Menucha Subud Retreat :: Subud Life

It seems to be pretty much a universal opinion from those who participate that what happens at Menucha is spiritually uplifting and life changing. It is somewhat astounding that every year during our closing circles this feeling is expressed over and over again by the attendees. This venue seems to consistently provide the surroundings for a very deep Subud transformational experience and although most of those experiences come through the latihan, it is hard to discount the value of Menucha as a spiritually uplifting physical location in the world. I have been to hundreds of Subud gatherings but none have had quite the same experiential quality as Menucha. I think of the Ramadan fast period as a very special period of time when transformational things happen and I think of Menucha as a very special physical location for that to occur. Things sometimes happen during Ramadan that seem impossible at other times. Those "impossible" things also seem to happen at Menucha. Who knows why, but it has been proven by the many hundreds of people who have had the Menucha experience over the last seventeen years. God Willing, it will continue for many years to come.

As a new regional helper, along with Steven Czuba, Halimah Brugger, and Nadia Woodcock, I had a new slant on the Menucha program and now have a better appreciation of what past regional helpers and the supporting staff had to go through in order to facilitate the smooth flow of the Menucha experience. Thanks again to all who have worked in those roles over the past seventeen years!

Although there was some pre-Menucha anxiety over how I would be able to do my job, it seems to have happened in a relatively smooth way, in spite of over-sleeping on Saturday morning and missing that latihan. I was actually able to get up at 7:00 am on Friday for our early morning meeting, which is quite an accomplishment for someone who loves to sleep late and is willing to even give up breakfast for that privilege! I must have truly been prodded by the angels to be able to forego my early morning slumber!

Over one hundred people came to Menucha this year, and about two thirds were women. This gave the lady regional helpers a lot more work than the men. Sorry ladies! They now have a new regional helper to assist with that work. Camille Hofvendahl, from Portland, was chosen through testing to be the new woman regional helper. Camille had also served in the original Menucha regional helpers group from around 1989 to 1992. Welcome back Camille!

Probably most new regional helpers want to "improve" the Menucha program but it is hard to improve something that works so well, and changing something might have drastic results. Halimah had a receiving about the workshops at Menucha representing circles of the Subud symbol so we considered the idea of using the term "sharing circles" instead of workshops which, although more accurate, has a somewhat 'new age' kind of feeling. We also received in testing that having a separate talking circle of men and one of women would be something of value, but we also felt the large circles were important. After bringing it to the group in the Friday circle it was decided by voting that the Saturday circle would be separated into men's and women's groups.

For the men it seemed to have satisfied a strong need and resulted in a further men's group in a later session and also the idea of starting this kind of activity in the various local Subud groups. Testing seemed to confirm that this would be of benefit to our growth as a Subud family. Men in general seem to have few venues for sharing anything on a deeper level so it was felt that starting men's sharing circles or talking groups in the centers would fill a real need. As regional helpers we would like to encourage that activity and to offer our assistance if needed.

For the ladies, since they had almost twice the numbers, an all women's talking circle still took a very long time and was not even finished by lunch time. Their session resulted in much testing ideas and further sub-groups which occupied the rest of the day extending through Sunday morning. In general the separation of men and women in these sessions seemed a positive experience for both groups, but perhaps a bit more for the men. It remains to be seen whether this will be a one time experience or a regular occurrence at Menucha.

Highlights of this Menucha for me were:

Dancing to a really wild live Subud rock and roll band Saturday night.

While showing Akhri and a few other women some dance steps, looking behind me to see most of the room following along in unison!

Actually receiving test questions to ask during the Saturday night latihan.

Sharing experiences in the men's talking circle.

The group prayer for our national Subud organization at the closing circle.

Sean Libman's amazing performance at the Saturday night entertainment.

Imbert's wonderful Motorcycle Diaries song (Seems I can't get it out of my mind!).

Providing back up with other guys for Benedict Herman singing 'Knockin' on Heaven's Door'.

Dancing with all the beautiful Subud women. Thank you! (Sorry I missed some of you. Maybe next year?)

A special and rare feeling of very deep inner quiet at the end of the closing latihan.

There were also wonderful re-connections with old friends and much more, but this is enough for now. Perhaps others can fill in the gaps of what I may have forgotten.

I thank the Almighty for providing this unique place which seems to consistently remind us of how wonderful and amazing Subud and the latihan really are.