Transformed by the Energy of the Sangha

I always remember the last day I spent with the Loving Work Retreat in 2023. 

We were painting some colorful cartoons on the wall at a kindergarten near the Laos border and I got a message from my sister that my mother was seriously ill in the hospital. A few hours after that, I was on the bus saying goodbye to our friends because I had to go back home. I looked at the calendar and realized that was my "practice birthday" as I received 5 Mindfulness Trainings on 29 Mar 2019 - exactly 4 years before that day.

I was "4 years old" with the mind of a baby practitioner but surrounded and supported by the collective energy of a sangha and I will forever be grateful for that. I was on the trip back home not knowing if I could even see my mother for the last time and what kept me calm and stable was the practice and the energy I got from the retreat. 

I carried that energy back home to be with my sister and my mother and together we went through the most difficult time in our life. My mother recovered 3 weeks after that and now after more than 1 year she transformed into another healthier and happier version of herself, and I could feel OK to be away from home again, to continue with our retreats in spring 2024.

I always tell my friends that I love my country more after every time I go on the retreats with our foreign friends. As a Vietnamese person I was expected to introduce my country and culture to everyone, but sometimes I even learnt it from the foreign friends and from their eyes I found something new, something different but always beautiful and meaningful. 

The retreats took me to the areas with bombs remaining from 40 years ago, to the remote villages with children who hardly get chances to go to school, and to the cemetery where I saw the spirits of the Vietnamese soldiers saying hello to the American people - now all friends on the same path. 

Also in the retreat I found myself proudly singing the Vietnam national anthem together with the school children in front of an American friend, a touching moment I always remember and be thankful for. 

If not with the retreats, maybe I also could go to those places, but for sure with a different way and different views. Only with the practice that I learnt how to go together as a river to build up love and support to exchange with the people we met on the way, to give and get back the love that can heal and transform us. In every retreat I joined, I found a different source of energy from the old and new friends, from the teaching and sharing, and I know from now on the 5 weeks time of our retreats every year will be a significant part of my life and my practice. 

Trang Vu

(Full Opening of the Heart)