Review of a Day of Mindfulness
Last month I visited my husband in the south of France. His parents retired to a small village north east of Bordeaux about 20 years ago and in our eight year relationship I have had the luxury of visiting that area of the world four or five times. On this most recent visit we made it a priority to go to Plum Village located about an hour from his parents’ home. A couple of years ago he took his mother for a day of mindfulness and has wanted to take me there ever since.
Days of mindfulness occur twice a week, Tuesdays & Sundays; they are either held at the upper hamlet or the lower hamlet, be sure to double check the website for which location your day of mindfulness is being held at. The male monks live at the Upper Hamlet and the female monks live at the Lower Hamlet. On our early morning drive to the Upper Hamlet we saw a trail of female monks walking in the chilly morning air making their way to the Upper Hamlet for the day of mindfulness.
The schedule for the day is registration (we found nowhere to actually register and were simply pointed in the direction of the main speaking hall,) dharma talk, tea break, walking meditation, lunch, and break up groups to discuss dharma further. Upon arrival my husband and I both commented how utterly happy that we felt at the monastery, it was a peaceful, excited feeling that we agreed that we had both felt previously at other retreat centers and similar to emotions that I had felt at my yoga teacher trainings. You’ll think me the hippy that I am, but it was almost as if we could feel the positive, peaceful energy in the air.
We arrived early so we walked around the grounds. It felt homey to be surrounded by Asian architecture and Buddhist symbols, reminiscent to our years in South Korea. The dharma talk was held in the main hall. The talk was given in English with headsets for French or Vietnamese attendees. Shoes were removed upon entering the hall, another flashback to Korea. The day that we were there the theme of the talk was the four noble truths of Buddhism. In a nutshell, the four truths are:
- Be aware of suffering
- Be aware of the causes of suffering
- The end of suffering
- Path of happiness
There was so much detail given on this topic. This post is not to explain the dharma talk, but rather the experience as a whole. Suffice it to say that the talk was interesting and informative.
The tea break was notable in that it was almost 100% zero waste. Loose leaf tea was available with nifty little single tea strainers that hung on the edge of your mug. Vegan milk was available and the method for cleaning mugs and utensils was simple, well described, and effective. The same method was used for the plates and chopsticks after lunch – a series of washing tubs and rinse tubs that you walked your dishes through. Then they were collected for a final sanitation in a machine. Compost was collected and I assume used for the organic garden on site.
We all convened near the temple for the walking meditation. A few monks explained that the walk was a practice of living in the present. There was absolutely no talking during the walk, instead of holding each other’s attention with conversation we allowed the nature of spring to be our guides. After completing part of the path we ended up on a grassy knoll where we sat in the sun for some time before continuing the walk.
Lunch was beyond delicious. There were multiple lines to feed the masses, the meal was vegan and Asian inspired. Although the food seemed to be cooked simply, it did not lack in flavor. The eggplant was especially notable and the marinade of the tofu had a satisfying umami taste. My husband and I ate in the grass together and glowed in our blissed-out state.
Something that you should be aware of – throughout the day monks ring large bells that resonate throughout the grounds. When a bell is rung an angel gets… no, actually, when a bell is rung all are to find complete stillness and to move their awareness to their breath as a form of mindfulness practice. As I mentioned at the beginning, my husband and I did not register, so we missed the sign board on this. I instantly caught on as I was nearby a lot of people and did as they did (although it did very much feel like the zombie apocalypse had occurred) but my husband was preparing his tea and humming to himself. Apparently he did not catch on immediately and continued to hum and go about his task blissfully unaware of the statue-like people surrounding him. I would have liked to have been a fly on the wall to witness him happily humming aloud at exactly the wrong moment.
The Logistics
Plum Village is way out there in the middle of nowhere. Most definitely you will need a car. It is an hour and a half’s drive from Bordeaux, but only a 25 minute drive from Bergerac. In the summer there are frequent flights to and from Bergerac to multiple cities in England if you are holidaying in France from England.
Days of mindfulness are by donation with a suggested donation of 20 euro per person. There are donation boxes in the cafeteria.
My husband and I did not stay long after lunch. It was one of my last days in France and he had plans to take me to Sarlat, a picturesque, Medieval town not far from Plum Village. If you are interested in Buddhism and especially in Thich Naht Hanh, then I highly recommend adding a trip to Plum Village to your trip to the south of France.
While in the small town on the Dordogne, it’s worth a stop at the 
Blue Heron offers everyone from young children to mature adults, but a short list includes a mushroom walk, star-gazing, activities almost every hour for the kids, vendors, a tent full of events specifically for teens, etc. Unfortunately the Blue Heron has a local reputation for being a drug fest full of ‘undesirables’. Is there a wide range of people at a festival of around 7,000 people – yes, so might there be people partaking in illegal substances? Yes. Are there also young families that come for a day or the entire weekend? Yes. The festival can be what you make of it. If you want to party till the sun comes up, do it. If you want to put ear plugs in and crawl into your tent at 11pm to wake up early for the 7:30 meditation and the 9am yoga, do it.
existence as a concentration and death camp, the largest death camp of Nazi Europe. It is recorded that around 1.1 million people lost their lives at Auschwitz, people whom were sent from countries all over Europe, mostly Jews, many Poles.
English tour, we received headphones which is how the tour guide communicated to our group throughout the day, necessary since hundreds of people were touring that day, all in different languages, we then followed our Polish tour guide from harrowing landmark to harrowing landmark. Our guide stopped us outside the buildings and told us how the S.S. made the prisoners stand outside in freezing winter temperatures while they called roll, at times making them stand and wait for up to 24 hours straight, no food, no rest.
photographs of prisoners, the last image of many them to ever be preserved in history. There were exhibitions of belongings that had been taken from the prisoners. The volume of the items piled up high on top of each other put into perspective just how many innocent men, women, and children were sent to the camp and perished there. On our tour I learned of unspeakable atrocities, of unthinkable “living” conditions, if you can call the labor-prison-death camp existence “living.” The masses of people who were thought of in by the Nazis as fit enough to work, or too weak to live. The disabled or injured were sent straight to the gas chambers while the young and healthy were put to tiresome, endless work, producing for Germany. The gate at the entrance of reads: “Arbeit Macht Frei – Work Sets You Free.”
karabemisyoga 