First Vipassana Retreat

[Raptorsin7]

Hey I've got my first 10 day vipassana retreat coming, I was wondering if anyone has some tips or advice on how to get the most out of the experience

[gettoefl]

how's your shamatha practice going? this is what is taught in the book TMI and the book The Attention Revolution

this is the prerequisite for vipassana

namely you have to be able to sit still and focus ... you don't have to be stage 10 but the better you are the more insight is attained

while you have time work on it else the retreat won't be a pleasant experience

i liken it to getting the body ready to undergo some major surgery, your body will thank you later

am also doing my first one starting the 27th

Edited July 19, 2022 by gettoefl

[Heart of Space]

Take all the rules seriously.  Don't be a lazy person.  Actually try to meditate till you can't anymore, because a lot of people I think cheat and sleep in after 4am.  Don't be that guy unless you're actually getting physically sick.  Try your best and push yourself.  It's tough.  

[Raptorsin7]

14 hours ago, gettoefl said:

how's your shamatha practice going? this is what is taught in the book TMI and the book The Attention Revolution

this is the prerequisite for vipassana

namely you have to be able to sit still and focus ... you don't have to be stage 10 but the better you are the more insight is attained

while you have time work on it else the retreat won't be a pleasant experience

i liken it to getting the body ready to undergo some major surgery, your body will thank you later

am also doing my first one starting the 27th

I don't have a shamatha practice, but i've experimented with stuff like Loch Kelly's effortless mindfulness so I have some experience with just sitting and being. I am going tomorrow so I don't have any time to prepare, but I heard the first 3 days are about just sitting and observing the breathe so hopefully I can make some progress with that.

I am just excited to be in an environment that forces to me to just sit and be with myself. I can already feel all sorts of knots and energetic sensations of the body, so i'm hoping to just deepen my ability to feel this stuff, and maybe get some insight into my unique blend of suffering.

Every time I just sit and be at the end of the day I always feel some sense of progression developing, bu then I get distracted by something in my life and I always say in my head I can come back to this later.

If I can make some progress in untying some of these energetic knots, or get some serious insight into why I suffer the way I do that would be pretty sweet. I've heard people have insights into striving and how they add to their own suffering, so anything I get out of this should be good progress.

I'm planning on going to the Isha center in Tenessee for a few months this year, so this is almost like a warm up for that. But I have some great experiences and growth then that's a huge bonus.

Good luck with your retreat I'm curious to see how this affects each of us

Edited July 20, 2022 by Raptorsin7

[gettoefl]

1 hour ago, Raptorsin7 said:

I don't have a shamatha practice, but i've experimented with stuff like Loch Kelly's effortless mindfulness so I have some experience with just sitting and being. I am going tomorrow so I don't have any time to prepare, but I heard the first 3 days are about just sitting and observing the breathe so hopefully I can make some progress with that.

I am just excited to be in an environment that forces to me to just sit and be with myself. I can already feel all sorts of knots and energetic sensations of the body, so i'm hoping to just deepen my ability to feel this stuff, and maybe get some insight into my unique blend of suffering.

Every time I just sit and be at the end of the day I always feel some sense of progression developing, bu then I get distracted by something in my life and I always say in my head I can come back to this later.

If I can make some progress in untying some of these energetic knots, or get some serious insight into why I suffer the way I do that would be pretty sweet. I've heard people have insights into striving and how they add to their own suffering, so anything I get out of this should be good progress.

I'm planning on going to the Isha center in Tenessee for a few months this year, so this is almost like a warm up for that. But I have some great experiences and growth then that's a huge bonus.

