy to read it and an invitation to revise my own experience with the retreats I’ve attended. Great realisations worth to be embodied and held in my life with the same beholding quality I too experience there.

159. This blog powerfully confirms what is offered on Universal Medicine retreats: an opportunity to explore tools and ways to master ourselves in life, and not be its prisoner..

     1. It is an interesting consideration isn’t it to think we may be a prisoner to all that we have not questioned but simply taken on as a way of living because it is what everyone else is doing.

160. Simple things like not cooking our own food for a few days but having this done for us can be so supportive and something worth appreciating.

     1. There is so much to appreciate about the food we are offered as well, as it offers a clean way of living, so not only are we getting an opportunity to do a reassessment of how we approach life, our body is getting an opportunity to consider what we put in it.

161. One thing I love about the Universal Medicine retreats is how we are all treated as equals and presenters in our own rights and the sharing we get and how we learn from each other is huge. We all have so much to offer each other and bring to the world.

     1. Yes, I love this too. We all have unique angles to share, and expertise beyond compare. I used to do a thing where I put myself down, I don’t know as much as another, what I have to say is less valid. But what I’m starting to realise is that, when my point of reference in life is my essence, I can see all my life experiences in relation to this essence and instantly know what is true and what is not.

        1. I love that Karin, as we each have so much to offer each other. I am constantly learning from people I meet everyday and often am surprised with what they are coming out with, which often exactly what I need to hear.

     2. One day we will start to recognise the harm that is done in our own bodies when we hold back what there is to share. We each bring a perspective that is unique based on our life experiences, we may not always have something to say but when we do, we should not hold it back.

        1. Very true Lucy, and so often what we have to say is not for us, but for the person or people we are with to hear, so by not saying it we are actually doing a dis-service to them.

162. So many retreats are about withdrawing from life; they often include long periods of silence, or of doing hours and hours of physical yoga postures or doing activities to busy ourselves. The Univerasl Medicine retreats always involve lots of group work and the emphasis is always based around deepening our involvement with life.The retreats therefore knit us deeper with life, rather than ostracise us further from it.

     1. Yes, Alexis, one type of retreat gets you to step off the pedal, on Universal Medicine retreats we step on the pedal. They are working retreats, never do we switch off, equally true of life.

        1. Ha ha yes, there is no getting away from it – in fact I would say we put our foot on the accelerator instead!

163. I have attended several retreats and have felt the love and sense of holding that you speak of Lucy. I find it can be challenging when I return home and begin re-imprinting my rhythms and routines to not be drawn back into old patterns of comfort as a way of dulling the awareness offered to me in the retreat.

     1. Yes, I couldn’t agree more because what I have left behind isn’t really left behind it is right there to come back to and unless I change everything about the way I live life when I come back then it makes sense that I feel pulled to revert to ways that I know best.

     2. I found that I needed to prepare more consciously before I left for the retreat so that I didn’t react when I got back! Each retreat I went on,, there was less of a start and finish, and more of a loving preparation knowing I would be embracing a new normal when I got home. Then the challenges started to ease.

164. I’ve not appreciated, until reading this, how much the retreats offer as to living everyday life. Let me explain, they are all about everyday life and allowing our inner wisdom to inform how we live. I’ve got that but what I’ve not appreciated was that I was already putting in place what was being presented. By not appreciating this I could fool myself with thoughts that said home was different and too difficult to live what was offered. Appreciation of what is is key to building upon it.

     1. When I first started attending the Universal Medicine retreats the difference between being on the retreat and being at home was stark. Over the years the gap between being on retreat and being at home has closed, it’s taken time, application and on many occasions the determination to stand up for the truth but now I am living in a way that is much much closer to how I live when I am at the retreat. I am committed to closing the gap even more.

        1. That is great Alexis and how wonderful is it to appreciate that point that this is an ever deepening process? We don’t know what we don’t know.

        2. True, although we know much more than we let on.

     2. Yes it is so important to have appreciation at the forefront because without that, the honesty we talk to ourselves with can feel like a slap, rather than the holding Love that honesty actually is.

