This year’s Chirstmas gift was a meditation retreat
Last summer, Vania and I had a conversation about meditation after her experience in Nepal. She recommended me to do one, and like most things Vania recommends, I agreed. We signed up for a Vipassana meditation retreat but in two different countries. She did hers in Mexico the 2nd and 3rd week of December and mine was from Dec 21st to Jan 1st.
As the starting date came closer, I became more nervous. 10 days of meditation seemed to difficult because I’ve never really meditated in my life. I starting making excuses to myself for why I shouldn’t go. Then, when my mind was made up that I wasn’t going to go, a phone call from Antonio and a facebook chat session with Vania changed my mind and I decided to go the day before the retreat began.
The first three days weren’t challenging. I was a bit bored and I began to think that the people were part of a cult. Then everything changed after the fourth day, when we started the meditation technique Vipassana. I found it really difficult at first because I confronted a strongly held belief I had (which I didn’t know I had) and it proved to be false. I had a mini break down but I bounced back. The following days were difficult because I didn’t fully understand the technique behind it. After the 8th day everything became more clear and I began to see the bigger picture and really understand the method and technique. On the 10th day we were allowed to talk (we had taken a vow of silence for the previous 9 days) and it was interesting to hear the other meditators experiences. It was a cheerful day and everyone was in an amazingly positive mood.
Here are the women I meditated with. It was nice to finally talk to them on the 10th day after being around them for days without being able to communicate.
I really recommend the retreat. I learned more about myself and how I think. I knew myself before going on this retreat but after 9 days of only being in my own head, I feel really close to myself. Also, before I entered, I was homesick. I really wanted to go back to the US or start over in a new country, preferably one in Latin America. Now I don’t feel that depressive feeling on homesickness and I have a brighter outlook.
I really enjoyed having that time to think and concentrate on myself. Being alone doesn’t scare me so much now and I know how to keep myself company.
If you are interested, check out http://www.dhamma.org/
