7-Day Solo Retreat: Tips & Insights Wanted

[iTommy]

Hello all. I am planning to do a 7-Day solo retreat in a friends apartment (he's not there during the retreat). I ordered books about Kriya Yoga from the booklist, and want to establish a kriya-routine before I go for the retreat. I'd like to know what you would recommend me doing during the retreat, and what to prepare for/things I should expect during the retreat. How does a typical 7-day retreat schedule look like?

My current daily practice is... 

• Concentrative meditation (listening to the breath and the spaces between), reiki-selfhealing (handpositions on body), practicing gratitude, compassion, loving what is.
• Some yoga asanas (from the Wim Hof course) - I'd like to partly replace those asanas with kriya-yoga. The deep breathing and cold showers is something I want to continue doing.

I tend to do a bit of contemplation/self-inquiry during the day, but haven't a firm routine (yet).

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Food and water is something that I'll stock up on (I thought about water-fasting, but I think that's too much of a hurdle for the first retreat).

My phone will be turned off (unless my friend hasn't an alarm clock, then I'll only turn the phone on overnight), books need to be hidden away, anything that could be a distraction really...

I'll bring a journal and a pen, for insights and noting what runs through the mind.

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Worries and things that I might expect...

• It might be that the active kundalini gives me backpain or similar when doing the practices more intensely (although I have a reiki appointment tomorrow, maybe that helps).
• Becoming overwhelmed with negative emotions, afterall this is some kind of deep detox, and not following through.
• Trying to waste time by doing other stuff, daydreaming or anything that distracts from the practices.
• Loss of focus, mental clarity and concentration, big time. 
• Feelings of heavy boredom, frustration, melancholia, restlessness, depression and maybe even suicidal ideation (Feeling depressed is normal for me, during the detox, those feelings might enhance/ego-backlash).

 

 

[Forestluv]

I’ve done a 7 day at-home solo retreat. A few things I didn’t expect. . . I put so much emphasis thinking about the practices and how hard this would be and worried about how much I might suffer that it didn’t even occur to me that desires to treat my mind and body with love and kindness might arise. After three days of intensive practice of meditation and yoga, strong desires to cook and eat healthy meals arose. I don’t cook, so this was a surprise. I also started spending 1-2 hours a day doing self massage meditation. My body awareness skyrocketed and I was massaging out all the tensions in my body with various massage tools (balls and rollers) - better than a professional. I had no idea how out of tune I was with my body. Again, this was totally unplanned and unexpected. I had thought the week was supposed to be about putting myself through hell. There were difficult uncomfortable parts, yet also some loving parts. 

I got tensions and pains that built up from extended static sitting postures. I found extended stretches of yin yoga and self massage (in a meditate mindset) were very helpful.

[iTommy]

19 hours ago, Serotoninluv said:

I’ve done a 7 day at-home solo retreat. A few things I didn’t expect. . . I put so much emphasis thinking about the practices and how hard this would be and worried about how much I might suffer that it didn’t even occur to me that desires to treat my mind and body with love and kindness might arise. After three days of intensive practice of meditation and yoga, strong desires to cook and eat healthy meals arose. I don’t cook, so this was a surprise. I also started spending 1-2 hours a day doing self massage meditation. My body awareness skyrocketed and I was massaging out all the tensions in my body with various massage tools (balls and rollers) - better than a professional. I had no idea how out of tune I was with my body. Again, this was totally unplanned and unexpected. I had thought the week was supposed to be about putting myself through hell. There were difficult uncomfortable parts, yet also some loving parts. 

I got tensions and pains that built up from extended static sitting postures. I found extended stretches of yin yoga and self massage (in a meditate mindset) were very helpful.

Interesting, it seems like you "went with the flow", not clinging in a tense dogmatically way onto the practices, rather doing it more playfully. Yin Yoga and self-massages sound helpful, especially after sitting for long periods in meditative postures. There are times when even walking becomes difficult for me after meditation-sits for some time (even though I currently don't sit for hours on end), so this is something I'll dig into more.