165. Lucy I really appreciate what you have share here
     “It was an opportunity to make space for deepening the relationship with yourself, without leaving your life behind: your life was still being lived and therefore, this made the retreat very practical.”
     It is this practicality that we can then take back into life and live it as our day today way of living. I have learnt so much from all the workshops, retreats and presentations of Serge Benhayon they have given me and I’m sure many other people a practical way to master life.

     1. Yes, quite simply if it is not practical it doesn’t get implemented. The simplicity of what is shared can sometimes be a real struggle for those of us who are used to making life more complicated.

166. The Universal Medicine retreats are amazing. They offer humanity tools to truly evolve and it is up to us how much we are willing to apply these heavenly tools in our everyday life.

167. After attending a Universal Medicine retreat nothing is ever the same again. And even if we find ourselves slipping on unwashed clothes and returning to old patterns, our awareness of this and feeling that goes with this is shattering. This re-activates our resolve to keep on discarding until routines and rhythms are re-established that support us to maintain a standard below which we do not descend.

     1. Yes, every moment is an opportunity and we can either go repeat what has not worked or re-imprint what has not worked. It seems that we need to forget this timeline thing of leaving things behind as the cycles we live within are a constant reminder that we are just going round in circles!

168. Many people see retreats/holidays as an escape/reward from work/life. So, why do people look forward to coming back from these breaks and look forward to going back to work, for a rest?

169. Day five of the retreat should be treated as day one, because this when the profundity of what is presented hits home and becomes live in daily activity.

     1. It sure does Kehinde, day 1 of the new way of being, deepening the quality and connection with ourselves and also with others.

170. You should write more. Love your writing and expression so easy to read. Perfect timing as I have been reflecting on if have I really appreciated and taken into my life everything Universal Medicine have given me, including a retreat I attended in 2017. To me this said it all ‘It was an opportunity to make space for deepening the relationship with yourself, without leaving your life behind’ that is, how we can support ourselves in deepening our relationship with both ourselves and others, but still be in life, for if we feel we need to leave life behind to take time out, it is showing us something is not working.

     1. I couldn’t agree more about the leaving life behind to take time out. In saying that, there are still times where I can feel the pull to take time out and at times I do, but now I am aware that the bigger question is how did I let myself get so exhausted that I needed to take time out? That is the deeper healing opportunity.

        1. This is true Lucy, the more there is an urge to get away and have some time away I know that I have been living in drive somewhere in my life or avoiding some part of life.

171. “There was nothing to say I couldn’t take that back into my life if it was something I had found expanding and confirming and luckily for me, there was a common factor which would make it possible – me!!” – absolutely. If I enjoy what I experience at the retreat, why keep it to only that week in the entire year?

172. The Universal Medicine Retreats are a time of sharing of wisdom.

173. One critical factor of the Universal Medicine Retreats that makes them of immense value is the fact that our everyday lives are very much a focal point of the teachings. These Retreats having nothing to do with shrinking away from life and our toils, in fact it is the complete opposite. From start to finish each Retreat empowers us to deepen our commitment to work, relationships and all our responsibilities so that what we walk away with at the end is a very tangible experience and understanding of how to take everything a notch deeper, bigger and grander than ever before, to walk, talk it and live in every inch of our lives.

     1. Agreed, they are incredibly practical and an opportunity to workshop the patterns and behaviours that can get in the way of us living the life we know we are meant to be living. Not one where we are at the mercy of time, emotional ups and downs, blame and regret.

     2. Very true Rowena, by making everyday life a focal point it makes what we discover and learn very practical and tools to implement in one’s life after the Retreat when the real learning occurs.

174. I have always found the beholding offering by the UM retreats to be amazingly beneficial as an opportunity to reflect on where I am and be offered deeply practical tools for living life once back in the intensity that is currently the everyday reality for most in society.

     1. Same here, life is full on, the tools offered at the retreats are incredible at being able to help live life to the full and to enjoy whatever the day brings.

     2. So true Helen … ‘the beholding offering’ of every Universal Medicine presentation is all about truth and love which is super supportive in allowing us all to lovingly see our patterns and behaviours, to take responsibility for them and to re-imprint our lives.

     3. I couldn’t find any other word to explain what is felt during those times as even that word, taken by its regular accepted definition, does not capture the Grace and Love of the space offered and held for us to consider why things are the way they are.

