"Used properly and constructively, retreat is both a useful, and necessary, means for supporting self-evolution. If undertaken with intention, and not as foil for wallowing or self-pity, it can be a powerful tool for bringing us to our own next level, becoming more fully present in both ourselves and our lives."

​From "Psychological and Spiritual Benefit of Interior Retreat" by Michael Formica

"When you do not talk, you become more sensitive to your external environment. After a week of silence, Tijn Touber exclaimed, 'Never before had I felt such intense contact with everything around me – precisely because I hadn’t uttered a word. It was as if all my senses were wide open….'"

from "The Benefits of Silence" by Lloyd J. Thomas