First off, Georgia and Tennessee are both really beautiful. More trees than I have ever seen in my life. As far as the classes go, I went with an open mind, knowing that I really had no idea what to expect. There were a few rules, though none were terribly difficult to follow. If at any time there was music playing, you couldn't sit, unless it was lunch or dinner. Otherwise you were banging on the tables or whatever else was handy. They supply you with just about anything you want, and keep drumsticks ready at all times. I ended up breaking 2. The first one took me a couple days untill I got into it enough to actually set my mind to breaking them on purpose. The second one took me about an hour to snap, as I was putting all I had into doing damage to the cowbell I found under our table. After that, my hands hurt too bad from the sticks and from clapping. Music was loud and frequent. If it looked like we were getting tired he would grab his ipod and crank some tunes. There was dancing on the chairs, tables, and on stage. Twice there was some impromtu stage diving that took place, and I tried it for the first time in my life. Very cool. At least untill they tried to throw me back up on stage and I landed flat on my ass. It was all about "juice". I know the Maidens and anyone else who plays onstage know what its about. Giving out energy and having it returned back to you only multiplied. There were a few of us that was on both the giving and receiving end, and it is very cool to say the least.
As far as what he teaches, its really geared toward you and not so much towards the buisness that you work for. There is a little team building skills thrown in, but its still about improving yourself. All in all I came to the conclusion that I really need to pay attention to some issues in my life that I had either been avoiding or ignoring alltogether. The same goes for pretty much the rest of the class. There were some pretty emotional moments. On the third day it started to get to me, as more and more people were coming out and talking about and dealing with stuff in their lives. Alot of crying. To try and explain what happened to me, you should know something. I haven't cried in about 13 years. I lost a father-in-law, sister-in-law and a grandfather. After much heartache my wife and I had a son. Last year I got a call that my dad was having a triple bypass. Never once did I shed a tear. Its not that I didn't care, its was just something I didn't think I had to do. Its been something that has really bugged my wife all these years. So here I am surrounded by all these good people sharing their hardships, and its starting to hit me. Hard. The last day is the worst. On the ride back to the airport I almost had an emotional breakdown 4 times. I held it in. I got home and I told my wife I had a gift for her. We ended up talking in the bedroom for about an hour, when she finally asked what her gift was. I started into the little speech I had about her wanting this for many years, and then I lost it. I almost drown in a river of snot...lol. I was crying, she was crying, and then my son came in and gave me a hug because he thought I was hurt, and I lost it again. I felt so good to be able to do that. If I had gotten nothing else out of those 4 days it would still be totally worth it.
So anyway, there was alot of self improvement excersizes that we put in our journals so we can go back and see how we are doing. Its really simple logical stuff, but somehow it goes overlooked as the days go by I guess. I taught some of it to my wife and her sister and they caught on pretty quick. It makes alot of sense once you get it written out. These retreats are pretty expensive, but totally worth it if you go to learn and just let things go.
More to come soon, as there were several outings we made while we were there, and our crazy van driver that decided a minivan and a motorcycle could pass each other going through a one lane tunnel...
:hotjump:
