the fans – FIT IS A FEMINIST ISSUE

By News on SantoshHub Jul 19, 2026 0

Today is the last day of my 4-day meditation retreat at the Art of Living retreat center, outside of Boone, North Carolina. It’s called How to Meditate, Relate, and Creatively Self-Regulate: a meditation retreat for neurodivergent humans. It’s run by my favorite meditation teacher Jeff Warren (who’s from Toronto), and my now-co-favorite meditation teacher Ofosu Jones-Quartey, who lives in the Washington DC area.

We have been doing sitting, lying down, standing and walking-outside-in-nature meditations, enjoying sound baths, writing in our journals, and talking and listening to each other. I’ve been to a bunch of meditation retreats or workshops, but I think this is now my favorite one.

Our last session is this morning, so I’ll post a thorough review this week. But for now, here’s a preview of one of my favorite things from the retreat:

THERE ARE BIG FANS EVERYWHERE. And I love love love it.

You may be thinking, what?

Lemme explain.

The retreat center is at the top of a mountain in North Carolina, where it used to be always cool and refreshing, even in summer. But no longer– the humidity and summer temperatures have creeped up the hillsides and invaded even this sheltered place.

But these folks are ready for it. Enter the fans.

Here in the dining hall there are silent areas. But the big fans are exempt.

I sat at a table strategically placed between two big fans, but far enough that my food did not get blown off the plate. — Here in the dining hall there are silent areas. But the big fans are exempt.

There is a ceiling fan in my room, along with a box fan that can be placed anywhere for spot cooling. I really appreciated it.

I’ve saved the best for last. We did/are doing our sessions in this lovely space called Shakti Hall. Here are some pictures of it from trip advisor (we are not allowed to take pictures inside, which is fair enough).

Shakti Hall, with its gorgeous detailed wood ceiling and lots of light. — Shakti Hall, with its gorgeous wod ceiling and light everywhere.

Shakti Hall set up for a workshop (not mine). — Shakti Hall, with its gorgeous wod ceiling and light everywhere.

Since it was warm and humid, of course they had fans. I begged for (and received) permission to take photos of the fans they used in this space.

Me, looking rumpled but chill post-sit,with this enormous fan.

Me giving some love to the enormous fan. You can also better see how big it is. And how loved it is. — Me, looking rumpled but chill post-sit,with this enormous fan.

Omigod I love these fans. I don’t think I can fit one in my car, otherwise I would find out where they got them and buy one immediately. And they work, well, they work very effectively.

You might wonder, but aren’t they loud? Well, the organizers did turn them off for our sits. For which I was a bit sad. But acceptance of what is is part of a meditation practice. So I sat, accepted, but also looked forward to the time the fans were re-activated. Which was a delight.

In case you’re wondering, the retreat has been insightful and surprising and wonderful in ways that outstrip even the awesome big fans. I’ll write more about that this week. In the meantime, maybe go buy yourself a big fan. You’ll be glad you did.

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Published by catherine w

I’m a feminist public health ethicist (yes, that’s a thing). I’m interested in heath behavior change, particularly around eating and activity, and how things other than knowledge affect our health decisions.I’m also a cyclist (road, sort-of-off-road, commuter), regular yoga-doer, occasional swimmer and kayaker and leisurely social walker.
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