I'm excited for you, Jeff. If you've sat one before, you know what it's like. If not, it'll be a new experience. Either way, you'll know yourself better. Looking forward to hearing about it.
Well done, Ryan! I hold tremendous respect for anyone who completes a 10-day Vipassana retreat. I'm amazed that you managed to stay, given all the challenges you experienced.
Ha, thanks, Sandra! My first-ever retreat was the hardest, but this one was up there. I wanted a break to go deeper, and I am stronger and quieter for it.
Amazing to hear about your experience Ryan, thank you for sharing them. My brother did a 10 day silent meditation retreat last year and I am inspired to do one, although feeling scared!
I was scared before my first retreat, too. I wouldn't recommend jumping into a 10-day, specifically the ones delivered by S. N. Goenka. The sittings are 1-1.25 hours each, longer than the 45 minutes at the "Western" retreats I've been to. And there is no walking meditation, which I believe is vital to practice. I started with a half-day and then a 3-4 day, which was plenty for the first ones.
Amazing, thank you Ryan. Not sure how my brother went straight into a ten day retreat. The walking meditation would be something I need to have when I decide to do one! Might look into the shorter ones and give them a go!
Wow, that's quite the silent retreat! I remember being early in my own mindful journey and hearing my own mindful mentor describing a retreat with a similar schedule - I thought that sounded like torture, without even taking into the level of physical discomfort you were in. So sharing a lot of admiration for sitting through this!
Ha, thanks Lucy. The physical pain is the hardest part for me. What made it easier was knowing I had survived the same or worse on past retreats. On the first torturous retreat, I leaned on the sufferfest of climbing mountains. Feel free to DM me, and I'd be happy to share more anytime. Thanks for taking the time to comment.
Possibly so. Clearly, I had accumulated a lot of Sankara over the past seven years.
It seems we're always coming into contact with the cold virus, so I think it's a matter of the conditions giving rise to sickness. In this case, I've been overworked, overscheduled and dealing with a personal issue that has drained me. I don't normally catch colds, so it's a clear indicator to me.
The hardest part for me is staying with excruciating pain rather than mentally resisting it, stretching to relieve it temporarily or drifting off into thought to numb it. Once the mind stops resisting, the pain goes away. I didn't quite get there on this retreat. Thanks, Adam.
This couldn’t be more timely. Starting my Vipassana retreat tomorrow! Thanks for sharing.
I'm excited for you, Jeff. If you've sat one before, you know what it's like. If not, it'll be a new experience. Either way, you'll know yourself better. Looking forward to hearing about it.
Well done, Ryan! I hold tremendous respect for anyone who completes a 10-day Vipassana retreat. I'm amazed that you managed to stay, given all the challenges you experienced.
Ha, thanks, Sandra! My first-ever retreat was the hardest, but this one was up there. I wanted a break to go deeper, and I am stronger and quieter for it.
Amazing to hear about your experience Ryan, thank you for sharing them. My brother did a 10 day silent meditation retreat last year and I am inspired to do one, although feeling scared!
I was scared before my first retreat, too. I wouldn't recommend jumping into a 10-day, specifically the ones delivered by S. N. Goenka. The sittings are 1-1.25 hours each, longer than the 45 minutes at the "Western" retreats I've been to. And there is no walking meditation, which I believe is vital to practice. I started with a half-day and then a 3-4 day, which was plenty for the first ones.
Amazing, thank you Ryan. Not sure how my brother went straight into a ten day retreat. The walking meditation would be something I need to have when I decide to do one! Might look into the shorter ones and give them a go!
Wow, that's quite the silent retreat! I remember being early in my own mindful journey and hearing my own mindful mentor describing a retreat with a similar schedule - I thought that sounded like torture, without even taking into the level of physical discomfort you were in. So sharing a lot of admiration for sitting through this!
Ha, thanks Lucy. The physical pain is the hardest part for me. What made it easier was knowing I had survived the same or worse on past retreats. On the first torturous retreat, I leaned on the sufferfest of climbing mountains. Feel free to DM me, and I'd be happy to share more anytime. Thanks for taking the time to comment.
Wow doing Vipassana whilst sick. That's a new level of hard. Do you attribute the sickness to some kind of release of Sankara?
Possibly so. Clearly, I had accumulated a lot of Sankara over the past seven years.
It seems we're always coming into contact with the cold virus, so I think it's a matter of the conditions giving rise to sickness. In this case, I've been overworked, overscheduled and dealing with a personal issue that has drained me. I don't normally catch colds, so it's a clear indicator to me.
What do you think?
That’s quite some journey. Persevering through that pain must have been the most intense mind over body exercise.
The hardest part for me is staying with excruciating pain rather than mentally resisting it, stretching to relieve it temporarily or drifting off into thought to numb it. Once the mind stops resisting, the pain goes away. I didn't quite get there on this retreat. Thanks, Adam.
Sounds like quite the journey! Thank you for sharing your experience and insights.
Thanks, Darcy. Can’t recommend it enough for anyone called to it.
What an experience! I don’t know if I could do it but I’d like to try someday. Thanks for sharing it with us, Ryan.
You can definitely do it if you feel called to it, Amy. The guy sitting next to me had never meditated a day in his life.