175. Free will is a beautiful gift – we always have a choice, and, whatever we choose is the life we then have.

176. Your comment about “this was not for anyone to live for us” is on the money. The ‘easy’ part is going to these courses/retreats etc….but the ‘harder’ part is actually living it – making it real for you in your life. And in truth it is not really hard, we like to make it hard as we often overlook the simplicity of life. But for real change to occur in your life, it is about commitment to it.

     1. Well said Sarah. The Ageless Wisdom teachings are always profoundly simple – our resistance to them brings in the complication.

     2. Yes, it is fascinating to question why we make it hard when what is taught and shared is so entirely logical and supportive for our health and wellbeing. The more understanding we have about the energy behind our choices, the more understanding we have over why it can sometimes feel ‘hard’.

177. Lovely sharing Lucy, as you say the key is what we learn and develop at the retreats, and the Universal Medicine courses are tools and practical things we can take back into our everyday lives and enrich them by doing so. So it is not something you go and do and then leave behind, rather you embrace it, embody it and love it and by doing so expand on what you have learnt, re-learnt and developed.

     1. I also find that by staying in touch with the people you meet on the courses you get an opportunity to continue the conversation – just as we are all doing here.

        1. We sure do Lucy and I love interacting with other people and deepening our relationships with each other as we have so much to offer, share and support each other with.

178. “It was an opportunity to make space for deepening the relationship with yourself, without leaving your life behind” Unlike any other ‘self help’ course/workshop/event I have ever been on, these Retreats leave you empowered and totally prepared to take what you have learnt and understood back into your life, so that you may live and deepen what you learnt, and as a result become stronger and more confident in all aspects of life. And in addition, be of true service where ever you are and with whatever you do.

     1. Yes absolutely. The retreats offer very practical tools to practice for ourselves in a space we have chosen to be in so we can press the pause button and consider the patterns and momentums we have been living with. There is nothing shared that does not have a real life application which makes them so supportive.

     2. This is what I love about the retreats too. Rather than an escape they offer an opportunity to deepen your engagement with life. I always feel more committed to bringing more quality to what I do at the back end of a Universal Medicine retreat and am much more empowered to do so.

179. I love what you are sharing here. It is great to be held in love and all other things that the Universal Medicine Retreats offer but it is just as great and maybe even more to choose to build this love in our everyday lives so we don’t have to oscillate so much.

     1. How often do we truly consciously hold each other in love? I know Universal Medicine do this for sure for absolutely every event I have attended over the 12 years I have known them I have always always felt that I have been held in such a space. But we can all do this though it is not special just what is our intention and how much do we care about others. When it comes to relationships Universal Medicine really do raise the bar ✨

        1. ‘When it comes to relationships Universal Medicine really do raise the bar.’ Before I became involved with Universal Medicine I always felt I had and lived with integrity, I didn’t realise just how much deeper you can go with this or how much deeper I needed to go in my relationship with myself in order to deepen my integrity and love in relationships with others.

180. Everything about the way we live our life matters. Universal Medicine retreats offer us a snapshot to how we live and how we are in community and how we can work together to not only complete tasks but genuinely support one another to evolve together.

181. These retreats are very practical: taking all I can from a retreat into everyday life means I don’t return home and long to be somewhere else.

     1. Oh I love this Sandra. It is really claiming that you have the power to live the life you want to live and it is not owned by anyone else but is made up of the movements you make.

182. We can go back to living how we were prior to any event, awareness, insight or workshop, we can have a moment (or more) of clarity and then slot back into our old ways. In the case of natural disasters like floods we can all work together to support our neighbours and community members and open up in ways we previously hadn’t, but we don’t tend to keep on living like this after the emergency has cleared. We can bring out our best when needed instead of living it and making it our daily standard.

     1. So true, how often do we let relationships and communications slip after the emergency has passed.

183. I love the Way of The Livingness, because in a nutshell it supports you to live life well. The workshops and retreats offer a point of reference, a point to reflect, a point to deepen and learn to then take out into life.

     1. Yes, they offer an experience of a rhythm that supports you in your everyday life and not to save just for retreats, time-outs and holidays.

