What 12 Days Away Taught Me About What Our Bodies Really Need

By Jennifer Whitmire, MS, MEd, MH, CHES, NEP

I’ve been thinking a lot about my silent retreat, since I got back home. I’m still amazed by how much I learned in those 12 days, and not just about meditation.

One of the things I started wondering after I got home was how the retreat measured up to all of the things I normally teach about optimal health.

You know I don’t believe health comes from one thing. It’s not just about eating well. It’s not just exercise, sleep, stress, supplements, or even meditation. All of those things are important, but we need all of them working together.

I started going through my list to see how did I do?

It was much better than I expected in some areas and not so great in others.

Mindset Was Definitely Covered!

Let’s start with the obvious one.

Meditation.

I think it’s safe to say I got enough meditation.

Remember, I thought I had signed up for a silent retreat. I did NOT realize I had signed up to meditate for approximately 12 hours a day!

We started early in the morning, (4am wake-up call) and meditated throughout the day, with breaks for meals and rest. In the evening, we meditated from about 6:00–9:00, and then it was basically time to get ready for bed and lights out, unless you wanted to stay up for the Q&A. I did not. I always went straight back to get in my bed.

I don’t think there has ever been another period in my life when I devoted that much time to my mind.

There were no phones, computers, books, journals, TV, radios, work, or conversations to distract me. I couldn’t decide, “I’m tired of sitting with my thoughts” and go do something else.

I had plenty of time to work on mindset!

I shared last week that one of my biggest realizations was that I don’t think I had ever really been completely present. I’m still working on bringing that lesson into my life at home, but if I were checking off the mindset portion of my optimal health list during the retreat, this one gets a very BIG checkmark.

What About Rest?

This one surprised me a little.

We certainly weren’t lying around all day. Sitting completely still and meditating for that many hours is not exactly the same thing as taking a nap! Every 40 minutes or so, there was an interruption reminding you to stay alert.

But …my days were quiet, really quiet.

There was no rushing from one thing to another, no checking email before bed, and no trying to squeeze one more thing into the day. After our evening meditation ended around 9:00, it was lights out.

I was also outside every day, and I spent a lot of time in nature.

There was a rhythm to the days that my normal life definitely doesn’t have.

Wake up. Meditate. Eat. Walk. Meditate. Meditate. Meditate. Eat. Workout. Shower. Rest. Meditate. Meditate. Meditate. Fruit. Walk. Meditate. Class. Meditate. Sleep.

Nobody was asking me for anything. There was nowhere I needed to go, and I didn’t have to think about what needed to get done tomorrow.

I think my nervous system probably appreciated that more than I realized at the time.

I Even Managed to Exercise

Before the retreat, I was lucky enough to be told to bring a yoga mat. My functional medicine doctor had been here before and told me to bring a mat to stretch out between meditations. 

Thank goodness!

We had an hour-plus break after lunch every day, and I quickly figured out that I needed to move.

After sitting on the floor for hours, my body was more than ready for it.

I stretched, did calisthenics, and walked the trails. I brought two bands that I could use for a little strength training.

I spent time outside and grounded while I was there, too.

It wasn’t my normal exercise routine, but that didn’t really matter. I used what was available and found ways to keep moving.

Actually, that’s another theme I seem to have brought home from this retreat: make do with what you have.

I did it with breakfast, and apparently I did it with exercise, too.

Then, Of Course, I Evaluated the Food

I am a foodie. Of course I did!

The food was labeled gluten-free when there was a question, and everything was vegetarian, so I had plenty I could eat. There were lots of vegetables, and on many days I did a pretty good job of eating the rainbow.

Purple was a little difficult, except it wasn’t! I had totally missed the shredded purple beets on the salad bar until about day 3.

I actually found myself looking at my plate and mentally checking off the colors.

I couldn’t help it!

I was also thinking about GBOMBS and seeing how many I could get in each day.

Some were easy. Others weren’t happening.

There weren’t berries, ever! Actually, my first stop on the way home was at Walmart for berries for the 5 hour drive home.Also, there weren’t any mushrooms.

Normally, those are foods I would intentionally work into my week, but I couldn’t exactly run to the grocery store.

I ate what was available, and I was fine.

That’s something I’ve been thinking about since I got home, because I think we can become so focused on getting everything “right” that we forget how adaptable our bodies are.

Would I choose to eat without berries and mushrooms forever? No.

Was I worried, because I went 12 days without them? Also no.

I was eating a wide variety of colorful plant foods, and I was doing the best I could with what was available.

That’s enough sometimes.

Community Was the Really Interesting One

This may have been the strangest category for me to think about.

I was with other people most of the day.

We meditated together. We ate together. We walked past each other. We were all going through the same experience at the same time.

Technically, I was in a community, but we weren’t allowed to talk. We weren’t even supposed to make eye contact.

There was no physical contact, either.

I couldn’t smile at someone across the room or sit down at lunch and ask how her morning had been. I couldn’t hug someone who was having a difficult day. I couldn’t laugh with anyone about something that happened.

We were together, but we weren’t connecting in the way I normally think about connection.

I do think some of that need was being met.

There was something about knowing other people were there and that we were all doing this together. I wasn’t alone, even though I was spending almost all of my time completely within myself.

At the same time, coming home made me realize how important the rest of human connection is from looking someone in the eyes to hearing someone’s voice to laughing together, physical touch, a hug.

Being able to tell someone what you’re thinking and have them tell you what they’re thinking.

I appreciated all of that differently when I came home.

So, Did the Retreat Meet All of My Needs?

Not perfectly, but maybe that’s part of what I learned.

I didn’t eat every food I would normally choose. I didn’t exercise exactly the way I would at home. I was surrounded by people without the kind of connection I normally value, and I certainly wouldn’t recommend 12 hours of meditation every day as the only thing we need for optimal health.

What I did have was an incredible amount of quiet, time in nature, meditation, rest, movement, grounding, colorful plant foods, and a very unusual kind of community.

It reminded me of something I already knew but maybe needed to experience differently.

Our health doesn’t depend on doing one thing perfectly.

• I can eat the most beautiful whole-food, plant-based diet in the world, but I still need to move my body.
• I can exercise every day, but I still need rest.
• I can take every supplement on my list, but I still need sunshine and time outside.
• I can meditate for 12 hours a day, but I still need other people.

We need all of it.

Maybe not every single piece in perfect amounts every single day, but over time, our bodies need the right food, movement, rest, nature, healthy ways to manage our thoughts and stress, and meaningful connection with other people.

The Bigger Lesson

I went into this retreat thinking I was taking 12 days away from my normal life, learning to be quiet and quiet the “monkey mind.”

Instead, I think stepping away from my normal life helped me see some of it more clearly.

I noticed what I missed and what I didn’t miss.

I noticed which things my body seemed to love when I finally gave it more of them, and I came home appreciating how beautifully all of these pieces fit together.

Optimal health isn’t one perfect food, one perfect workout, one supplement, or one meditation practice.

It’s the life we create around ourselves.

What we eat, how we move, whether we rest, the thoughts we spend our days thinking, the people we love, our connection to nature, and all of the little things we do day after day.

The retreat didn’t give me every one of those things perfectly, but it may have helped me understand why I need all of them.