America’s Top Meditation Retreats
Usa Today • forbestraveler.com • October 6, 2008

Face it. Your brain is dirtied with deadlines, sullied with schedules and clogged with responsibilities. You need a psychic bath. It’s time to manage what meditation experts call your “monkey mind”—the modern brain that jumps from thought to thought like a monkey on steroids.

Meditation has been found to lower cholesterol, ease pain, speed healing, curb insomnia and boost the immune system. It can also help slay the demons of depression, anxiety and the kinds of compulsions that send you back three times to check the stove. By practicing meditation, you’ll feel more energized, gain self-knowledge and achieve a healthier state of mind.

Shambhala Mountain Centerin Colorado is another place where natural beauty inspires mind-body relaxation in a camp-like setting. Well-known Buddhists help visitors cultivate compassionate head-space among rustic buildings and ponderosa pines. Meditation is the focus, but you can also get a taste of Zen archery, Jewish mysticism, Chinese Qigong and various kinds of yoga. The Great Stupa of Dharmakaya, a memorial to Shambhala’s founder, is an architectural wonder that brings a little slice of Nepal to the American West.

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