Buddhist retreat

In the Easter holidays, we went to a Buddhist retreat in Nottingham for five days. Thich Nhat Hanh was leading the retreat. The children listened to his talks in the mornings and then left to play games in the groups they were put in. The adults stayed to listen to more of his talks, and then went off in their groups.

All the meals that were served were vegeterian, because Buddhists don't eat meat. The adults' meals were vegan, too. I did notice that there wasn't any meat, but I didn't really miss eating it. We had to eat in silence, and think about where our food came from, and appreciate it. Every so often, a mindfulness bell would sound and we'd all put down our cutlery and focus on our breathing. The mindfulness bell would also ring at other times.

I made more friends than I thought I would. When we were playing games, we always wanted to be put in each other's groups and always sat next to each other. My sister also made a few friends.

Most of the games we played were about concentration, because the whole retreat was about being mindful, but most of the other things we did were just for fun, like going swimming. We also had the oppurtunity to take the two promises. The two promises are vows about respecting other beings. There were forms that we had to fill in to show why we wanted to take the promises. I filled mine in at the last minute because before I had been really busy in my free time. My mum and a friend's mum helped me think about what to say in it.

Me and my sister would like to have a mindfulness bell at home, so we will remember to focus on our breathing. We would like to go to Plum Village as well.