Completed a solo retreat (WOW)

[gggkkk]

Hi forum, I am back from my first week-long retreat. Now I understand what Leo means by real personal development. This truly is an advanced technique for growing yourself emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. I want to share some of the things that I have done and learned. 

I have completed 40 hours of formal meditation. I have assigned different meditation techniques to the numbers on a dice. Every hour or two I would roll the dice and do the technique which corresponds to that number. 
1-Concentration
2-Do Nothing 
3-Mindfulness Meditation 
4-Breathing Meditation 
5-Self Inquiry 
6-Strong Determination Sit 

It was very interesting to slowly see my consciousness rising and reaching a point where I felt connected to life, myself, and being. I started to truly appreciate every little activity (doing the dishes, cooking, eating food, writing, thinking, being alive, looking at the stars).  

I also had many different insights, but the one that shocked me the most is how little I really know about life and reality. It's really easy to get lost and sucked into actualized.org ideas and concepts, create a belief system, and act as if you already know how everything works. As Socrates would say: "The only true wisdom is to know, that you know nothing." 

Although it was a very humbling and profound experience, it doesn't come even close to a psychedelic experience, which increased my respect for those substances even more. 

When I came back home/to society I felt like I was away for decades. I immediately noticed how luxurious my life is, with a decent house, cars, money, technology, people, food which was totally taken for granted 7 days ago. Only by living through such boredom and minimalism, a contrast of lifestyle was created, which helped me realize all of this. 

To those who have never tried a solo retreat, I can say that planning and going for a retreat should be on your top priority list. I will be committing to do at least one of these every year. 

Take care and good luck!

 

[Consilience]

28 minutes ago, gggkkk said:

Although it was a very humbling and profound experience, it doesn't come even close to a psychedelic experience, which increased my respect for those substances even more. 

In what context? In what way?

I just completed a 10 day meditation retreat and walked away feeling that it was much more *transformative* than psychedelics. Psychedelics take me higher no doubt, but the states and insights don’t have a great time sticking around unless Im doing series meditation. 

[Leo Gura]

@gggkkk Excellent! Good work

[Nahm]

@gggkkk

Very nice. Love the solo retreats, couldn’t agree more. 

[Spiral Wizard]

Love it! Thank you for sharing @gggkkk! 

I honestly can't wait to finally dive into as many retreats as possible. Retreat-Bucketlist:

1. meditation & solo retreat
2. darkroom retreat (solo retreat in total darkness)
3. psychedelics retreat
4. darkroom retreat + psychedelics 

A yearly ritual sounds reasonable and sustainable for the long term but at some point, I probably will want to do this full-time until the 'big' shift happens. 

Keep up the Good work guys!

[Gesundheit]

Awesome work! Solo retreats are the best.

[gggkkk]

22 hours ago, Consilience said:

In what context? In what way?

I just completed a 10 day meditation retreat and walked away feeling that it was much more *transformative* than psychedelics. Psychedelics take me higher no doubt, but the states and insights don’t have a great time sticking around unless Im doing series meditation. 

@Consilience Mostly regarding the speed at which your consciousness shifts and the level of the increased awareness. 
I feel this way probably because the psychedelic shows you the contrast between ordinary consciousness and high consciousness so quickly that it truly leaves you baffled and astounded. 
However, I agree with you that retreats are much more effective to gather insights and make serious habitual changes in your life. 

My retreat was only 6.5 days long, so I assume that doing those extra 3.5 days might have made a significant difference.  
 

[gggkkk]

11 hours ago, Spiral Wizard said:

Love it! Thank you for sharing @gggkkk! 

I honestly can't wait to finally dive into as many retreats as possible. Retreat-Bucketlist:

1. meditation & solo retreat
2. darkroom retreat (solo retreat in total darkness)
3. psychedelics retreat
4. darkroom retreat + psychedelics 

A yearly ritual sounds reasonable and sustainable for the long term but at some point, I probably will want to do this full-time until the 'big' shift happens. 

Keep up the Good work guys!

@Spiral Wizard It's a creative bucket list although number 4 takes balls to do. I would even suggest you add number 5. Sensory deprivation tank + psychedelics. 

[Moon]

Beautiful! I like the dice idea. 

I'd love to do my first retreat this year! Hopefully lockdown ends here by summer so I can book a place to stay. ?