Omega Weekend

My Mom and I did a New Age weekend at the Omega Institute this weekend. It was a lovely weekend and much needed for me to rest and rejuevinate my self. I landed at LGA and we drove north to Hyde Park for a pitstop at the Culinary Institute. It was a beautiful campus overlooking the Hudson River and there were students all around in their chef outfits. We had the most delicious rubens and potato salad I have ever tasted. After this, we continued North and stopped in Rinebeck for a little ecelctic shopping.

We arrived at Omega around 5pm. We checked onto our "green" room, which was very nice - local slate BR floor, local wood floor, all organic blankets, florescent light bulbs, etc. and I went for a 30 min walk and did a mediation at the sanctuary. Then, we had dinner and headed to the wellness center and got the best facials ever and had reiki done. Reiki is all about your chakras and balancing and clearing your energy. The woman told us both some interesting observations that were spot on with what we both have going on in our lives. After our treatments, we went to catch the end of Marianne Williamson's opening session. We were not impressed and were in fact a little taken back by her. She was preaching the word of Christianity and definitely alienating a lot of the new agey people in the audience who were there for a "non-religious" experience as described in the program.

I got a fabulous night's sleep knowing I had no diabets checks on toddlers to care for. I woke up at 6:30 and did Qi Gong a form of Tai Chi. Then I met my Mom and we had a delicious breakfast and ate the best pumpernickle raisin bread I have ever tasted. Then, off more more preaching and in between some good life advice. One thing I quickly realized is how important it is for me to get back to my daily mediation practice, my yoga and my other new age beliefs. I truly believe this will help me to be more patient and kind to my children, my husband and our friends and family.

In the afternoon, after a yummy, vegetarian lunch, we wemt down to the lake at Omega and took naps on their hammocks. How delightful. After my Mom fell out of hers, we decided to catch the end of Marianne's session. At 5:30, I did a teriffic yoga class in the Yoga pavillion, which was rejeuvibating after a long day. After dinner and a delicious blueberry cobbler dessert, we went to the sactuary to listen to live music - Ceclia St King, a Peace Trubidor. She had a beautiful voice and wonderful stories about how she has used her music to make the world a better place.

After, another awesome night's sleep, my Mom and I went for our last Omega breakfast. We skipped Marianne's sessions today due to complete disinterest. I did yoga at the lake, then a Qi Gong class at the library, then to the sanctary to meditate and then lunch. And, then we departed. This was where my lovely weekend of serenity ended. The real world can be a tough place after a weekend retreat. Nothing else said here.

The lessons leanred this weekend were:

1. it is important for me to get back to my spirituality and daily practice and make it a part of our boys lives like camping and backpacking are.

2. spend more time with my Mom.