What is a spiritual retreat? Basically, a spiritual retreat is a moment that is spent apart from our ordinary life, to leave the noise and distractions of the city and focus on our soul...a time of rest and reflection.

Commonly, when someone refers to a spiritual retreat, a physical place to settle down comes in our mind and people from all over the world go there for one purpose: to attain full spiritual awakening, to relax and return to an awareness of the spiritual life.

Spiritual retreats goal is, primarily, to place an opportunity for spiritual people and new spiritual seekers where they can interact with a guru or spiritual teacher in a space containing strong energies. Nevertheless, each spiritual retreat is aim at a specific objective which can depend on the deity, spiritual technique, place, and faith. But the unifying thought on this matter is that anyone regardless of one's faith or spiritual background can get together with similar and different ones to learn and explore teachings and spiritual awakening from sources abroad.

In a small scale, a spiritual retreat just expects that the spiritual seeker will be committed to making positive change. Most of the experiences lived by most people helped them to open up to new feelings about their relationship with God and reconnect with God through their connections with the people on the spiritual retreat. One is open to different spiritual approaches in prayer and life; one is more conscious of what a spiritual person is.

Some spiritual retreats or getaways touting in the internet are:

Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, (415) 865-1895, www.sfzc.org/smcindex.htm America's oldest Zen Buddhist monastery. This spiritual retreat is located in the Santa Lucia Mountains, where guests feast on Tassajara's famous vegetarian cuisine and soak in the hot springs.

Shenoa Springs Retreat Center, (707) 895-3156, www.shenoasprings.com. This beautiful 160-acre spiritual retreat sits at the headwaters of the Navarro River in the Anderson Valley off Highway 128 near Boonville. Daily workshops include yoga, tai chi, and meditation, this last one is conducted by a resident Zen priest.

Huntsville Trappist Monastery, (801) 745-3784, www.xmission.com/~hta. The Trappist-Cistercian monastery in north of Salt Lake City is a famous spiritual retreat for the honey the monks make to support themselves.

The Expanding Light at Ananda, (800) 346-3530, www.expandinglight.org. This spiritual retreat or community offers yoga and meditation classes and unstructured retreats.

Sedona Sacred Journeys, (928) 274.2427, www.sedonasacredjourneys.com Sedona, a valued land in Arizona, is the vortex of new age thoughts, custom spiritual retreats, Sedona weddings, and alternative healing. Some of the spiritual retreats in Sedona include deep tissue massage therapy, reiki and energy work, hypnotherapy, aromatherapy, psychic readings, spiritual counseling, spiritual tours and retreats.

Assisi East West Retreat Center, +39 349 499 1293, www.sacredtravel.org Buddhist monks, Christians, Hari Krishna devotees, Jews whirling dervishes and Native Americans have come and practiced their special devotion here.

Blue Mountain Center of Meditation Retreats, (800) 475 2369, learn to meditate within your own tradition and lifestyle. This spiritual retreat has branches in USA, The Netherlands, Japan, and United Kingdom.

Present Moment Conscious Living Retreat, 612 916 5229, tropical yoga, meditation, Qi gong and bodywork located on the Pacific Riviera.

Tai Chi & Qi Gong in Paradise, 1-800-266-5803, this Costa Rican spiritual retreat relaxes alumni with Qi Gong, Tai Chi & Yoga in a tropical beach setting.

Heaven Sent Direct, 01793 825565, this spiritual retreat is located in England teaching mediumship and spiritual growth through meditation workshops to conquer your soul and spirituality.

Lake Isle Retreats, 0044 28 67742776, totally a spiritual retreat centre and temple situated on a beautiful, wooded lake-isle in a nature reserve in the beautiful Ireland.

A Tuscan Sabbatical, 617 227-6244, Tuscany spiritual retreat sets the stage for reflecting on the soul, passion, personal and professional development, creativity, meditation, silence prayer joy, and balance.

Body Being & Heart Travel Retreat, 514 527-7425, a spiritual retreat in sacred India embodied with temples, ashrams, beaches, and simple ashram living; sacred music and dance of India plus early morning movement & meditation sessions.