Hi Lori,
Thank you for your interest in my stay at the Pecos Benedictine Monastery. My first visit was in 1981 for a 2-week spiritual retreat with two other women from my prayer group in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

While at the monastery, we learned about the monastery's School for Charismatic Spiritual Direction. After much prayer and discernment back home with my prayer group, I decided to go back (alone) the following June (1982) for the 4-week school. It was an amazing, profound, indescribably wonderful experience. There were about 40 of us, from all over the US, a few from Canada, and two priests from Africa. It was such an profound experience (you can go to
http://pecosabbey.org/scsd.htm for some idea of what it entailed).

The school included an additional 2-week follow-up retreat in 1983. Between the original school and the follow-up, I had a massive breakdown, which became the turning point in my life (and eventually provided the backdrop for my own book). Although I did recover and become fully active in life and community shortly after the breakdown, 20 years later I'm still processing some facets of that breakdown. One has to wonder if there was any connection to the profound nature of that 4-week week retreat. It may have been too much, or it may have been what was necessary to uncover the extensive damage that had been lying dormant since early childhood...I still don't know...but it's moot anyway, isn't it?

20 years later I still can't fully answer your question about what I gained from that time there...it's still ongoing. The one sure gain was that I met a woman there from Nevada who continues to be one of my very dearest friends in the world.