How about a one-week refreshing international summer retreat in the Scandinavian landscapes where Acem Meditation originated? An opportunity for exciting encounters and social meetings across borders and cultures, with participants from Scandinavia, Europe, and other continents. You can choose between guidance groups in English, German, Chinese, or Scandinavian. This is a great opportunity to meet meditators from all corners of the world. Curious? Read about the experiences of Mathias and Barbara.
Refined my meditation practice
Mathias Mathiasen:
Coping with stress
I have been practicing meditation for seven to eight months and I have been very surprised about the effect it has had on my ability to cope with stress. The main reason for me to learn to meditate was that I wanted to cope with stress at work. I continue to meditate for the effect it has on my daily life. For me, it is very relaxing.
I went to the retreat to enhance the effect, basically, and I have refined my meditation technique a lot. I have learned quite a bit about how to meditate better.
So far I am very positive. I have been working a lot with the meditation technique, and I am eager to see the effect it will have when I get home.
I learned a lot from the guidance groups
It has been good to have the opportunity to ask questions in the guidance groups. A lot of things have been defined, and I got answers to the questions I had.
I feel I can take home a lot from the guidance groups. From the technical side, I have discovered that my meditation sound was kind of distorted.
I have also learned more about the free mental attitude. I was actually a bit uncertain about how we apply this in the meditation practice. It is easy to present the theoretical explanation, whereas how we use it is something else.
Will I be able to meditate for six hours?
The retreat itself has been important. Before I came, the big question was whether I would be able to meditate for six hours. I didn’t think I could do that. But it was relatively easy, with the correct guidance.
Besides, of course, the retreat center is a wonderful place, with beautiful surroundings. It has been a pleasure to enjoy the nature and the social gathering.
And of course, there were the evening seminars, which were really helpful. Acem’s founder, Dr. Are Holen, explained the theory behind the method, which was actually new to me. It was a very nice interactive process where everyone had the opportunity to ask questions.
Deeper into process
In the guidance groups, we were able to discuss the things that came up in the meditation. The fact that the groups go so deeply into what happened in the meditation, including feelings about what came up, was interesting. It was an important part of the process, even though I had no expectations about this before I came.
Acem Meditation helps you understand things
Barbara Rossow-Schneider:
What brought you to the Acem Retreat?
I have been meditating for some time, I was at the Bad Bevensen Retreat at the beginning of the year for a couple of days, and it was very good for me. And now I wanted to experience a one-week meditation, and I also wanted to come here.
And why did you want to come to Norway?
This is the retreat center of Acem, and I wanted to see it and meditate in these surroundings. It makes a difference; this place supports the silence and the clearness.
And what will you be bringing back, to your everyday life?
First of all, I will see how things are when I get back home again. I want to live a bit more relaxed than I do, but there is so much to do, and I always think “I have to do this and that …”. I think for everyone that I deal with, it is better when I am calm, even if I do a bit less. I want to try that when I return.
What made you start with Acem Meditation?
I have been meditating for several years. I started 15 years ago, I think, with mindful meditation. And then I learned to be a yoga teacher some years ago, in meditative yoga, and I learned transcendental meditation (TM). And I found it very easy, it goes deeper more easily than the other meditation form that I did. So, I meditated like that for some years, from 2016. But I didn’t want to stay in that guru atmosphere.
I was very happy to find Acem. It’s not that well known, maybe among people who know about it it’s popular, but in other parts of Germany … I haven’t heard about it anywhere. I found it by accident on the internet and was very happy that I did.
I like that Acem Meditation helps you understand things, I work as a psychotherapist in my main work. I am not a scientist, but I feel I want to understand things. I like that you can read about it, that there are seminars, and that the meditation process is explained so that you can understand it better. It’s not that there is a guru who tells you something, and you have to do what he says. I think Acem Meditation is very good for a European.