Daniel Maissan
Fotograaf van o.a. het boek Sterrenchefs.
Last week I was at a retreat in France run by Simone en Louis Tor. I was living in a tree house in a beautiful surrounding for a week. Not the typical retreat where the food is bad, you can’t speak, and sleep on the floor.
It was a retreat to center, slow down, meditate, practice Tai Chi and eat and drink in a way that is well known in France: Elaborate and very good!
Meditation and Tai Chi was given by Lo Tor, a shifu (teacher/master) who has found his training in many sanctuary in India, Tibet, Nepal and China. The lessons, meditations and movements he thought were very authentic, but in his explanations he showed us the parallel with the world we live in today. Every morning session would take about two and a half hour.
The hut I stayed in, was a tree house, a very good one. Good beds, good view and the sun early in the morning. This was perfect, because one of the things that did happen during this retreat is you hear the gong at 6.15 in the morning so you can get out for meditation and practice during sunrise at the center field. All happens in silence.
Meditation and Tai Chi was given by Lo Tor, a shifu (teacher/master) who has found his training in many sanctuary in India, Tibet, Nepal and China. The lessons, meditations and movements he thought were very authentic, but in his explanations he showed us the parallel with the world we live in today. Every morning session would take about two and a half hour.
Lunch and dinner were always amazing. Simone is a brilliant cook and as you might have guessed worked in a mindful manner. All products are fresh and bio dynamic and dishes were prepared with the utmost care. Being in a retreat doesn’t have to say you can’t enjoy life… In this case it’s the opposite!
After lunch again there would be a time of silence. After this moment for yourself, where you could read, walk, sleep or go out to the village nearby if you wanted, we would walk in the surrounding forest. Lo would teach us to mindful walk, focus on breathing and how to empty the mind and center yourself.
The rest of the day would be free time, with an optional coaching talk, a pressure point massage or again… just relaxing.
You might wonder why I write about this week on my Leica blog….
Of course I took my M9 with me. And as I will be going to Africa soon and will be using a Leica X1 as well (with special thanks to Transcontinenta BV importer of Leica), I had some time to practice. To use the M9 in a proper way, you will have to practice. Here is a perfect communality with this retreat. Using the M9 you have to concentrate, stay focused, don’t rush. I realized during this week that with my former camera’s I didn’t really photographed anymore, I shot pretty pictures. Doing so, a lot of the time, I missed what really mattered. Of course not in the pictures I took, but definitely within myself. The M9, like doing Tai Chi or walk in a mindful manner, forces you to focus and to realize where you are and what you are doing. You could even invent a new term for it: “Mindful photography.”
30 Juli 2011
Daniel Maissan
Fotograaf van o.a. het boek Sterrenchefs.
Blog Daniel Maissan: http://amanwithaleica.tumblr.com
