Bringing Wellness and Awakening to Life

An Excerpt from a Webcast with Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, January 2024

People talk about the importance of finding the balance of life and work, or the balance of life and spiritual practice. However, I feel that it's not so much about a balance, but rather that life should be a practice; and that work should be a lifestyle. In other words, whatever you do in your life, it has to be joyful, it has to be nourishing, it has to be healing. If it's not, and if most of the time your life is not nourishing you, then it's not a healthy lifestyle. And if you only portion out an hour of meditation from your day, or an hour of being kind, or an hour of being aware, then it won't have very much effect on the other 23 hours in your day.

I feel instead that it has to become a lifestyle. And that is true for all spiritual practices, regardless of whether you're a student, a yogi or a teacher, anybody. And here, I don't mean a specific spiritual path; you can be Christian, you can be Buddhist, or you may not connect to any specific tradition; you may simply believe in your own community, or your family; or you may simply believe in yourself, your health, your personal development and your well-being. But whichever path it is, I feel that it has to become a part of one's life.

For many years I have been talking about resting, because this is really an important part of the dzogchen teaching. But resting doesn't mean you don't work. That's the whole key. Enjoying your life doesn't mean not taking responsibility. You have to take responsibility and enjoy; you have to work, then get rest. This integration seems very important.

For a while now, I've also been really interested in many of the latest findings in Western science. Although many doctors and nurses may not necessarily keep abreast of all of the latest developments related to health and wellness, we are all very fortunate nowadays for the ease of access that we can have to much of the latest scientific information that's out there. There are a number of people, too, who are very skilled at conveying the import of these findings and sharing them in ways that everyone can understand. And even though I don't have a Western background, or Western training, I have been pursuing learning a good bit about the science behind these findings. Toward that end, I am very dedicated to spending hours and hours, literally hours a day, learning about it.

That is some of the background leading up to my creation of the new spring retreat at Serenity Ridge in April, where we will focus on integrating into a harmonious whole the many aspects of wellness and longevity, along with the essential insights and practices of this ancient wisdom tradition of Bon; not simply as a religion or a faith, but rather with emphasis on its direct application in working with our body and our movement, and working with our breath, as well as working with the natural elements, and also with our sleep and dreams.

So we're very excited about this first retreat concentrating on bringing a lot of awareness to our lived health and our lived well-being. Of course, we will have a lot of fun. We will wake in the mornings and get to choose from a lot of options based on people's physical condition: we will be doing yoga, tsa lung and breathing exercises. And we will do the sun gazing, but not directly. Nowadays, the science is so clear that for many aspects of our health, having 5 to 10 minutes of exposure in morning sunlight is beneficial. Particularly because it is a natural source of the blue wavelengths of light, which have a powerful effect on your sleep cycle and in setting your circadian clock in the right way. Of course the science simply says, get exposure to the sun, but during this retreat we will definitely want to bring more of an element of the nature of mind to it; resting mind, calming mind, contemplative meditative kindness, while exposing yourself to the sun.

We will also focus on the many aspects of breath as viewed from both the ancient wisdom tradition and the latest science. For instance, science shows that when asleep, people who are healthier breathe at a rate of around 12 breaths per minute. If one is not so healthy, then the rate will be higher. And the latest findings for the most efficient rate of daytime breathing is about 5.5 breaths per minute, which is not so easy to keep up throughout the day. However, at this retreat we will really have an opportunity to talk about why we need to breathe in the right way, and what the long-term effect of that is on our overall health. Then also, we can explore how that integrates with our meditation and our awareness.

As well, there is an emerging body of evidence for some immediate and long-term benefits of cold water immersion, whether it's a plunge or a cold shower. I have been doing these every day now and enjoying it very much. I know that it's not for everybody, but we will also provide that as another option for people to engage in during this retreat. So you may want to check and make sure that you're in the right condition for doing these, if you would like.

We will also be spending a lot of time out in nature, walking within the almost 100 acres of beautiful and partially forested property around Serenity Ridge, which includes a creek and a river. And we will also have a lot of community time, too, just spending time together socially and connecting with each other.

Trail blessing at Serenity Ridge with Menri Shedrup Khenpo Geshe Nyima Dhondup Rinpoche

We will make time for taking a nap in the afternoon, as well. What I used to do afternoons at retreat is before the teaching session, I'd have a little cup of coffee. Now as a rule, I no longer have any coffee after noon. It's the little details like that can make such a difference. There will be a lot of information on making other effective lifestyle changes, too, which I think will benefit people so much, not only while here on retreat, but also by integrating them into your daily life.

I can speak very easily about these aspects from the point of view of the teaching. However, from the point of view of the science associated with them, I'm still a baby here. But many of the elements and factors of longevity are also clearly part of an ancient spiritual tradition. You name it: sauna, sleep, fasting, sunlight, breath, water and integration with the natural environment. And the understanding of each of these aspects from the point of view of the teachings versus the point of view of the science is quite different.

For example, take sun gazing. From the point of view of the teachings (this is complicated, but I'll say it here anyway) it involves exercising with lights and visions that arise while sun gazing. And what you are really trying to gain insight into is that whatever you are experiencing, whatever you see as forms and images along with their stories and their associated emotions which support your deeper sense of identity whether they are internal or external, in reality there's nothing there; there's simply just light. That's touching on the ultimate purpose of sun gazing practice found in the teachings.

Modern science, though, emphasizes the importance of morning sunlight for one's getting exposed to the full spectrum of light, and particularly the blue light. There is also evidence that other portions of the light spectrum, other frequencies of light, can have other beneficial health effects on us. That, too, is very interesting, because the Zhang Zhung Nyen Gyud devotes four or five hundred pages of one volume of text to teachings about one's awareness and its relationship to the five pure lights. So we're really excited to try and bring these understandings together, but starting first from the level of meeting very basic fundamental needs like helping you to sleep, and to have a better mood, or to overcome depression, and in general to be able to make some really effective lifestyle changes.

So, this spring retreat is different in scope and in style from the other retreats that we've had. And because it's open to all, regardless of background, one very important aspect of this style of retreat is that you can bring your friends and family along with you. We will not be doing any strange chanting [laughter]. You'll feel comfortable to walk around, take a cold plunge, sun gaze, do the breathing and spend time together. So I encourage everyone, and particularly all of our students, to invite your friends and family. I have invited some friends of mine who've already registered.

And this will be the right place for this kind of retreat, and springtime, the perfect time, especially for those who really need some changes in their lifestyle for improving their health and well-being.