A Full Description of the Five-Day Virtual Writing Retreat

About Writing Retreats in General:
Writing retreats are a well-established institution, which are often held in scenic spots all over the world. They are designed around private time for writing and writing workshops for receiving feedback from writing mentors and other participants.The idea sounds great on paper, but the retreats are impractical for many of us who can’t take time off from our work and families. Plus, their cost can be prohibitive since it includes travel and accommodations.
What is a Virtual Retreat:
We want the valuable opportunity to concentrate on our writing under the guidance of an experienced mentor, but how to carve out a space and time for doing the writing and receiving the feedback? In answer to this question, the idea of the virtual writing retreat was born.Since the virtual retreat takes place in cyberspace through e-mail correspondence, it can happen in any place and start at any time. Its main requirement is a commitment of one half to one hour of writing time each day for the duration of the retreat.
How Varda’s Virtual Retreat differs from a writing course:
The retreat is customized, meaning it is designed around the individual’s personal needs and desired focus. There are no standard writing exercises.The first day’s writing catalyst is created to facilitate the exploration and excavation of the area that the participant has mapped out with me. Subsequent writing catalysts depend on the direction the writing is taking so that the participant can go further and deeper.Often, the focus changes as material emerges that was not anticipated.Always the emphasis is on the process unfolding rather than on delivering a certain end product. In this way, each participant experiences the writing as an exhilarating journey into self-discovery.
Scheduling the Virtual Retreat:
The retreats usually begin on a Sunday and go for five consecutive days, but it's fine to being on any day of the week. It’s best to pick a week that has some free time for writing, and it’s ideal to schedule consecutive days because of the obvious benefit of establishing continuity and momentum. However, a participant may not be able to schedule the retreat for five days in a row, and in that case, the times can be flexible.
How the Retreat works:
Before Day One of the virtual retreat, the participant decides on a certain focus, e.g. overcoming a writing block, choosing which way to go at a crossroads in a writing project or in one’s life, healing from a traumatic event or issue, or developing clarity about an emotional, physical, or spiritual challenge. Keep in mind that the focus is not written in stone and can shift dramatically in the course of the retreat. It is simply a way to begin.
I send you a writing catalyst for each day of the retreat to facilitate and guide your writing. These are jump starts rather than assignments, and the participant is always free to take off in the direction he or she wishes to go. After reading through the writing piece that was generated, I respond with suggestions for developing it further. I base my choice of the next catalyst on my experience as a writing mentor in knowing ways to break through to a deeper and more profound awareness of the material. I also rely heavily on my intuitive abilities.During the course of the retreat, participants usually keep up a lively correspondence with me about their self-encounters during the writing, their daunting struggles, and their stunning triumphs.
One participant wrote about her experience on the retreat: “I had fun, honed my writing skills, and touched down on my personal imagery. Varda’s a great wise spirit and guide.”
From another participant who has so far taken the retreat 8 times:“Varda showed me how to gain access to the hidden gifts within. I learned that it’s possible to meet up with and reclaim memories, feelings, attitudes, or situations that had eluded my grip. Varda taught me how to write from the subconscious. If that were the only thing I would have learned on the retreat, It would have been enough. Catalyst after catalyst took me to far off, distant places that existed right inside of the me I longed to know.”
Cost for the Five-Day Retreat: $250.00 or 950 shekels.
For further information the best place to reach me is at vardab@netvision.net.il

Up On Your Mountaintop - A Writing Catalyst

I used to imagine climbing in the Himalayas. I had met someone who had taken a trek to that part of the world and and she spoke eloquently about the silence there, the sound of the wind, the complete leaving behind of the world. The going beyond of labels. The going beyond of stuff and need systems. The going beyond of expectation and disappointment. A place to meet your essential self, and where every other concern is irrelevant.

I never made it as far as the Himalayas. On my way there, I found another part of the world where I began climbing spiritual mountains. Thirty years later, I am still climbing. When I finish climbing one mountain, another rears up in front of me.

Reaching the top after a long climb, it’s always worth it. I can see around myself for miles. The deep quiet up there. The wonder of being alone with myself and G-d in a majestic world.

Up there on the mountaintop, there is no one to approve of you or disapprove of you.Up there on the mountaintop, you can see through your own eyes without sponging in the visions that sit in other peoples' eyes. Up there on the mountaintop, you have the luxury of relaxing completely because there is no one to threaten you with an image of who and what you're supposed to be. Up there on the mountaintop, you have the freedom to dream your own dreams.Up there on the mountaintop, you are safe. There's a tree lying on its side. You can sit down with your back up against the log. You can breathe the clear air and look out across to the other mountain peaks. If there arepeople doing what you're doing on those other mountaintops, they are so far away that you can't see them. And they can't see you. You are perfectly alone with G-d. Use your writing to climb up your mountain and sit at the top. What does it feel like to breathe deeply and know that you are safe, completely alone, and invisible to the rest of the world? Do you feel peaceful? If there are nagging thoughts that have followed you up to the top of the mountain, then take them and gently put them into a box that closes securely and send it sliding back down the mountain awayfrom you. What are the weather conditions up on your mountaintop?If it is a clear day, then how far can you see? If there is fog and mist, then what sits revealed to you close by where you can see clearly?

