John Travis retreat

I went to a day-long retreat yesterday that was taught by John Travis from Mountain Stream. I loved the retreat and really enjoyed John's teachings. His approach to meditation teaching is a lot less prescriptive. Instead of telling us to use this technique or that technique, he simply said to try to stay present and relax. (He expanded on this, of course.) As a result, even though we meditated for a large part of the day, I never once felt that good-God!-when-will-the-bell-chime? panic I sometimes feel when a meditation has gone beyond what I am accustomed to.

The topic for the day was The Liberation Teachings. The day was mostly meditation, not as much verbal instruction. He'd give us some small tidbits and then have us meditate. Then at the end of the day, he talked for about an hour. By the end of the day, I felt a lot more at peace, a lot happier, and definitely ready to meditate some more.

If you get a chance to attend a John Travis retreat, I highly recommend it. He is a gentle spirit.