HERLife – Woman in Business Joyce Lombardi discovers the storied and famous Omega Institute and shares her personal experience going within.
Absolutely Nothing: a Perfect Week at the Omega Institute
By Joyce Lombardi
Flamenco camp in Spain? Kayak trip in the Adirondacks? I wasn’t sure how I wanted to close out this particular summer. Nothing felt right.
A friend asked me deep down what I wanted to do most.
“Nothing,” I said. “Permission to do absolutely nothing.”
This would be strange and luxurious for me. I am forever assigning myself new projects (like opening a sustainable goods store), problems to help solve (like human trafficking), or complicated hobbies (like sailing).
But after a year of slogging through a series of back-to-back blows (breakup, broken arm, osteoporosis, and breast cancer), I just wanted to sit in a pretty place and let the healing wash over me.
My friend suggested a retreat at the nonprofit Omega Institute in upstate New York.
“Trust your gut,” I tell my kids. My gut yelled yes. Immediately yes.
Online, I sifted through the multiple workshops available the week I wanted: Trance Mediumship, Yoga Nidra; and Songwriting. Then, I noticed an all-inclusive offering called a Rest and Rejuvenation Retreat. For a surprisingly affordable sum, you can get a private or shared cabin (or tent) on the 250-acre campus, plus three farm-to-table healthy meals a day and daily access to kayaking, hiking, yoga, tai chi, meditation, art classes, a library, and a sanctuary. “An R&R Retreat can be a life-changing experience,” said the website. For me, it was.
Two weeks later, I was on the road, heading towards the Hudson Valley and Rhinebeck, New York. It’s pretty country with big blue skies, undulating green hills, and sweet farms. New York City is just a few hours south, and you can feel the city vibe in the fonts and arts offerings around the region. On the first night, I went to “Settling In Yoga” with one of my new friends. The instructor, who had flowy blond hair and a New York accent, asked how many of us were new to Omega. Half the hands went up. “Welcome,” she said. Pause. “And what took you so long?” We laughed. A former Brooklynite, I felt right at home.
A sense of Community
I had expected to spend a week alone, just drifting. But the first thing that surprised me was how quickly a few of us formed a spiritual sisterhood. The clientele was about 90 percent women, primarily but not wholly white empty nesters. As wellness resorts go, this one seemed like it needed to be more elite. Omega, after all, is a nonprofit. The guests and staff were, on the whole, earthy and approachable.
On the first evening, I took my spicy Moroccan lentils and vegan mac n’ cheese to the wide wooden porch surrounding the dining hall. I headed straight toward a giant tree with heart-shaped leaves. I later learned that it was a catalpa or angel tree. I joined a woman whose peaceful demeanor reminded me of filtered light in a forest. Her name was Darcy, and she was there for the Trance Mediumship workshop, which was led by an international luminary in the field.
Over the next few days, more women came to that table by that tree. I was not the only one attracted by Darcy’s particular light. Like many guests, she was a spiritual healer who had come to improve her gifts. My new pals and I would save each other seats at the meals and discuss our days.
We called ourselves the Ladies of the Catalpa. One night after dinner we held a ceremony to celebrate the super blue moon, a rare event that coincided with our visit. Darcy played her beautiful crystal alchemy singing bowls and sang her star songs. We read each other’s tarot cards with our phones as flashlights.
Quickly, I realized I missed the easy camaraderie of girlhood, of a college campus, of belonging to a fluid group of women who collect for the pleasure of it. Not work, not a particular hobby or purpose. I was just being.
“I don’t know who I am if I’m not producing,” a friend of mine had remarked earlier that summer. He had just taken a year’s sabbatical. He is uncommonly productive. In Peace Corps, he stood out as an excellent and creative trainer, although he was only 23 then. Later, he would soar high in the tech world and then in city government in Silicon Valley. I could not imagine him not producing. Or me, for that matter.
Though I checked out an art bag from the front desk, full of watercolors and charcoals, but I didn’t use it. I didn’t want to draw, paint or, write or produce anything. I wanted to do nothing, absolutely nothing. And with a few important exceptions, that’s what I did.
The activity was a balance of walking miles daily and holding very still. One afternoon, I sat in the soft moss on a rock in the forest for what felt like hours. Another evening, I lay down on a lawn chair by the lily-pad-clogged lake. I was so still that a wild rabbit came out to dine. She was so close I could hear her teeth tearing and munching grass.
It was all rather magical, but the most transformational gift, for me, was the bodywork. The wellness center on campus offers traditional services like acupuncture and facials but also more esoteric offerings like Akashic Records (about past lives) and Spirit Attachment Release. I splurged on four separate treatments—cheaper than a trip to Spain, I thought.
The Healing Power of Going Within
I thought I was going to process the fear of surviving year one of breast cancer, but the skilled Omega healers dislodged different stories buried within.
At Shamanic Reiki, my healer led me through a guided, hands-on journey to cleanse deep-rooted guilt that I did not know I was carrying. Another day, sadness rose in my eyes when my shiatsu massage therapist shook my left arm. My body was releasing the trauma of having broken that arm and enduring the insertion of a giant metal plate, something I had ignored once the more dangerous diseases popped up. At another point, my healer pressed the front of my shoulders, and I started to cry softly.
“Those are grief centers,” she told me. I didn’t know what that particular grief was about – pick one, I thought – but it didn’t matter. It felt like something deep was releasing that I had not been able to access or purge through my past year of meditation, Buddhist readings, therapy, healthy eating, or physical therapy combined.
It turned out that absolutely nothing was absolutely everything. The last missing pieces of healing were community, nature, and bodywork. I’m already looking forward to next summer at Omega.
Omega is a nonprofit, donor-supported educational organization at the forefront of holistic studies. Located on over 250 acres in New York’s beautiful Hudson Valley, Omega offers various workshops, retreats, conferences, and in-person and online professional training. Since 1977, more than one million people have come to Omega for reasons big and small—to spark creativity, explore spirituality, improve well-being, and connect to a community of lifelong learners.
To learn more about the Omega Institute, click here.
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HERLife – Woman in Business Joyce Lombardi is a writer in Baltimore, Maryland, who tries to pursue uncomplicated hobbies outdoors with others. She is the mother of two incredible children, Atlas and Ramona, who are in college. When she isn’t living life to the fullest, Joyce is also a lawyer who works happily on clean energy policy issues at the state level.