Just so you all know up front, I felt some resistance to book the flight to this retreat because I knew that once I booked I fully committed to attend this retreat, there was no going back to the life I’d been living.
Three retreats ago, my first with Brian Piergrossi in 2008 (?) I found the dancer in me. I arched my spine and pounded my feet to the power of the primal percussive music the group was creating for me. I closed my eyes and flew, sprouting the wings of an African bird. I soared in a sky of unreal blue, stars of brightest shine, past heavy moons in an inky and unreal landscape hearing the toads and the echoes of my inner joy. I talked of things late into the night I once could only tell my own heart before then. Imagine how relieved I felt that I was no longer alone in my spirituality, my uniqueness, my ability to hear people and countries speak without saying a word.
Each time I have gone to Brian’s retreats I find much more than rest and relaxation. I find energy and excitement. I find lightworkers who are eager to hold me in my journey. They want to witness and encourage my soul’s work. And I have the honor of being that who support them. I’ve held people while they cried, spun around like a child and discovered something I could completely let go of that would change my life in a moment more than it had changed in a year.
This weekend I discovered that ladders are not as scary as I’ve made them out to be even when I am half asleep and need to climb down in the half light for my blanket.
I discovered that I can play percussive instruments and that I have a good enough ear to make sense of everyone else’s beat and where I fit into those rhythms.
I discovered I could facilitate a spiritual discussion and lead a meditation successfully.
I discovered I could match wits with extraordinary men and women while playing with them, and in doing so I could see a glimpse into them in a way no one has seen before.
These experiences moved me beyond belief.
During this past retreat, when all 13 of us broke the last circle we would be in together and I walked down the dirt path to the little house I’d shared with three amazing women for two nights, I felt alone for already missing everyone.
I’m not alone. I promise you that. I believe that even if I never see one of these people again, I have a piece of them inside of me.
The Big Glow Retreats are made possible by the hard work and vision of Brian Piergrossi. Along his life journey he sets the intention to meet people who might believe in his vision of what the world looks like beneath the debris.
Some of us are life coaching customers, some occasionally post a blog on this Conscious Convergence Ning site. Others live locally to him who have attended pots luck dinners with him or met him at the Satsang he’s hosted or they’ve attended “Club Now,” or they’re people he’s mets at a conference of which he has spoken or attended. Brian connects us to others who become our collaborators, keep in touch with us through social networking sites. We compare notes on the issues with which we both recognize in each other, introduce each other to people in states we are visiting, send each other books we found particularly inspiring.
I want to thank Brian. He dedicates himself to the work of coaching people even when it means pissing them off in the process. I heard him say this weekend that he doesn’t want to go way past anyone’s comfort zone, he just wants to “ride the edge.”
If you like the discussions in here or you enjoy his coaching or you connect with the poems in The Big Glow, take a risk and go to one of his retreats. You never know who you might meet. You might even meet yourself.
-Gizelle Alexander is a writer, Big Glow community member and retreat attendee from Waterbury Connecticut
http://consciousconvergence.ning.com/profile/Gizelle
More info on The Big Glow Retreats: http://thebigglow.com/retreats
The Big Glow Online Community: http://thebigglowcommunity.com
