Testimonials – Retreats

Beth and her co-instructors were simply outstanding. Through guided meditations, talks, and small group and individual sessions, the retreat served to deepen my mindfulness practice beyond my expectations. Beth, in particular, was the essence of compassion and equanimity, and an ideal role model for me on my path to facilitate mindfulness for others. I plan to attend another retreat with Mindful-Way this year.

I want to thank you for the retreat you held in Joshua Tree in January. The teaching, stretching/yoga, meditation, silence and general ambience were very helpful in deepening my experience. At the January retreat, I perceived nothing that was contrary to or offensive to Christian belief and practice. Even Tenshin Roshi, who did some of the teaching, did not use at lot of Buddhist jargon, but presented good Buddhist psychological concepts and enabling practices in religiously neutral language, which were generally applicable, regardless of one’s own religious background. I enjoyed learning helpful things from him. Throughout the retreat, I never felt out of place as a Christian and felt a profound sense of kinship with the other participants and respected and accepted by the teachers.

Attending the five night silent retreat with Beth and Jon was indeed life-enhancing and part of my own transformative journey to become a certified MBSR teacher. It has created in me the desire to participate in a longer silent retreat and strengthen my intention to continue my path of not only becoming a MBSR teacher, but embodying mindfulness. As a member of the Mindful Kids Miami team I came away with the realization that we all must take the time to nourish our personal mindfulness practices on silent retreats, such as this one. I’m looking forward to the next one.

As someone who teaches a secular form of mindfulness at the UCLA MARC center, I found the retreat very supportive for my personal practice, for my teaching and for my community. This was my second time with you all. I’ll be back next year too! The retreat is clearly secular. I can only say that I believe you and your team “transmit” in a very secular way and, more importantly, one that is inclusive and loving and accepting of all experience. That IS the practice in secular action — to me anyway. And Tenshin actually talks more than many “secularly” thought of teachers about moving the practice off the mat and into LIFE. So inspiring and so needed on retreat.

(The retreat) offered the ‘roots’ of MBSR, and having Tenshin Roshi explain and use his own experience of the Buddhist teachings made it very real and practical. The offering of the yoga practice by Nicole was so helpful as she embodied the kind, nonjudgmental and curious attitude that the MBSR classes invite, so I was able to explore my own ‘edges’ of the movements/poses in the same way, which in turn helped me as teacher of the class to encourage participants to do the same. I have to say this retreat had a profound, and still lasting effect on my practice, my MBSR classes and my life — pretty much all encompassing! So it is with deep gratitude to Beth and Hugh for continuing to offer this gift of a retreat. It is an invaluable resource for MBSR teachers to help ‘inform our teachings’ and allow us to come/teach from our own experience of the practice.

I’ve been fortunate enough to attend the silent retreat with Beth, Hugh, and Tenshin Roshi for the past two years, and I plan on continuing. It is obvious to me how much Beth and her team pour into the retreat. It’s not just the logistics such as the food, housing, and location which are all beautifully orchestrated. It’s more about the care and concern that Beth and her team demonstrate for guiding the participants along their mindfulness journeys. I will embark on MBSR teacher training soon, but that’s not really why I attend these retreats. I attend because I believe silent retreats are a necessity for anyone who wishes to deepen their mindfulness practice. I feel I am in extremely skilled and caring hands with Beth, Hugh, Tenshin Roshi and the team, and the opportunity to enhance my practice is invaluable.

Here are some reflections regarding the retreat you and Jon led in February:

• I loved Beth’s guidance in the morning yoga practice each day. It has helped my own daily yoga practice and improved my skill teaching yoga in MBSR.
• Jon’s commentary near the end of the retreat regarding the identities we come into retreat with, shed, and then put right back on after the retreat/re-inhabit was very helpful. His encouragement to examine this process and the “masks” (my term not his) we wear certainly impacted my self-perception and to let go of a fixed professional identity as I headed off for the UMASS TDI.
• You provided really helpful blend of MBSR curriculum, themes, and Buddhist underpinnings throughout the retreat. I appreciated you sharing stories out of your own practice, training and lessons from your teachers — UMASS, and your MBSR students.

Mindful-Way showed me the way to living mindfully. Normalizing my resistance and encouraging my capacity to grow the pause; MW gave me my foundation in mindfulness at the five-day Silent Mindfulness Retreat 2015. What I found most touching during this retreat was the time created for interviews. Tenshin Roshi, and all of the teachers, but particularly Tenshin Roshi, met with students as much as they desired and painstakingly answered every question. I will be forever grateful for the time and the quality of the teachings offered in my exposure to awareness on this Mindful-Way Mindfulness retreat 2015. It launched me kindly and firmly on my path to teaching MBSR and demonstrated what is meant by embodiment.