My 10 Day Silent Vipassana Meditation Retreat
This video was taken after the retreat, but gives a day by day run through of my crazy experience. Its 28 mins long, so watch whilst cooking dinner or walking the dog etc.
Why oh why would you do a silent meditation retreat?
The first biggest question I was asked when I got out!
Well….When I was travelling in India in my 20’s I met so many people that had completed a 10 day silent meditation retreat and I chatted to them about their experience. Nearly everyone of them said that it was an incredible experience, difficult, but incredible. They also mentioned that their minds went crazy at about day 6-7 and then all of a sudden this incredible sense of calm and peace came over them.
So that’s the why! I have always been curious. I always like a challenge. Normally I am challenging the limits of my body in the gym, so this time it was time to challenge my mental limits and find out just how crazy I could really make myself before hitting that level of calm.
Silent meditation retreat grounds
Would I do another 10 day silent meditation retreat?
The 2nd follow up question that nearly everyone asked…
My answer, Yes and No.
No – I would not go back and do another 10 day meditation retreat. I might do something similar but with more flexibility and less sitting! I would possibly do a shorter version of the same thing. But my body did not like sitting for 11 hours a day 10 days in a row. I’m glad I got to experience it but it’s not something I would do twice.
And
Yes– if I had never done one before, then yes, I would still do it, I’m glad I did the 10 days. I’m glad I had that experience, even now knowing what I know from doing it, however I would have definitely liked to have gone in better prepared and with less going on in my life.
Timetable, I almost had a heart attack when I saw this! I def should have looked at this before I arrived.
My advice
If anyone is thinking of doing a silent meditation retreat then please watch my video to the end. This will give you a better idea of what is expected of you. I would have actually done some sitting training before going if I had looked at the timetable and known more about what to expect.
If anyone is interested in doing more meditation then the centre that I did my meditation retreat is called Dhamma Ujjala, and they have long and short retreats throughout the year. There are centres all around the world. Most of them get booked up really quickly, so have a look at their schedule. It’s donation based, so they are purely doing it to spread peace and happiness to all.
Also if you want to know more about “The benefits of meditation” then read my blog.