Do you feel discomfort with the intense stillness and the fact that you are completely alone? Can you be patient and see what happens after the initial discomfort begins to wear off? Do you begin to remember what you are carrying inside of you? You contain enough feelings, thoughts, and memories to keep you busy for as long as you choose to stay on your mountaintop. Turn these over in your hands like smooth, richly colored stones you might find in a riverbed.

Or just lie down on your back and look up at the sky, letting your mind wander. If there are clouds, watch them racing across your field of vision. You can write about being on your mountaintop in the form of a poem. You can start each line with the phrase:"On my mountaintop....."On my mountaintop...."On my mountaintop. . .Or choose another phrase to repeat as a refrain. Once you explore your mountaintop you will be able to take it with you wherever you go and in whatever situation you find yourself. It is a place where no one can touch you, where no one take away your inner peace, self-knowing, and experience of G-d’s Presence always being with you. When you climb to your mountaintop, you leave behind all your self-doubt and dwell in peace with yourself just as you are.

Now go to your mountaintop.

Three Exercises in the Art of Seeing to the Inside

With Three Writing Catalysts
One - Luminous Object
A luminous object has rich associations when you hold it in your hands. An example of a luminous object is the jewelry box which I salvaged from my mother's house, may her memory be for a blessing. It must be about 80 years old or more by now. I remember holding it as a child and rummaging through all the necklaces, bracelets, rings, and assorted jewelry. It looks Old World, and I always thought it came from the Old Country with my family during the move.
The jewelry box embodies childhood memories, feelings about my mother, my grandmother, my ancestral home. It leads me to reveries about the old mahogany furniture in my parents' bedroom and dreams about hidden money, hidden chocolates, and other hidden goodies. I think my mother actually did squirrel money away in that box.
The box is falling apart, and it sits on my shelf in pieces. The metal filigree sides have disattached themselves from the velvet covered bottom. The satiny cover is so faded that the flowers have disappeared. But more importantly, the box still carries the smell of my mother's perfume.
Writing Catalyst: Think of something you own which is much more than a simple object since it serves as a repository for your memories. Hold it in your mind's eye, and savor its presence. Look at it from all angles. Let it resonate, and listen to the tales it tells.

2 - Your Hands
The act of looking at your hands can take us on a journey inside to our internal world. The hands are your faithful servants. Every line and crease records the work you’ve done, the care you’ve given, the love that you’ve shown, your accomplishments, your hopes and dreams for what you haven't yet accomplished, etc.
Each person's hands are unique. You may have looked at your mother's hands or a close friend's hands, or your husband or wife’s hands before you decided to marry them. What were you able to see in their hands?
Writing Catalyst: Take a few minutes to look at your hands. Turn them over and over in front of you. Look at the palms and the lines that crisscross and intersect. What journeys do you see in your hands? What futures do you see? What memories from the past? Do you appreciate your hands, and if yes, why?
Do you hear your hands crying to tell you something? Listen to the whisperings of your hands as you rest them gently on your cheeks. Feel their warmth. Listen to what they are saying. What are they yearning to do?

3 - The Promise in Your Name
When a child is born, the parents are given a measure of divine inspiration in order to find the name that is already known in Heaven. Therefore, a person's name is far from coincidence or the simple whim of the parents. It is the Jewish custom to pray for a person, using a person's name with the name of his or her mother. The Jewish marriage contract or kesuba is very carefully written with the correct names. One’s name embodies one’s identity in ways that are known, as well as ways that are beyond our knowing.
In looking closely at our own names, we can learn more about ourselves. I enjoy my English name Wendy because it expresses a playful, adventuresome side of me. My Hebrew name Varda is in memory of my Grandfather Velvel. When I was born my father looked through a list of Hebrew names beginning with the letter vav and settled on the name Varda, meaning “rose” in Aramaic.
As a child, I don’t remember knowing my Hebrew name. They called me Tzippora during my summer in kibbutz, since I didn't know I already had a Hebrew name. I found my name when I returned to Israel to study at a women’s yeshiva, but I was mistaken. I called myself Chana Varda. At the last moment, just before my wedding in Denver, my mother stepped forward and corrected the misunderstanding by telling me, and the scribe who was writing the kesuba, that my name was really only Varda.
It took me some time to grow into that name, but over time I found it wrapping itself around me like a perfectly fitted garment.
Writing Catalyst: Think of the stories you were told about your own naming. How have you related to your name over the years? How has your name been a promise you were growing into? Turn your name over and over in your hands as if you were appreciating a luminous object.