        1. They are the best guiding road maps to navigate life with. I haven’t found anything else that comes close to this kind of support that is this effective, in making inordinate inner changes.

184. To discern life and to keep discerning movements, especially my own, is medicine for my health and well-being. Without discernment I am left at the mercy of creation and everything that comes with that.

     1. This is what is so amazing about Universal Medicine Retreats because they offer us a road map out of creation and into co-creation (the divine plan).

     2. Yes agreed. I have to say though, without these retreats I wouldn’t have even known there was a difference between creation and co-creation. They call to a halt the individuality that dominates life.

185. There are 3 Retreats a year with Universal Medicine and each one builds on the next and each one offers us the space to build a rhythm in our lives that supports us to deepen and have a greater awareness and understanding on life. As you say it is not about retreating from life but embodying all that has been offered to be part of life going forward. I know of no other Retreat that offers this and has done so for 8 or 9 years.

     1. I have never been to all three but I have been to two different ones and could feel exactly what you are saying, they built on each other which makes absolute sense if you are running retreats that are about deepening and evolving because after the first retreat the energy has been grounded so you cannot run the same retreat again!

186. ‘There was now no question I had a choice to build movements that did not lead me down an automatic set of behaviours to find myself back in my old unwashed clothes’. Brilliant Lucy and timely. Your emphasis on the importance of building movements that lead to an inner deepening and expansion inspires me to be more observant and of my own movements and choices.

     1. Yes I am realising that there is a potential to hide the small incremental movements to put the old clothes back on. If we are really quiet and move in small movements, perhaps the fact that we have put old clothes back on will fly under our own radar!!!

187. Lucy – I love what you are sharing here; ‘When you take an opportunity, invest time and money, create space to be curious and feel what life is like out of those clothes, then the thought of putting the old clothes on again elicits only one response… Uh, No!!!’ This is a really helpful analogy. Reading this I can feel that there is temptation to not change – to stay the same and not rock the boat, but as you say this doesn’t make sense, life is about developing and evolving.

     1. Yes and the only person we hold back when we do not see these as opportunities to deepen, develop and evolve is ourselves. For me, that is entirely illogical, and yet I know I still have more to understand about how to approach a retreat and not put my old clothes on – even if it is done very very quietly!

188. The depth of presentations on Universal Medicine Retreats support and hold us in the supreme energy of Love. More important is the ‘living retreat’: how we continue to expand, consistently supporting and holding ourselves on our return to daily living.

189. While a retreat does offer us an opportunity to retreat from our daily lives for a short time, the value we get from a short time away is multiplied many times over if we can then apply what we learn into our daily lives. It should never be meant as an opportunity to withdraw, but taken as a golden time to reflect and renew.

     1. Well said Simon. Sometimes we feel battered by life and taking time to withdraw is what is needed in that moment, but in the long run, if we use a retreat as a time to withdraw we miss the grander opportunity available to us.

190. Last year I came away from a Universal Medicine retreat and for weeks felt as if I was still on the retreat such were the power of the presentations and group work. Each retreat offers ways to deepen and expand our Livingness and is a platform for us to step up from.

     1. What I appreciate about what you shared here is that you made a choice to deepen your own relationship with what you connected to at the retreat, which meant you could feel the benefits for weeks after the end of the retreat. The choice to deepen and expand is always our choice.

191. The Universal Medicine retreats allow us to clear and re-imprint our behaviours and ways of being in the world and so when we get home we are walking into the old which no longer works or fits with our new foundation. I always have the need to do a big clean-out post retreat and to re-arrange furniture etc so that everything around me is aligned to how I feel.

     1. Yes me too! it just doesn’t fit any more. I hadn’t considered the impact of what we see and feel on our bodies till I had felt this (and stopped reacting to it!) Now I realise that mess is very jarring and a visual reflection of the disorder or overwhelm that is felt inside as well.

192. So much is offered at the Universal Medicine retreats … and it is totally up to us whether we bring that into our daily life or go back to what was – we always have a choice.

193. What I love is that we always have a choice – we chose how we want to live – that is so awesome.

194. What if these two ways could be applied not only to the retreats offered by Universal medicine but in fact to every aspect of life? Where we are willing to learn, grow and develop by all the lessons we are offered instead of reacting and fighting back at every opportunity.

