Dream Retreat Center

[origami_itto]

So if you were to go on a retreat, say like a weekend or a week or a month to focus on your Tai Chi, or your yoga, or meditation, or whatever, what would you be looking for in a location?

Close to a major city, but not too close.
Easy trip from the airport - a shuttle
On site accommodations - bed, shower, toilet, meals, kitchen?
Downtime facilities - pool, sauna, spa, trails, movies, trips into the city on the shuttle
Convenience Store - toiletries and sundries, retreat related assistive gear (swords, sweat towels, t-shirts, snacks etc)

Anything else you can think of?

Who would you travel to work with?

How could one get you to travel to lead a workshop or seminar?

[Peacedog]

Check this out: https://menla.org/

It is one of the better NYC local retreat centers. And it only works due to massive sponsor and volunteer support.

A retreat center is basically a hotel. And that is one tough business.

[origami_itto]

That one seems like a nightmare lol

[Giles]

So if you were to go on a retreat, say like a weekend or a week or a month to focus on your Tai Chi, or your yoga, or meditation, or whatever, what would you be looking for in a location?

A weekend and a month are two very different propositions, with different requirements. Since it's a dream training retreat, I'll say it's at least 10 days and maybe 3 or 4 weeks. Long enough to go into a degree of depth, to not only experience things but also maybe to understand them a little in mind and body. At least enough for gained impulses to keep resonating after it's over.

So:

Doesn't need to be very quickly accessible, but let's say no more than a 3 or 4 hour journey from the airport. This could be by bus, train, be picked up by some kind of shuttle service, or a shuttle for just the last half-hour or so.

On site accommodations - bed, shower, toilet, meals, kitchen? - Yes, all of these. Food from the facility, doesn't need to be top cuisine, but tasty enough, with some variety and reasonably healthy. (In my case vegetarian).
Or camping in tents, if the climate/weather is suitable for this.

Downtime facilities - pool, sauna, spa, trails, movies, trips into the city on the shuttle - A pool is nice. Sauna and spa would probably mean too many buildings, too many 'bells and whistles' on site. Good trails, certainly. And generally: somewhere that has really nice landscape/nature, good air. The opportunity to wander off alone for a few hours if you feel the need. Preferably then without being eaten or fatally bitten by local wildlife. No movies please!! In my case also no city trips - that's what I want to get away from when I'm training.

Convenience Store - toiletries and sundries, retreat related assistive gear (swords, sweat towels, t-shirts, snacks etc) - Not necessary, although maybe someone who travels to a store every few days and who can take a shopping list with them, if you've forgotten something important.

Anything else you can think of? - Fellow participants who are committed to training, who bring a fair degree of experience with them, who are decent people who are open to exchange, with whom you can have good conversations totally about the stuff we're training and also about many other things in the wide world. Nice to have a drink and a laugh with them, but not people who (regularly) get noisily drunk.
A group of between 10 and 30 would be good for the stated period.

Who would you travel to work with? - A teacher, or maybe 2 or 3 teachers, who have interesting skills (and experience) to offer in bodywork, solo training and of course partner work (push hands, applications, self-defense). Not too many teachers, because that will make it very hard to go into any depth. And the teacher being a person who is a decent human being, no massive ego, no "I am the master!", no slimyness of the soul. (Yeah, sorry, I'm picky in this respect).
Total costs must be fair. 'Affordable' is too subjective, of course.

How could one get you to travel to lead a workshop or seminar? - In my case: a decent venue (wouldn't have to be all of the above, but it would be nice), travel and accommodation expenses paid, a fair wage but needn't be big bucks. For a (long) weekend, the simple factor of greater exposure might be a big part of the payment; for a longer teaching period, an actual wage would be necessary too. And a group of students who bring a degree of experience and commitment.

By way of reference, this is a place in Catalonia that I visited for several years back in the past. A lovely venue, that ticks most of the boxes I cite above. https://labartra.com

[Peacedog]

The other hard part is keeping a steady flow of seminars up.

