Solo Retreat- fasting, psychedelics, meditation, The Book of Not Knowing

[bonesurfer]

Hey all! I'm about to head out for a 7 day solo retreat I thought some of you might find interesting. I feel like I'm needing a recharge from work, as I'm in a stage of material building- in other words, my work is not my passion atm. So, I have rented an off-grid cabin in a beautiful area and will be getting fucking austere, baby!

I'm wanting for this retreat to be a reset for my body and mind, thus I will be restricting my caloric intake for the first 5 days to around 850 per day. That amounts to about a small plate of food per day. Mostly vegetables and nuts. If you're at all interested in fasting, I can totally recommend Valter Longo's Fasting Mimicking Diet. It has helped me with an autoimmune disease tremendously in the past. --Consult your doctor before taking on any new diet plan.--

I will be bringing only a few things for my mind to chew on. One is meditation, simple as that. I will be meditating for at least 3 hours a day. The other is Peter Ralston's The Book of Not Knowing, which I assume will be taking much of my attention during the retreat. Finally, I will be bringing along a mushroom chocolate to eat on day 3 of the retreat- Amazonians, I'm told.

I'll be bringing a journal to record my thoughts. I'll post the results when I'm done!

Let me know if you have done anything like this before or if you have any ideas/ tips to make the retreat a success!

Peace and Love!

 

[loub]

Sounds like a great plan. I'm sure there's much you will gain from it.

My advice though would be to leave the book at home. It's a great book for sure but don't try to do too many things at once there. The book, I think, would become too much of a distractions, dividing your attention. Focus on being present and doing absolutely nothing and see what comes up

Good luck

[Gneh Onebar]

@bonesurfer  Maybe these videos will help:

https://www.actualized.org/insights/solo-retreat

[bonesurfer]

@loub  Have you read the book? It's full of exercises that supposedly help to put one in touch with Self. No doubt, without the book lots will indeed come up!

[bonesurfer]

@Gneh Onebar That looks exactly like what I'm up to on this trip. Leo's obviously pretty hardcore about these things.

[loub]

@bonesurfer yes, I have and I recommend it whole-heartedly. Will read it a second time next month.

By the way, did you know that in the end he recommends you read it again at least once because on reading it the first time you don't really get the big picture of what is presented? I have read somewhere in the forum that Leo suggested you only start to really tap into the value this book offers upon reaeding it the third or fourth time around.

Not saying you shouldn't take it with you but it will be a more intellectual enterprise. And ime it will be a distraction by putting too much on your plate at once. Think about it.

Have a great trip. You surely will benefit a lot. Looking forward to hearing how it went

 

[Gneh Onebar]

@bonesurfer  Good luck! What sort of meditation will you do? If you meditate that long, it's probably useful to try different techniques and change positions (sitting, walking, lying).

[bonesurfer]

@loub

10 hours ago, loub said:

By the way, did you know that in the end he recommends you read it again at least once because on reading it the first time you don't really get the big picture of what is presented?

I did not know that. I'm glad I reached out on this forum. I think you're right, going through the book is going to be too much for this retreat. Still, I'll be looking forward to going through it in the future.

 

@Gneh Onebar I read Mindfulness in Plain English about 7 years ago, and have had a pretty consistent vipassana practice since then. I've been on a couple of the Goenka retreats, so I'm somewhat familiar with how my body is going to react over the course of this solo retreat.

 

Thanks for the encouragement!