Awakin Retreat: Participant Reflections
Helen Kimura - Awakening Through Service
A Silent Communion
One of the most moving moments of the AwaKin Retreat was the silent dinner. Guests gathered quietly in the stone circle as monastics and volunteers served their meal in silence. From the very beginning, something sacred filled the air.
I remember wondering beforehand whether it might feel awkward. Would the silence create discomfort? But once it began, all such thoughts dissolved. Everyone was completely present, attuned to the stillness, to the gentle gestures of offering and receiving. The scene was utterly still, yet alive with energy. A quiet pulse of connection flowed between those who served and those who received.
Beyond Roles: The Flow of Giving
As I watched, I realized I could no longer tell who was the giver and who was the receiver. The act of serving, which we thought was our offering to the guests, turned out to be a profound gift to us as well. In that moment, something essential was revealed: connection itself is not one-directional. It is a mutual current, a shared participation in presence.
There was no worrying, no planning, no past or future intruding. Only a deep sense of gratitude, joy, warmth, reverence, and humility flowing freely among everyone there. The usual distinctions of role or status within the retreat seemed to dissolve. Monastics, guests, and volunteers were simply part of one shared field of awareness.
Nature as Witness
Even the towering redwoods seemed to participate. Their stillness mirroring ours, their vast trunks forming a silent cathedral. The sunset, the cool evening air, the faint mist all blended into the moment’s seamless wholeness. The natural world and the human heart were not two.
That unity moved me to tears. I remember feeling, “I don’t want this to end.” Not because of the dinner itself, but because something precious had emerged, a glimpse of how human beings can truly meet one another, wordlessly, beyond separation.
A Shift in Awareness
As the meal unfolded, my awareness seemed to rise another notch: spacious, tender, alive. It was as if I could feel the invisible threads connecting everyone and everything. That simple act of eating together in silence revealed a depth of communion rarely touched in ordinary life.
That was the gift of the silent dinner, and why it continues to resonate in my heart: it showed me what becomes possible when we allow stillness to do the speaking, when giving and receiving become one.
Jin Wei Shi - Serving from Ground Level
More than a week has passed, and my heart is still integrating and digesting what unfolded in that shared space.
I felt deeply that we welcomed one another as we truly are — in the most vulnerable sense. The walls of identities, achievements, and stories melted away. Service itself became bowing: a humble recognition of kinship, a flow of resonance that needs no names. Just being. Honoring. Every gesture became sacred.
The question I now hold is: what prevents me from dancing in this sacredness?
The final bowing was a catalyst, like an acupuncture point skillfully touched, opening something deep within me. I have bowed many times before, yet this was the first time my forehead touched the ground from the place of Us. In that moment, something clicked inside me — visceral recognition. All of us together, brothers and sisters, emerged into a new story, or as some might say, a new frequency: a deeper connectivity in which all life — visible and invisible, sacred and ordinary — is honored. Ancestors, lineages, Mother Earth, and beyond.
One image stays with me: the moment when Mark Moore knelt by the stone circle where we had bowed to one another, made the sign of the cross, and, with tears in his eyes, placed his head on the soil. We all met at ground level, witnessing the beauty of togetherness, the beauty of offering, the beauty of the Divine.
I wish to serve from this ground level — where each act is a bow, each gesture an offering.
Parag Shah - Practicing Love, Loving the Practice
I have attended many retreats hosted by the ServiceSpace ecosystem, mostly as a volunteer—except for one I joined as a participant in 2015. Each retreat follows its own path yet leads to the same destination, rooted in the spirit of “Practicing love and loving the practice.”
The AwaKin retreat at Redwood Vihara was no different, yet it was unique in its own way. We gathered in the Monastery with Rev. Heng Sure as a host and Jin-Chuan Shi and Jin-Wei Shi as volunteer anchors. Most volunteers didn’t know each other beforehand—some were from the monastery and were doing the heavy lifting, others were from ServiceSpace USA, and a few of us flew in from India as part of the ServiceSpace India crew. The way all volunteers bonded and became one source of action was inspiring to witness and be part of.
In a field of “many to many,” participants shared lived wisdom from their own contexts, bringing so much light and enrichment for all. Despite limited space and participants scattered across different Airbnbs—some even camping in RVs—the retreat flowed seamlessly. The sacredness in the air was palpable, and the monastery’s years of inner purification practices seemed like an invisible current guiding every one of us. One very deep insight was to see how all the hardcore inner practice of Monk-hood lands in very deep humility, and that is something that will stay with me forever. :)
Synergy, Coherence, Regeneration, Resonance are all good words for social engagement, but to see them embodied so naturally with such a diverse group was amazing. Everyone played their part in this co-creation, and it’s hard to pinpoint what exactly made it all come alive. Love and service were the true binding forces, deeply felt throughout the retreat.
Although I didn’t fully understand the literal meaning of the daily morning recitation of The Great Compassion Mantra, I could feel its vibration during my own morning meditation.
And what still lingers with me in quiet moments is the chant I heard at CTTB—Namo Guan Shi Yin Pusa.
Jin Chuan Shi - Wow! Sacred Resonances
Excerpt from the Community Night: “Stories Along the Bodhisattva Path”
We feel deeply honored to have shared space with all who gathered for the recent Awakin Retreat at Redwood Vihara. Over the past three days, something extraordinary unfolded among the redwoods—a sense of sacred connection that transcended traditions and words.
The retreat began in the stone circle beneath the towering redwoods. Four members of the community stepped forward to open the gathering with prayers: a Catholic nun, a Muslim practitioner, an Indigenous leader, and Christian with African spiritual roots. Each spoke and sang from their own tradition, invoking blessings and ancestral wisdom.
As their voices echoed through the forest, something awakened inside me. I could feel the sacred resonance of their invocations vibrating through the air, and tears began to flow—tears of joy, recognition, and belonging. When the circle came full, each person offered a single word or phrase to capture their feeling. Mine were simple: “tears of joy” and “WOW.”
That “WOW” has stayed with me through these days of silence, song, and shared service. It points to a field beyond concepts—a frequency of reverence, unity, and love…
May its vibration continue to ripple outward, carrying the blessings of this retreat into the world.
Liz P. Gopal - Dancing with the Redwoods
What touched me most was the effortless spirit of service that flowed through everyone. From the first smile of welcome to the last folded chair, each act felt like a prayer—an offering to something larger than ourselves.
A moment that stayed with me was when we all began dancing—spontaneously, freely, moving joyfully to the vibrant pulse of Nimo’s music. In that shared movement, I felt the Dharma come alive: no separation, no self-consciousness, just joy moving through many bodies as one.
I also carry in my heart the grand, quiet presence of the redwoods, standing like ancient witnesses to our joy. Draped with beautiful, reflective banners and surrounded by countless small touches of care and beauty crafted by Anamika and her team, they reminded me how love itself can take form through beauty.
Since returning home, the retreat lives on—in gratitude, in service, and in the gentle rhythm of everyday life. And until we meet again, let’s always keep on dancing! After all, “we are all bananas,” dancing joyfully to the “woosh woosh sound of the broom.”
