Mind retreat protocol

The modern lifestyle with its myriad distractions and all-consuming entertainment at your fingertips can leave many of us stressed, anxious and never quite feeling right.

I spent 5 weeks in the Himalayas recently and since my return I’ve been, suddenly able to do all the things I have failed to get to for years - I meditate every day, I do yoga regularly, have cold showers, I am more engaged at work, I feel calmer and I lost my constant sense of a low-level anxiety, I now eat when I am hungry and not when I am bored or for emotional comfort and so on and on.

After returning home, I tried to identify what caused this transformation. Why am I able to do all the things I wanted for so long all at once? Contrary to much of the habit-building advice of starting small (think Atomic Habits) - I did it all together and months later it is still sticking. I believe the key to my success lies in the lack of distractions that the mountains allowed me to experience. I think I experienced an unintentional ‘dopamine fast’.

‍Here I outline a scaled down version of what I think has helped me,
and based on feedback from dozens of people who tested the protocol what has helped them too.  I am calling it a ‘mind retreat protocol’.

Context - What is it for?

The mind retreat protocol is for you if any of the below apply -

• you feel stressed and anxious a lot of the time;
• you feel like you never have enough time for the things that matter;
• you are going through the paces of life, but haven’t for a long time thought about what it is you really want or care about;
• your mind is constantly busy and you experience ‘mind chatter’;
• you feel like you don’t have control over your emotions;
• you feel like there must be more to life but can’t find it;
• you feel like you never have enough time for the things that matter;

How long does it take?

The mind retreat takes only one day. All you need is to commit for one day and really stick with it

Benefits you'll see (hopefully):

• find a moment of real relaxation (not escapism) and sense of calm;
• get a better grip on what you want in life;
• realise how busy your mind is all the time and find a way to calm it;
• help in making ‘big’ decisions;
• insights into how your mind works and what you’re hiding from.

To be clear, I am not promising that you’ll entirely transform your life. I do think, however, that this ‘mind retreat’ protocol has the potential to let you glimpse the benefits I listed above and reset the way you look at your life.

How does it work?

In essence it is one day where you don’t engage at all with any distractions in your environment, electronic devices being the key focus.

I also include a few ‘exercises’ to do throughout the day to help you get the most benefit out of the day.

What do people say about it?

A few dozen volunteers (as well as myself) have tried the protocol over the past few months. Everyone has so far been very positive, so I am now fairly confident that it’s a beneficial exercise and one I plan on doing on a regular basis.

Below are a few excerpts from the messages I received about people’s experiences:

‘It’s hard to articulate how amazing I felt afterwards, it’s like a switch flicked in my brain.’

‘I plan on repeating this every month. I can’t remember feeling this calm.’

‘It made me realise I wanted to marry my girlfriend, thank you!'

‘It was probably the longest day in my life! Good and bad at the same time but I am keen to try it again.’

‘I feel like I know myself a little bit better, the happiness exercise was especially strange – never would have thought that some of the issues I probably have at work come from feeling like I am not learning.’

’I now see how addicted I am to my phone. Focusing on anything was so hard, I just kept looking around for my phone… Now I can start to try to control it.’

How to do it?

You can play with the specifics of how to do this. The only key rule I highly recommend sticking to is - no electronics at all, this means no phone or digital entertainment (news sites, social media,Netflix, podcasts, YouTube…).

STAGE 1: COMMIT

Commit to doing the mind retreat. It is only one day, you can find one day where you can be ‘off the grid’ if you really value yourself.

STAGE 2: PREPARE

The basics: Get the basic logistics in place before starting.

• When: Pick the day to do this. Often weekends will work best. Key is for it to be a day when you can be unreachable and not get in trouble.
• Where: Pick where you will do it. If you can, make it somewhere where you can have decent control over what happens (no TV on etc.). If at all possible, try to be somewhere close to nature for the mind retreat, the wilder the better. A few people who tried the protocol recommend unyoked, where you can book a cabin off the grid.
• With whom: A few people (myself included) have tried this protocol with a friend or partner. This can be a great way to make it a bit easier on yourself, so if you have someone you can ask to do this with – do.

The day before: Do all of the below before the big day.

• Let people know: Let everyone relevant know that you will be offline for one day and coordinate with flatmates/family etc. to eliminate unplanned distractions (or prevent someone worrying you've dropped dead).
• Prepare a plan for the day: Prepare a plan for the mind retreat – what you’ll do when on the day. Here are a few examples to look through.  
• Print out the exercises: Make sure to print out the exercises and prep a notebook and a pen. Here is the print-out.
• Hide your electronic devices: Before going to sleep, hide your electronic devices in a way that works for you – store them with a flatmate, put in a drawer, lock them in your car…
• Sleep well: This means going to bed early + no alarm clock, sleep until you wake up naturally.

STAGE 3: DO IT

There are four exercises to do at some stage during the day:

• 1 - Be in nature: Aim to spend a good chunk of the day outside in as wild a nature as you can get to safely (remember you will be without your phone). Being in nature has amazing benefits on your mind and the wilder the nature the greater the benefits.
• 2 - Confront your finitude: We all have limited time on Earth (at least in the form we exist in today). On some level we all know this, but many of us live our day-to-day as if it’s not true. This ‘exercise’ is all about confronting this reality of our finitude.
• 3 - Make a list of what makes you happy in life: This is exactly what it sounds like. You’ll make a list of what makes you happy in life. It’s a surprisingly hard thing to think through.
• Sleep well: This means going to bed early + no alarm clock, sleep until you wake up naturally.

On the day, keep the following rules in mind as much as you can:

• Do not consume any kind of digital content.
• Do not access your electronic devices at all (phone, laptop, table etc.).
• Do not read anything (papers, books etc.).
• Don’t meet up with anyone or attend any events. You can talk to people around you about what you’re doing and so on, but try to avoid the kind of ‘life-logistics’ talks (did you buy X?, we need to get Y for dinner on Saturday and invite Z etc.).
• It is perfectly fine to do the retreat with a friend or a partner if you want, you can introduce a bit more talking about some of the exercises and what they bring up – some people who use the protocol, myself included, recommended this highly.
• Wake up when you wake up, don’t force it, you have heaps of time.

Thanks for taking the time to look through this and I hope you get to try the retreat and experience some of the benefits.

Anna


‍Feedback or questions: I would love to hear about your experience. Please reach out with any thoughts or questions anytime either on abohac@alto-education.com or reach out on LinkedIn.