     1. Beautifully said David

     2. Embrace or contract, open or close, respond or react, see or not see, step forwards or step back, we are constantly making choices and each individual choice is a step towards or away from God.

     3. Great point, in every moment we are given opportunities to learn, the question is how willing are we to see and embrace them?

     4. So true David … we are constantly being offered evolution – it is always up to us whether we choose to react to these opportunities or respond by observing and bringing understanding to situations, which allows everyone involved an opportunity for learning and growth.

     5. Yes, this could be applied to everything, every choice, every moment is an opportunity. Thank you for the reminder of what opportunity awaits me now.

195. Most retreats provide respite from daily life, whereas The Universal Medicine retreats provide an opportunity to live daily life in a richer, more condensed and truer way.

     1. Yes and they give us practical tools for living that we can take forward and use every day. With a five day lived template with its rhythm it’s a beautiful way to deepen ones commitment, to oneself and to the world.

     2. What I really appreciate about the Universal Medicine retreats, or any Universal Medicine presentation, is that what is presented are often practical opportunities for exploration in the context of every day life.

        1. It’s that practicality that is absolute key. I can remember going on a yoga weekend and feeling totally overwhelmed because the so called ‘tools and techniques’ were so complicated and time consuming that I just knew that there was no way that I was going to be able to incorporate them into my everyday life. All of the Universal Medicine tools and techniques on the other hand are able to be slid into everyday life and over time incorporated perfectly to support all aspects of our lives.

     3. Yes UM retreats offer ways of being in life that mean one is fully engaged with no need for respite.

        1. Just imagine for a moment how it’s going to feel when each and every one of us is fully engaged with life. At long last it’s going to be full throttle for us as a collective whole. It feels such a long time since we’ve all been moving together as One. It currently feels as if so many people are pulling in different directions.

     4. Yes the key is not in taking time out, but rather connecting to ourselves in a deeper more meaningful way. I reflected just today how The Gentle Breath Meditation does this for me, it brings me back to me and makes it about the body and how am I living. Such a simple yet powerful tool.

        1. The most powerful tools and people are always the simplest. Complication in itself diminishes true power.

        2. This was such a revelatory learning for me. I remember how I used to just want to get home from work to have some ‘me’ time, but that time was spent mostly checking out in front of the TV or with a novel – no quality to be seen. Now I understand that the deeper I connect with myself there is no desire to check out and there is no resentment at having to be at work or having to work hard – there is just an evenness across the day that is becoming ever more seamless.

        3. I love this ‘evenness across the day this is becoming ever more seamless’ that I am building in my life too, michelle819. It feels stupendously simple and oh so honouring, and allows space for the love that I have been fighting against most of my life to deepen and shine forth.

        4. ‘allows space for the love that I have been fighting against most of my life to deepen and shine forth.’ I love this too! How many of us actually admit that we are fighting love, let alone actually allow it to deepen and shine?

196. Lucy your first two bullet points,
     ‘to reconnect and to deepen our relationship with ourselves’ should be the absolute foundation for all of us and yet we have made our foundation about disconnection and avoiding our relationship with ourselves.

     1. I agree Alexis but don’t you think life as we know it feeds that disconnection and it is the tension of living that way that means when we have an opportunity to reconnect and deepen our relationship with ourselves it feels like a revelation!

        1. Yes Lucy, absolutely.

197. After the last retreat, I felt a very strong impulse to ‘clear out’ my home of anything that was no longer needed. This was helped by the fact that we were considering putting it on the market, however the purpose was much deeper than aesthetics, I could feel how the stagnation, from allowing things that didn’t belong to fester, was affecting me and everyone else in the house. Eight months later I can confirm that whilst there is still more to be done, it already feels so different. The feeling of spaciousness that I feel inside is enormous, there is also a sense of release and an honouring of myself and others, that I’ve finally severed the tendrils from the past that were making me feel like I needed these things, which in truth, I never did.

     1. Making life about energy has a very practical application. In the practical application we have the tools to support our evolution.

     2. Thank you for offering this example Alison because it is only in taking the step in our own lives that we can see if there is a difference. You have inspired me to offer another clear out to our home!

