3 Weeks Volunteering at a Vipassana Center AMA

[Raptorsin7]

Hey everyone, i recently finished volunteering at a vipassana center in Sweden for 3 weeks and thought it would be cool to share my experience with anyone who's curious. I served on a 10 day course, and then stayed for another 10 days to volunteer in between the courses.

Feel free to ask any questions and I'll do my best to answer them.

[SourceCodo]

What’s the most common benefits people walk away from a retreat like that with? 
 

Is there a secret goal people tend to have? Like a peak experience, a life change, etc.?

[TheAlchemist]

How much time did you have for silent meditation per day?

How many hours of volunteering work did you do per day?

[axiom]

10 hours ago, Raptorsin7 said:

Hey everyone, i recently finished volunteering at a vipassana center in Sweden for 3 weeks and thought it would be cool to share my experience with anyone who's curious. I served on a 10 day course, and then stayed for another 10 days to volunteer in between the courses.

Feel free to ask any questions and I'll do my best to answer them.

Do you think you could have done it for a whole year, if such an option were available?

[Zeroguy]

Did you experienced energetical shift?

[Raptorsin7]

14 hours ago, SourceCodo said:

What’s the most common benefits people walk away from a retreat like that with? 
 

Is there a secret goal people tend to have? Like a peak experience, a life change, etc.?

I don't know about most people, but when I did my first retreat in July I had some serious purging of thoughts, and my body felt so clean and pure on the retreat. I had this glow to me that i've only ever experienced from psychidelics, and I got in touch with my intuition that led me to travel and get out of my basement.

I think most people attending the retreat are likely modern, smart people who are unhappy with their lives and are looking for a change and a way to experience happiness. I think people have an intuition that there's more to life, and the retreats are a way to seek that more in life.

[Raptorsin7]

12 hours ago, TheAlchemist said:

How much time did you have for silent meditation per day?

How many hours of volunteering work did you do per day?

So while serving you volunteer for 3 hours per day, in 1 hour chunks, and there's a 90 minute break in the middle of the day where you can rest/meditate. 

There was about 6-8 hours spent per day volunteering, doing various tasks around the center.

I think if you already have a good practice then it could be a good way to sustain your practice and deepen it, but as someone who doesn't have a strong practice i felt like I wanted way more time to meditate than 3 hours.

[Raptorsin7]

6 hours ago, Judy2 said:

@Raptorsin7 with a lot of "seekers"being present at the retreat centre, does this result in an atmosphere of more seeking energy (which might be counterproductive) or more presence/peace? if you can even answer that as such.

The people i met at the center who were volunteering seemed pretty conscious and grounded. The practice really emphasizes being equanimous with whatever arises, so there's a general sense of balance in the people who practice a lot. 

I didn't meet anyone who seemed enlightened or really conscious/happy, but there were many people who experienced a strong benefit from the retreats/practice and there was a sense they were progressing with the practice and they had found something really impactful and beneficial.

[Raptorsin7]

8 hours ago, axiom said:

Do you think you could have done it for a whole year, if such an option were available?

Yeah, I could have, and you can essentially stay as long as you want. 

But I wouldn't want to stay that long. While I was there I had the sense that 3 hours a day of meditation wasn't enough to really purify the mind,  at least in the way that I experienced while actually sitting the retreat.

I'm also more inclined to pursue psychidelics in addition to sober practices, and if you serve long term you're expected to abstain from psychidelics I believe.

Maybe in the future I'd want to spend time doing long term service, but I think you have to be at a certain place in your life where the practice really resonates with you, and you're committed to the ideals and values of the organization.

Edited January 5, 2023 by Raptorsin7

[Raptorsin7]

2 hours ago, Zeroguy said:

Did you experienced energetical shift?

No. During the 10 day course I was volunteering, they let us do 1 day of all day meditation, and that was the most powerful day for me. 

I think to have energetic transformations with meditation it requires serious practice, like 8-12 hours per day, and that is your only focus. I found having to do volunteer work made it hard to really surrender to the process.

When I was sitting the 10 day retreat, I could focus 100% on the meditation, and there I felt some serious energetic shifts and profound cleansing and benefits.