Okay, so if you're clever you figured out that I didn't last the 10 days of the meditation retreat. I was done in 5 and no, it wasn't cause I achieved nirvana... IT WAS HARD! We were not allowed to talk, read, write... we had to get up at 4 am.. and go to bed at 9:30 pm... we were given breakfast at 8.. and lunch at 12:30... at 6 pm, we were given tea.
THAT's IT! no dinner... Surprisingly, this wasn't the hard part.. the hard part was sleeping. We had a concrete bed and a
wooden pillow (and of course, no fan). I know what you're thinking...
WOODEN PILLOW! here are a couple of pictures...
So what did we do from 4 am to 9:30 pm? We meditated :) The first couple of days were cool as it was new. We had various monks teach us about Buddhism, and meditation practices. The one we were doing is
anapanasati. Ana/
Pana means inside/outside and
sati means mindfulness. So the practice was breathing in and out with mindfulness. Essentially, we would sit and watch our breathing... we were not supposed to think of anything.. or drift off.. or fall asleep (I did a couple of times). Then there was also walking meditation where we would walk mindfully. This was basically very slow walking where you were aware of each of your movements... lift your leg, move it forward.. press it in the ground.. lift the other leg etc... This was a good break from the sitting meditation but I found it to be less effective. There was also one hour of chanting meditation... this was basically "singing" Buddhist hymns. It was helpful because it was the only time I could hear my own voice!
So what did we do from 4 am to 9:30 pm? We meditated :) The first couple of days were cool as it was new. We had various monks teach us about Buddhism, and meditation practices. The one we were doing is anapanasati. Ana/Pana means inside/outside and sati means mindfulness. So the practice was breathing in and out with mindfulness. Essentially, we would sit and watch our breathing... we were not supposed to think of anything.. or drift off.. or fall asleep (I did a couple of times). Then there was also walking meditation where we would walk mindfully. This was basically very slow walking where you were aware of each of your movements... lift your leg, move it forward.. press it in the ground.. lift the other leg etc... This was a good break from the sitting meditation but I found it to be less effective. There was also one hour of chanting meditation... this was basically "singing" Buddhist hymns. It was helpful because it was the only time I could hear my own voice!
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