198. In the early days and for a very long time after I found the group work very challenging but what I find now is that the group work has helped me to express at home and at work.

     1. Yes, the group work offers a reflection of how much we value our contribution in life, how much we allow others space to express and how reactive we are! I had forgotten all of this so thank you for the reminder Julie. One to remember and appreciate.

199. The retreat is a treat for sure. It does make a lot of sense of the nonsensical parts of life.

200. ‘I felt like I was given a whole picture and from there had an opportunity to see as an adult what I knew as a child but had shut down because no one really spoke about such things as energy. ‘ I love that I no longer have to shut down my awareness of energy. I grew up saying, ‘hey the emperor’s got no clothes’ and everyone disapproved. I have to be honest and say there were times when I thought myself better because I could see things other people didn’t when actually people were just ignoring the fact of energy and choosing to just see with their eyes. This is no different to me and I’m discovering how much I’ve shut myself down and that there is a far greater level of acceptance and understanding that the world is indeed all about energy first. I’ve struggled accepting this because, to do so means admitting I am not the grand master in it all, so addicted I was with seeking recognition and validation. Now I’m starting to appreciate the qualities I bring and the love that can come through me when I get out of the way.

     1. That is amazing Karin and interesting to clock that feeling that we are not the masters of it all.

201. The Universal Medicine retreats provide a snapshot of life as it can be lived, a permanent opportunity to support one another to evolve. When coming back into ‘normal’ life after such events, it really stands out how most of us have set our lives up in such a way as to actively stall our own evolution. At the retreats it feels that there is movement and flow but so often in everyday life there feels that there is stagnation and I do recognise that both of these experiences are as a result of our own choices to either evolve or not.

202. I have never been to any other retreats prior to the Universal Medicine retreats. I didn’t know what to expect when I first attended my very first Universal Medicine retreat except I knew it was going to be life changing and it was. Now, I very much look forward to attending these retreats every year because they are an amazing support for me to learn about life, people, God and the universe and apply what I have learned and live it in my day to day life.

     1. I had been to weekend retreats and have to say loved the escape. I don’t find it an escape at the Universal Medicine retreats because you are constantly learning, discussing and unpacking yourself. It is an incredibly practical opportunity to be front-footed in your life and as you say, consider life, people God and the Universe!!! No subject too small or big!!

203. Being on retreat is a beautiful space to learn, however, the true learning occurs when we put into practice, or not, what is offered on the retreat.

     1. I couldn’t agree more. The beholding space of a retreat offers a reprieve from the pressures of everyday but that is not reality and therefore it is about bringing it home and into our every day life, putting it into practice and then working out what we keep and what consider for another time.

        1. Yes, and with it comes a deepening, expansion and renewed interest and purpose to life.

204. The clothes analogy, while gross, is spot on when referring to the Universal Medicine retreats. You get to feel life in clean clothes and when I get home I always feel like reimprinting my home as it feels stale compared to what I lived in for the five days prior to coming back.

     1. ha ha so true, I have started being aware of this and preparing my home before I leave and now know that I will feel the difference when I walk back in so there is less of a reaction. It is such a good example of how everything is energy and we live in a pool of energy not simply in the four walls of a physical building.

205. ‘The lack of space and the feeling of being sucked into time was palpable yet not a foregone conclusion.’ This really resonated with me, Lucy. I don’t attend many Universal Medicine events but when I do, I walk away knowing that there is a hovering, lurking feeling to return to ‘the lack of space and the feeling of being sucked into time…’ and that it is simply a matter of choice of whether I do or not.

     1. All of our movements, all of our thoughts and all of our speech can be broken down into coming from and therefore leading us back to one of two categories and those categories are ‘in keeping with God’ or ‘without God’. It’s as simple as that.

        1. This is well worth reminding ourselves of because then we move with more conscious awareness of the impact on ourselves and on others.

206. Love the way you liken going back to your old ways after a retreat to finding yourself back in your old unwashed clothes, Lucy. Yes, the heavy, stale, life-less feeling of going back to our old ways is the saying no to all that has been presented and is on offer whereas the saying yes is the feeling of choosing a clean, fresh, adoring outfit to dress ourselves in that confirms our deep connection with God and the potential this has of being our new ‘normal’ if we so choose.