If the place is big enough to require any kind of regular staff...those guys get paid whether they have anyone to cater to or not.

And some of these seminar people are flaky. Nothing worse than booking the place out for two week and three days before finding out the "master" is a no show.

I'd look at four, or five, retreat centers that have been in business for at least 20 years to get an idea of how to set things up.

[GrahamB]

Only one thing...










Wi-Fi.

[everything]

def like to have the wi-fi. don't care about side excursions. let's put it in the mountains with nice qi: air and "tree qi". let's do the training outdoors. gotta have showers. i'm not pushing hands with ya dirty animals until you shower.

[Giles]

Only one thing...

....

Wi-Fi.

For me, a "retreat" to focus on training would not require wi-fi. At the most, a limited connection point somewhere in the facility where you can go to check once every 24 hours that there are no major domestic emergencies and you have to leave fast. Otherwise, I'd actually welcome not having wi-fi all over, because it would remove a distraction and temptation and increase the focus on training and its resonance, as in a meditation retreat. But dreams differ, naturally . What prompts you to put wi-fi high on the list for your 'dream training retreat'?

[vadaga]

Back in the day my friend went to a week yoga retreat in Thailand by the beach that looked nice. I think my spot would be someplace in the Alps near Chamonix or maybe Martigny.

Not to hijack too much but rather than a retreat I think I'd go for a training pilgrimage.

Tops on my list at present are the Shikoku Henro and the Camino de Santiago

[origami_itto]

Only one thing...

....

Wi-Fi.

For me, a "retreat" to focus on training would not require wi-fi. At the most, a limited connection point somewhere in the facility where you can go to check once every 24 hours that there are no major domestic emergencies and you have to leave fast. Otherwise, I'd actually welcome not having wi-fi all over, because it would remove a distraction and temptation and increase the focus on training and its resonance, as in a meditation retreat. But dreams differ, naturally . What prompts you to put wi-fi high on the list for your 'dream training retreat'?

Wifi is simply a modern necessity. Visitors will want to check messages, etc. We stream classes from the studio. My office will require it for business things. Not every visitor will be completely withdrawing from the world in every visit.

What I'm thinking is space on the land I live on, open every day for the local community, with facilities to support the comfort of weekend guests so they don't have to leave, but with frequent trips into town 30 minutes away.

What kind of retreats/workshops have y'all enjoyed in the past?

[vadaga]

I disagree. If anything my dream scenario would have some sort of digital valet who would monitor a specially designated emergency contact email and only contact me if an emergency email came in so that I could concentrate on training

[origami_itto]

That sounds pretty fancy.

I think that what people do on their own time is their business and there should be space for that. If you want to put away your phone, put away your phone. Give your people our contact info and they can be reached.

No phones in the training space is reasonable though. We should install lockers.

[everything]

good points/counter-points on getting away from digital access at least for a while

while we're dreaming, i wouldn't mind trying "assisted stretch" while "retreating"

a month is def different from a week, though. was answering on the fly for a week, only. for a month, hmmm

[origami_itto]

THe main thing with wifi is that there are towers everywhere. So do you want people using their data and/or getting frustrated at coverage, obsessing over what they can't get, or do you want to provide free access for adults to make use of or ignore as they see fit.

I'm looking at bodywork, massage therapists on site are always awesome and they stay busy.

[yeniseri]

When I would do retreats, I would choose 'basic' meaning no spas, no tubs, no fancy "Esalen" California accomodations and
that served my inclinations perfectly. I did a few Chod "dark retreats", Dzogchen 3-5 days sessions but that was the intent
back in the day. Frugality, simplicity and peace .

My last one about 20+ years ago was Naro Cho Druk (Naropa 6 Yogas ) in a 3 day format. I even thought about creating a
Retreat Centre teaching Yangsheng technologies bit I am waiting until I reach 80 years