Vipassana Retreat - If you had to offer 1 piece of advice, what would it be?

[Recursoinominado]

Let go completely! Don't try to resist, don't even try to resist resistance. You will feel a roller coaster of emotions, you will think about quitting a lot, just ignore it, expect that it is normal and keep fucking going, do not give up. I think it is the best advice i can give you because your mind will try all the tricks possible to make you quit, just know it is this way and ignore it. 

[still_no_satori]

14 hours ago, Kensho said:

Let's say "don't have high expectations".  A person who has been into material like what Leo is teaching and listening to Leo suggesting the Vipassana retreat, may expect to have deep experiences during it, like a samadhi or satori or some sort of mystical experience (your nickname... :-) ). They may happen of course, but this is not what you go there for. Even the vipassana technique is not something that can be achieved from the first retreat. If it's not sticking don't get frustrated. Keep trying.

I 've done the 10-day retreat twice. The most difficult part for me was to cease the continuous thoughts to leave the place, that is why I told you "stay till the end".

@Kensho Good to get sound advice from an experienced source. Only expectation I have is it is going to be tough, that is all.

Btw my nickname is from a line that caught my eye in a book many years ago. I remember googling 'what does satori mean' all those years ago. It was called 'The Dice Man'. Its a fun book if you like reading fiction, reminded me a little of Fight Club, here is the synopsis

The book tells the story of a psychiatrist named Luke Rhinehart who, feeling bored and unfulfilled in life, starts making all his decisions based on the roll of a dice. Along the way, there is sex, rape, murder, "dice parties", breakouts by psychiatric patients, and various corporate and governmental machines being put into a spin. There is also a description of the cult that starts to develop around the man, and the psychological research he initiates, such as the "Fuck without Fear for Fun and Profit" program.

15 hours ago, Kensho said:

P.S. You know what the best thing in Vipassana is? No talking for 10 days!

Haha yes! 

[still_no_satori]

4 hours ago, Recursoinominado said:

Let go completely! Don't try to resist, don't even try to resist resistance. You will feel a roller coaster of emotions, you will think about quitting a lot, just ignore it, expect that it is normal and keep fucking going, do not give up. I think it is the best advice i can give you because your mind will try all the tricks possible to make you quit, just know it is this way and ignore it. 

@Recursoinominado this seems to sum up a lot of the advice in this thread so far, thank you.

5 hours ago, SunnyNewDay said:

If you get bored go for a walk and stay silent.

@SunnyNewDay The retreat am I going to is in a very nice countryside area and in June should be nice weather also, so I will take this advice for sure.

[Jordan94]

On 12/03/2019 at 6:21 PM, still_no_satori said:

Interesting that two of you have said this. Do you recommend because you feel you are more likely to be strict with the practise or another reason?

Yes I would say it's the main reason, when people go to their room (me included) in the end we meditate a bit then just kind of give up and chill mostly

Another big reason is that you have your little cussion/setup in the hall, in your room you have your bed which will give you a less good posture (at least for me) and focus

Another thing is that you have the whole group atmosphere of having the other people meditating around which is gonna help you to meditate in many ways, for me even also in some egoic way desire to want to look good for the other people, which is not really the best motive haha, but at least here it results in something helpful (keep meditating well)

[Nahm]

      

[Viking]

Don't have any expectations.

I say that but you probably already have some expectations, since you're going to the retreat.

Let me ruin them for you- most people i know including me who did the retreat didn't get much out of it. It's a really low chance anything transforming will happen there. it will be a different and new experience though, and you will probably learn about yourself, but you probably wont get any "glimpses" or anything like that.

Now with those expectations do the retreat full force  

[allislove]

@Viking what was the toughest day for you?

So, I can relax after that day. 

Edited March 15, 2019 by dimitri

[Viking]

30 minutes ago, dimitri said:

@Viking what was the toughest day for you?

So, I can relax after that day. 

I had 3 types of days. One type is tough, second is fearful, third is painfully sad.

The first days were painfully sad, as i meditated the mind cleared and for no reason i cried for hours total, it was even painful, the sadness.

Next on day 5 to 7 were fear days, i started to experience LSD like thought patterns, thought i was going psychotic and because of that tons of fear arose with surrender to it.

next were the tough days (although every day was tough) but as u get to the end u want to go home already and you start counting days and sitting becomes very tough.

[Vipassana]

Wake up at 4 am, take a cold shower and head to the hall. 

[still_no_satori]

I'm going on this in 1 weeks time now. Anyone got anything to add? Can be of a very practical nature as i'm picking up supplies this weekend. Is there something you forgot to bring along but could have really done with taking (for example)?

[Chi_]

1 hour ago, still_no_satori said:

I'm going on this in 1 weeks time now. Anyone got anything to add? Can be of a very practical nature as i'm picking up supplies this weekend. Is there something you forgot to bring along but could have really done with taking (for example)?

Yes! a small alarm clock, in my case, since you have to hand in your smartphones on Day 1

[Jkris]

@still_no_satori Are you able to sit in vajrasana for long durations ?

This is the main challenge bothering my mind.

 

 

 

[Gili Trawangan]

For me the sitting was painful. The strong determination sits caused a lot of fear at some point because of the pain, and I was pushing hard and working on equanimity. If you've been meditating for a while it shouldn't be much of a problem. In either case, take the opportunity to strengthen your pain resistance, it's worth it. Once you're able to let go and just observe, the fear (and pain) goes away.

I also wouldn't have any expectations about a major breakthrough, what I experienced the most was a huge boost in concentration.

Good luck!

[still_no_satori]

4 hours ago, Jkris said:

@still_no_satori Are you able to sit in vajrasana for long durations ?

I just googled that term. I have never meditated in that exact position. Although as a matter of course I quite often completely naturally sit with my left leg under me on sofas and such and for prolonged periods. My left leg is more flexible than the right as a result. The pictures I have seen of Vipassana retreats always have people sitting in various cross legged positions however.

1 hour ago, Gili Trawangan said:

For me the sitting was painful. The strong determination sits caused a lot of fear at some point because of the pain, and I was pushing hard and working on equanimity. If you've been meditating for a while it shouldn't be much of a problem. In either case, take the opportunity to strengthen your pain resistance, it's worth it. Once you're able to let go and just observe, the fear (and pain) goes away.

I have to admit this leg/feet pain issue is the main apprehension I have. Quite often my right foot goes numb or achey when I do my practises and it can distract me. In the 2.5 months since I started this thread I have worked my way up to 2 sits per day. One for 1 hour, the other for 45 minutes and I have been handling that OK. I'm pretty sure the cushioning I have been using is less comfortable than what will be supplied as well.

Edited May 30, 2019 by still_no_satori

[Gili Trawangan]

@still_no_satori It sounds like you've prepared well. I didn't, that's why it was so painful. If you're already sitting for an hour, there's no reason to worry. It will still be challenging, but nothing too bad.

[okulele]

effortless effort