     1. Yes, it feels like you force yourself to get used to the old stale clothes again – or not!

207. The retreat is like an enormous stop moment where we can reflect on the way we have been living, let go of old patterns and re-set in a truer and more loving way.

     1. So true Anon, this is what my experience is too of the amazing Universal Medicine retreats.

208. Yes going on a Retreat gives us an opportunity to set new standards…..in fact these grow out of a Retreat naturally so as we allow ourselves to go deeper with the relationship with ourselves and our connection and honest sharing with others.

     1. Yes I agree there are new standards – or perhaps claiming of old standards we have walked away from or felt too awkward to claim for ourselves. When you realise the harm it does to not live true to yourself there is a more solid claiming of the standard you choose to live to.

209. I have attended several Universal Medicine retreats over the last 10 years and have loved every single one of them. The list of things I love is rather long, but ‘the opportunity to meet many different people from many walks of life” is way up the list. I started off keeping myself to myself a lot, but soon realised the joy I was missing out on when connecting to those who I hadn’t met before and reconnecting to those who I had met. Yes, these wonderful retreats are all about people, those sharing the days with me and those I will meet when I leave, taking all I have learned with me and only leaving behind that which doesn’t fit into my life anymore.

     1. I have attended 3 retreats so far and meeting people, connecting and discussing different life topics, about evolution and who we are and where we all come from and more, is something I deeply, deeply love. Another most amazing part is exposing the illusion and lies in life we have accepted as the norm and learning to live a loving way that is full of truth and joy.

210. Lucy the Universal Medicine retreats are one of the highlights of my year, why? Because they provide an incredible space and depth of understanding that allows me to really connect deeply to what I know inside and brings a strength to what is next in life.

     1. Likewise David – its a real highlight in the calendar to come round again, reflect on the previous year … consider how I am living, and give some serious attention to how I am going to choose to live going forwards. The effect of that year on year has been nothing short of life changing.

     2. Yes a major highlight and how great is it to be able to clock and appreciate that. Otherwise we bumble through life not understanding or appreciating why we do what we do.

211. A retreat from the monotony of ‘normal’ existence, blow away the cobwebs of ideals and beliefs and return to live in a way that offers constant expansion.

     1. That is such an interesting comment ‘the monotony of ‘normal’ existence,’ how many people find their normal existence monotonous and therefore work really hard to bring some excitement into it? I know I was one of those. I used to question worry about not keeping up or having enough excitement to share with others, yet the simplicity of the life I lead now means I feel better than I ever have and I am more aware of running away from simplicity which is a form of medicine in itself.

212. Building a relationship with our body is so important. It constantly gives us messages. Living in a rhythm that may be new to us and one that supports our body, as the retreats offer us, gives us a template to return home with, if we choose to use it.

     1. And then every moment thereafter, we have a choice to expand, to say yes to more, yes to clearing out what doesn’t belong and allowing more space for the truth, or not.

        1. We sure do Alison, for each step we can go deeper and expand. Whilst a moment may be considered great, the next is always designed to be greater.

     2. Yes, the rhythm is there inside us isn’t it, it is an opportunity to connect and deepen it, and walk beside others as we do so before we ‘bring it home’.

213. “The greatest gift the retreat has given me….. it is always about energy before it is about anything else.” So true Lucy. Without understanding about energy I would be far more judgmental of people. Universal Medicine retreats are fulll of pearls of wisdom and practical tools for living.

     1. I agree, Sue, understanding that everything is about energy first has given me a completely different perspective on life. Everything is so much clearer and de-personalised, in the sense that our behaviour is how we are choosing to be in that moment. When we are dis-connected from our body, we allow unloving energy to work through us, but it isn’t who we are. With this understanding it’s so much easier to not take things personally and equally to not judge or blame others for how they are choosing to be in that moment, rather, it’s an opportunity for us to support each other by being honest and allowing the space to discuss what is really going on for them and us.

        1. Yes, in fact it is a great freedom to consider the energy we live with and in, and therefore to consider how we are with ourselves and each other.

214. It is beautiful to reclaim step by step that life is one big continuum and that every moment counts, that every moment’s quality is the foundation of the next moment and the next and so forth.

