Could you remain silent for an entire day? What about a weekend? What about a week?
A silent retreat is exactly as it sounds—a retreat that is silent. The purpose of a silent retreat is, “More than just being silent, though, the retreat gives you an opportunity to reflect inwardly and process your thoughts in a calm, constructive way.”
Who are silent retreats for?
Silent retreats are for anyone.
People use a silent retreat to reflect on who they are and to process their thoughts. It’s a helpful tool for people navigating addiction, and it’s also a helpful tool for people who just need to process the things going on in their lives.
A silent retreat is an opportunity to be still and reflect—anyone can benefit from that.
What do you do on a silent retreat?
Well, for starters, you stay silent.
All the time.
Then, there are other activities like yoga, journaling, and meditation. Since the goal of a silent retreat is to spend time reflecting and being still, the activities that people do are often ones that encourage mindfulness and help people find alignment.
People still eat meals, shower, and take care of themselves—it’s just they’re doing all of these things without talking (and without listening to anything like music or podcasts).
Why do people make silent retreats?
There are many reasons why someone may be interested in a silent retreat, and the benefits are going to be different for everyone.
If someone is navigating addiction, they may find that a silent retreat helps them detox from their habits—this could be something like a drug or alcohol addiction, or even a work or media addiction.
Another reason someone may do a silent retreat is to practice mindfulness. It’s no secret that we live in a chaotic and loud world (both loud in sound and loud as in “in your face”). A silent retreat is a time for someone to remove themselves from the loudness to find peace and be still.
People also like to do silent retreats if they need to spend time self-reflecting. When life is always go-go-go, it’s easy to suppress your feelings and become oblivious to what’s going on inside of you. A silent retreat helps you take the time you need to figure out what’s going on inside. When you’re silent, it’s just you and your thoughts. What are those thoughts saying? How can you rewire them? How are your thoughts impacting you?
Everyone’s silent retreat experience is going to be different.
How does a silent retreat differ from a regular retreat?
The biggest difference is that it’s silent.
On a silent retreat, you’re going to be enjoying the same activities that you might do on a retreat where people talk. Since it’s silent, it’s more of an intimate experience with yourself. If you’ve never gone a day without talking, you may be surprised by what you find when your brain isn’t actively going.
On a regular retreat, you’re more likely to build close connections with the people you’re spending time with, but on a silent retreat, the main goal is to build those inward connections with yourself.
What if a silent retreat isn’t quite for you?
I think there are countless benefits to a silent retreat, but I also recognize that it’s beneficial to balance solitude with connection/community.
Silence can be a beautiful gift, but so can being connected to people who are experiencing similar things as you.
I’ve taken components of a silent retreat (like the intentionality of inward reflection and spending time with yourself) and combined it with components of a weekend retreat (like making new friends and trying new things) and created Rooted.
Rooted is an all-inclusive women’s retreat that is designed to help women find balance in their life.
It has similar goals as a silent retreat, but with the added benefit of not being silent (let’s face it—some of us are verbal processor and like to take to the people we’re with).
I created Rooted because I felt like there weren’t enough safe spaces for women to gather to develop habits and strategies that would help them find alignment in their everyday life. I don’t think we all need to do a lot of inward reflecting to be aware of just how much we take on.
Between work, family situations, social life, hobbies, and other responsibilities, I find that almost all women need a break, and a lot of women find that they don’t know how to find balance in everyday life.
*Queue Rooted*
Rooted is a time for women to gather, spend time in self-reflection, spend time practicing self-care, and to learn how to stay balanced when everything feels off balance.
Community is a wonderful thing, and I think that it’s one of the amazing parts of Rooted. I love the idea of a silent retreat, but I love the idea of creating an environment that foster intentional relationships even better.
Where do I sign up?
If a silent retreat doesn’t sound like your cup of tea, but an all-inclusive women’s retreat does, it’s not too late to (but act fast!). Rooted is running September 23-26, and we still have a few spots left. Sign up!
If that weekend has passed by the time you’re reading this, or it just doesn’t work, no worries! Rooted isn’t going to be the last retreat I host. Sign up for my email newsletter if you if you want to be kept in the loop on when our next retreat is.
Whether you’re joining us at Rooted, or hoping to make the next one, I look forward to meeting you. In the meantime, I encourage you to take a look at the other blogs on my website to learn more about who I am and what I do.
