Reviews of the retreat in the Carpathians

The retreat in the Carpathians
was not typical. Then again, how can a Mystery be Typical!?
It is a many-layered pie.
Where every layer is Sponge and Cream and Cherries in the centre –
is a lesson. And everyone ENJOYS their Pain, Anger, Sadness and, in the end, Beauty
of their own trodden PATH OF DESTINY – Yes, this is the point of no return, Beloveds, and it is wonderful 🙂

SAHIS (Natalia Valitskaya)

…When I was going to the retreat in the Carpathians, I had no concrete goals or expectations. But from the very first minutes I began to notice some coincidences, signs… That intrigued me, because it is not for nothing that they say all accidents are not accidental. And I began to watch what was happening around me and inside me. In the process I became aware of, and rethought, those life situations that in everyday life I had never paid attention to, and sometimes had not even noticed were there. Becoming aware of my fears and living through them changed me. A “system reboot” happened, and a reassessment of values… And I am very glad of these changes, and also of the colossal charge of energy and the mass of impressions that will stay with me for a long time after the trip…. Greetings to you – tribe of RA
For me this trip was special and mysterious even before it began.

BRUTAL MACHO (Vasily)

I saw the announcement on the Sahis website and decided that this trip would suit me better at another time – and the dates were changed.

I wanted someone to help me physically – and my husband managed to change his plans and came with me.

On the first train, to Lviv, the first practice in bringing up children began – I watched a grandmother and her granddaughter communicating and bringing each other up. The grandmother allowed her granddaughter everything… to run along the carriage, to jump about the compartment, to sing and dance, to talk to different people. And when the grandmother asked her granddaughter to eat or to change clothes, she did it all, and at once… The grandmother looked calm, relaxed and confident.
The granddaughter HAD COMPLETE FREEDOM AND COMPLETE OBEDIENCE – at the same time.

On the next train came the first meeting with the Carpathians – beautiful meadows of the most varied flowers, the most beautiful fir trees
– more beautiful than the ones I saw at New Year!
Tender thickets of fern, murmuring streams and rivers with stones,
wisps of mist with clear boundaries,
people waving – glad to see me…
That was my first acquaintance with the Carpathians.

Every practice was like a game for me – into life, with life, about life.
I noticed how quickly my wishes were fulfilled when SPOKEN ALOUD. Wishes spoken aloud – underline them and use them!

The brightest impression was the climb up Mount Petros.
There, on the magic stones, I asked simple questions that had been troubling me, making me worry and tense up.
There I got clear and simple answers that freed me from uncertainty.

“I AM THE CAUSE OF MY JOY!” – I repeat to myself.
Not someone, not something = I!
This is another bright impression from the practice: “I am the cause of my joy! you are the cause of my joy!” This statement made my life
SIMPLE AND CLEAR, BRIGHT AND JOYFUL – WITHOUT CONDITIONS.

For me it was a Mystery, or rather mysticism, of the fulfilment of my wishes – I WANT!!!!
It was a wonderful communion with different people, with each one in particular and all together – like waves in the sea (each and all)…

In this RetReat there were many events squeezed into 1 week. And they will go on unpacking for a long time, for me, about me…

CUNNING FRUIT (Diana)

I don’t much like setting goals; it seems to me I take away Life’s chance to surprise itself by putting Her in a frame. And here at the retreat in the Carpathians my goal (if it can be called that) went something like this: “MORE Life!”
What did it mean, and what did it turn into for me?
Oh… to allow myself to break away from the habitual comfort and cosiness of civilised life, to heave a heavy rucksack onto my back and step onto a road that gladly pulled me in with the clatter of wheels and kept pulling me in with every step, up and up, with the rustle of steps and the squelch of boots in the mud… at night… hard…
I knew what I was getting into, I had been on trips like this. Long ago, at about 25, I had already given myself my word: with a rucksack on my shoulders – never again! And since then, whenever the chance comes up, I go without a second thought… Because it is a great buzz – to cross the borders of the familiar and strain your body so that your heart pounds, you breathe as in holotropic breathwork, and the lid seems to come off your head like off a boiling saucepan. Your brains break free into a space with a lot of wind and unbearable spaciousness. You feel it very tangibly, both upward and downward – to the very roots of the Carpathians – and outward – into the endless green-white-blue distance. The Earth is so big, and my body, my “I”, becomes as big as I allow my senses to take in.
What impressed me most? Patterns turn in a kaleidoscope… Each one is a separate story, and how can you judge which is brighter? The thing is that the SHARPEST, the BRIGHTEST, the most important cannot be described; I don’t know such words.
LIFE becomes bright next to DEATH,
I feel Strength when I grasp the depth of my Weakness.
I see events very well when I look at them in passing…
Wet grass and cold, and the clouds we almost got used to living in. …A lonely journey upward over mossy stones, when the height pulls you and won’t let you stop. Where to? As it turned out, to the Altar.
It was important to strain and to learn to relax in cold, damp and complete unpredictability. It was important that beside me was my son, who was growing up fast, and I watched this process. In passing…
It was important to let the stream of Life flow through me, increasing my capacity. There is more Life always where Death is close. I knew this before, and now I have understood it for good.
I keep going on about Death and Death. Did someone die? Yes, someone else, yesterday’s one in me, died. A Phoenix, is it? (Ha, ha! For those who were present at the Naming of the Names, Phoenix will now always remind them of something else!) …Yes, they died, don’t doubt it! And someone else was born. A strong and joyful being, fearless and… IMMORTAL.

FIERY SALAMANDER (Yulia)