In these days of change and turmoil, what does a life in balance look like? Is it known by a person’s quality of calm, their apparent control, or their ratio of doing and being? Does a balanced life have to do with the percentage of time spent at work as opposed to time at home? Do equal amounts of work and “play” or relaxation contribute to a sense of balance and well being, or does an answer lie in ensuring enough time alone with self? It has been said that personal mastery can be defined as wholeheartedly wanting what is.

One way of reconnecting with self is by creating a personal retreat, preferably in nature where you can “drop down to slow” and experience a different rhythm, often mostly in silence.

Stepping out into wild places is not new. For thousands of years, human beings have sought solace and solitude in the forests, deserts, mountains and sea.

The age old tradition, known as Vision Quest or Solo Fast, leads the willing pathfinder down unexplored tracks into wilderness areas where safety in retreat is assured. The result – to review, re-dream, revision and remember.

In making this commitment to rediscover balance, three challenges are presented:

TO GO WITHOUT FOOD: For four days and nights only water is consumed unless for medical reasons.

TO CREATE A SHELTER : The idea is to live as closely with the earth and the elements as possible. Create a shelter with a tarpaulin, or sit under a rock overhang, better yet let the night sky be your canopy.

TOTAL SOLITUDE: Give yourself the gift of experiencing complete aloneness. There are three stages to the traditional vision fast; the first is severance, the second threshold and the third, re-incorporation. In choosing to go alone into nature you give yourself permission to step back from your life, the responsibilities, the activities, distractions and demands and surrender to what might emerge on the mountainside.

The threshold experience is to acknowledge transition: change is afoot and it requires courage and being able to take bold steps into the unknown. The incorporation phase of the vision quest relates to the return to all that constitutes our lives.