     1. We are planting seeds with every step we take and we or someone else will walk through them. What small service it would be to humanity if we consciously chose to walk with no harm to the best of our ability.

        1. A beautiful focus for everyone that would bring enormous changes to the world and how we are with each other.

215. A Universal Medicine retreat is a life changing experience and when we start to move and walk in the glorious-ness of the Love we are then creating the most Loving space for everything we do starts to become our normal way of living.

     1. Very true Greg and an opportunity for us to embrace all there is on offer.

        1. Great Lucy and may I add that as we deepen our connection to our essence, then the opportunities are abundant all-the-time and I am sure my cup-runeth-over with the Love we all share as Students.

216. ‘I could feel the energy that had held the retreat as a space for consideration had lifted. It hadn’t gone but there was now a realisation that it was for me to say yes to rather than for it to be there as part of the retreat.’ – as you share, Lucy, the space was held in absolute love at the retreat, honouring who each and every one of us truly are ….. however, not only later, but even while we were there, it’s up to us to choose to say yes to what is on offer allowing ourselves to surrender and be open to the truth of what is, rather than relying on the comfort of what we think we know – because then we are closing ourselves off to the potential of what can be.

217. What a gorgeous blog, Lucy, thank you. Your sharing of the last Universal Medicine Retreat and the incredible insight and wisdom that was on offer feels very true for how the retreat felt for me also. Whilst I did find it quite challenging to articulate how I felt in the group work sometimes, I realise this isn’t due to my inability to express, rather a reluctance, resistance even for me to fully drop into my body and feel the truth. It was as though there was a part of me wanting to ‘think’ how to respond, rather than completely letting go and sharing the absolute truth, whatever that may be.

     1. Yes Alison, I am realising more and more that is how we have been trained. We assess and measure then respond and our body learns to configure accordingly rather than be free to respond in the moment.

218. ‘Or, of course, we can also go to a retreat, enjoy, rest, discover, rebuild and go back to the way we were living before till we get another holiday or retreat moment. No one says we can’t do that. It just doesn’t seem to make much sense to me anymore.’ Why would anyone want to go back to ‘old’ ways of living when they have been presented with something that if lived will see the landscape of our lives completely redesigned. Once lived, it’s almost impossible to go back because we know what’s true and we can feel the limitlessness of living this way.

     1. When we feel in our body what the change brings us, going back to our old lifestyle, is no longer a choice we would even reconsider!

        1. Yes in fact when we look back it becomes quite startling to see what we used to live which we accepted as our normal.

     2. I agree to a point but in practice I have ‘gone back’ to old ways of living that I never thought I would and that is even after a retreat. Now I realise it is a constant choice to re-imprint and make new foundations or sink back into my old familiar ways and wait for the next reminder that I am back in the mud of my own making!

219. The Universal Medicine Retreat is the real highlight of my year. The depth and quality of the subject matter, the teachings, the group work and sharing allows everyone the opportunity to understand and appreciate who we are and what we bring to this world, a forever deepening journey. An awesome self evolution processes that enriches everyone’s lives year in, year out.

     1. I agree Rowena, it is for me too and there is nothing else out there like it, not that I’ve found anyway and I’ve tried a few different avenues. It would be going completely against the grain to return to live in the same way after a retreat and it would take a huge amount of effort to do so, nonetheless that said, I never take away as much as I could from the Universal Medicine retreats, the depth of what is on offer is enormous.

     2. Yes, the depth is amazing and every year we are taken deeper. Definitely the highlight of the year.

        1. It sure is a highlight of the year and I find the more I then take what I have learned into my everyday life, the more enriching the retreat becomes and so it is not left, as that week rather encapsulates the whole year moving forward.

        2. So true James, as it sets a foundation, a focus and purpose for the coming year.

     3. The Universal Medicine retreats are like an internal spring-clean, a complete reset, to start afresh on our return home – setting new foundations, rhythms and rituals – definitely the highlight of every year.

        1. Yes I agree a highlight and a spring clean – not a chore but an absolute pleasure.

     4. Absolutely agree Rowena. They are a highlight. But really they highlight how every day can be that way, should we make those movements in that direction.

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