Good luck with your retreat I'm curious to see how this affects each of us

good stuff ... sounds like you are ready for it and raring to go ... don't have huge expectations of breakthroughs and peaks rather look at is as putting in the heavy hours so existence can do its work on you ... what i am learning is, i can't do anything except trust be willing be present each day ... existence wants me to get out of its way by not having preconceived ideas about what's ahead and it will do the heavy lifting on my behalf ... everyone's path and needs and unfolding is wholly unique and personal ... whatever anyone tells you is a description not a prescription, so remember you be the light unto yourself

hope your retreat is successful and a life defining experience, wishing you every boon and blessing

[Raptorsin7]

1 hour ago, gettoefl said:

good stuff ... sounds like you are ready for it and raring to go ... don't have huge expectations of breakthroughs and peaks rather look at is as putting in the heavy hours so existence can do its work on you ... what i am learning is, i can't do anything except trust be willing be present each day ... existence wants me to get out of its way by not having preconceived ideas about what's ahead and it will do the heavy lifting on my behalf ... everyone's path and needs and unfolding is wholly unique and personal ... whatever anyone tells you is a description not a prescription, so remember you be the light unto yourself

hope your retreat is successful and a life defining experience, wishing you every boon and blessing

Thank you, i hope you have a great retreat too.

Yeah i'm pretty excited about the retreat. I like what you said about just letting existence do its thing on me. Whenever I just sit and observe my self I can feel all sorts of knots and tensions come up, but I just can't sit with them long enough to make serious headway into them. This retreat is a great opportunity for that.

 

[King Merk]

Would love to hear from you once you get back from the retreat.

It’s a goal of mine to do a 10 day vipassana retreat within the next year 

[Space]

On 19/07/2022 at 1:55 AM, Raptorsin7 said:

Hey I've got my first 10 day vipassana retreat coming, I was wondering if anyone has some tips or advice on how to get the most out of the experience

I think the main two things are:

1) Give it everything you've got. Really push yourself to make the absolute most out of the week. Try not to half-ass any meditations to the best of your ability. If you can, try to do a few of the longer sits (>1hr). Every time you sit down, resolve to give it everything, all your focus and attention, even when you're feeling tired, frustrated and bored. 

2) Don't quit half-way through. Resolve to do the whole retreat unless you're absolutely forced to leave for some important or necessary reason. Every retreat i've been on,  at least a 20% quit before the end. The 10th day is very important so commit to staying until the end.

Oh and take some earplugs. Definitely take some earplugs.

[Holymoly]

It’s such a learning experience, what ever happens. I didn’t relax into it until my second retreat and then I was excited and motivated to do it. So balance those two ideas. If you do it improperly of course you won’t get results and whatever happens you will learn. 
 

 

[Raptorsin7]

Okay i'm back. It was an incredible experience. I'm so happy I went, and it's opened up an entirely new dimension of spirituality and life for me.

I got complacent around day 5-6, so I didn't get to see the full extent of the technique, and I actually have another technique i'd rather utilize moving forward, but I still feel this was such an incredible win for me and my path.

I almost quit the 1st night, I was so close. I had a bad migraine and my roomates were breathing so loud, but the next day I was fine and it was pretty much smooth sailing from there.

I have so much more to say, but I just got back and I gotta unwind a bit.

[Asayake]

Awesome to hear!

[Space]

30 minutes ago, Raptorsin7 said:

I almost quit the 1st night, I was so close. I had a bad migraine and my roomates were breathing so loud, but the next day I was fine and it was pretty much smooth sailing from there.

We've all been there. The first and second days are always the hardest. Good job on getting through it, sounds like it was a productive retreat

[Raptorsin7]

@Asayake @Space Thank you. Yeah, this was an incredible milestone for me.

[King Merk]

@Raptorsin7 congrats on making it through!

What do you mean when you say it opened up a whole new dimension of spirituality for you??

[Salvijus]

Im suprised u made it through actually ? really cool

[Raptorsin7]

10 hours ago, Salvijus said:

Im suprised u made it through actually ? really cool

Haha yeah that is my biggest accomplishment.

I listened to these videos so many times that I could replay them in my mind word for word.

I would use these during the hard meditations and I'd get waves of glorious feelings coming over my body. 

Made it much easier and enjoyable to get through it.

[Consilience]

@Raptorsin7 This is so great man! Would love to read a report! ?

[Raptorsin7]

12 hours ago, Consilience said:

@Raptorsin7 This is so great man! Would love to read a report! ?

I'll do a detailed one later this week. I had a lot come up over the few days so it should be good.