Retreat to a Franciscan Monastery

Fr. David Gaa

I try to feature retreats that are reasonable in price and a bit unusual, off the tourist path, so to speak. Here is one that fits this description, at Old Mission San Luis Rey de Francia in California. People have been retreating to monasteries and hermitages since they were formed in the Middle Ages. This is actually an old idea brought to modern-day standards. Here is part of the description from the website: http://www.sanluisrey.org/Retreats.

The Franciscan Retreat Center at Old Mission San Luis Rey offers a place for solitude, healing, and revitalization with a wide variety of spiritual and educational programs. Create your private day away (Quiet Days), join us for a half day or evening session (Twilight Retreats) or treat yourself, or a loved one, to a complete weekend of spirituality and sacred space. The Friars and staff are here to assist you on your spiritual journey.
The facilities are available to religious and educational groups, non-profit organizations, civic organizations, companies and corporations. We do, however, reserve the right to refuse the use of our facilities to anyone whose philosophies diametrically oppose our mission and purpose.
To read the original click here.

The Mission offers silent retreats and short retreats with guidance by the monks if requested. They are also set up for large groups up to several hundred people with affordable lodging and a camp ground for tents.
If you are the type of person who likes scheduled retreats, some of the workshops for the near future include: Couples Retreat (2/8-2/10), Twilight Retreat with Fr. David Gaa (2/15), Quiet Monday (2/25), Spring into Serenity Retreat for Women in Al-Anon (3/15-3/17), Family Vacation Retreat (7/8-7/12) and Senior Vacation Retreat (8/5-8/9).
Sound interesting? Contact them easily by phone or online. And let me know how it was!

Using Tai Chi to Overcome Arthritis

If one is to judge by popularity and assume this means a successful process of healing, Dr. Paul Lam, an Australian family physician and Tai Chi expert certainly has a good method. Amazon features 135 DVDs and books by this man. He has won numerous awards and his DVDs are in 16 languages. One of his first programs was Tai Chi for Arthritis, and since he started in 1997, over 2 million people have learned his method. Here is some descriptions of the program and the Tai Chi for Health Institute from the website.

Arthritis Foundation of USA and Australia, Arthritis Care of UK, Diabetes Australia, Osteoporosis Australia and other similar organistaions, fitness associations, universities and hospitals around the world supported one or all of Dr Lam's Tai Chi for Health programs. His instructors' training workshops are well recognised around the world, and accredited by Arthritis Foundation of USA; Australian fitness industry; American Council of Exercise; American Tai Chi Assocation; Florida and many other physiotherapist associations, HK rehabilitation society and the Korean Rheumatology Health Professional's Society.
Dr Lam's instructional DVD (some are in six languages) and books have made learning the programs easy and enjoyable. Dr Lam's team have also produced other tai chi instructional DVDs for learners of intermediate and advanced levels. You can find more information online.
Many of Dr Lam's students excelled in promoting health improvement and international competitions. Dr Lam is fluent both in English and Chinese. He enjoys working to bridge the gap between East and West, traditional and modern Tai Chi stylists.
To view the original of this post click here.

The Tai Chi for Health Institute was started in 2010 and includes training for teachers as well as practice of Tai Chi. From the calendar of events it seems that most of the present workshops are in the US or Australia. Dr. Lam teaches many of these himself, but with the burgeoning number of teachers being trained, having a workshop from Dr. Lam himself might be ending soon. While I myself have not taken one of these workshops, I certainly would like to join one in the future. Meanwhile, I’m going to order Tai Chi for Arthritis and see if it helps.