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10 days Vipassana Meditation

Olimac21

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Has anyone of this forum tried a 10 days Vipassana meditation retreat? I am thinking about doing one in November this year and I have heard it can be very beneficial for creative/lateral thinking.

Here is a testimonial of the experience:

My Exhausting meditation retreat
 
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Tiago

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I did. Hardest thing I've ever done in my life, by a long shot.

And also one of the best things I've ever did.

Looking back, without buyer's bias, would I have done it? Yes.

Would I do it again? Not right now.
 

ChrisV

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Yes, I've heard it was very much worth it. I tried to book a spot but they're always filled up. You can find experiences online.

But honestly, Neurofeedback is also worth looking into. It's faster then meditation and in some cases you can get decades of Meditation experience in weeks. There's one program called 40 years of Zen that aims to give you the experience of a 40 meditation veteran in ~10 days. It's really expensive and imo there are better ways to spend $10K.

You can also get a good therapist which will give you similar results.
 

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I found it difficult enough to do 15 minutes of vipassana at home each day. I'd suggest that before a retreat, you give your best effort to practice everyday for a month at home first without breaking the habit. Then, do a retreat.
 
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Mattie

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Has anyone of this forum tried a 10 days Vipassana meditation retreat? I am thinking about doing one in November this year and I have heard it can be very beneficial for creative/lateral thinking.
I've never been on a retreat, but more like I just needed to learn all this myself back in 2010. Reading what it just explained, I don't think you have to go a retreat. You can do this yourself every day 365 days a years like I did just learning the Eastern Philosophies and studying it quite thoroughly over time learning to focus your thoughts, emotions, and feelings. Observation of inner self, how you react, response to your actions, cause and effect, being aware, I'm just naturally this way from studying, visualization, and meditation every day and training my thoughts and focus.

A retreat implies you go somewhere for a few days or few weeks, and perhaps to try cramming something into this small time frame, which I'm not sure how that works, since you'd probably struggle more with it then the way I have done it personally.

For most people, they have high amounts of stress, worry, anxiety, react out of emotion, and never take the time to relax, keep their tension in the body, sometimes not even know they're doing it.

This is something I find is an every day practice rather than going for a short retreat.

I remember going on "retreats" when I was quite younger, and often worked like a vacation, but once you get back in your every day routine, you forget everything you learned within that time frame and it really never sticks long-term.

Which then you create a habit of repeating this cycle, but can't ever figure out why it's not sticking, since you're seeing it as a short time frame which is short-term gains, versus long-term gains where it becomes a daily routine and naturally becomes a habit where you don't think about it anymore. You just know naturally to go take the time you need each day versus thinking I will just put it off until I go on that "Retreat".

 

Olimac21

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I actually meditate everyday since 2015, I just heard the experience of doing it for 10 days straight might bring some extra benefits.
I've never been on a retreat, but more like I just needed to learn all this myself back in 2010. Reading what it just explained, I don't think you have to go a retreat. You can do this yourself every day 365 days a years like I did just learning the Eastern Philosophies and studying it quite thoroughly over time learning to focus your thoughts, emotions, and feelings. Observation of inner self, how you react, response to your actions, cause and effect, being aware, I'm just naturally this way from studying, visualization, and meditation every day and training my thoughts and focus.

A retreat implies you go somewhere for a few days or few weeks, and perhaps to try cramming something into this small time frame, which I'm not sure how that works, since you'd probably struggle more with it then the way I have done it personally.

For most people, they have high amounts of stress, worry, anxiety, react out of emotion, and never take the time to relax, keep their tension in the body, sometimes not even know they're doing it.

This is something I find is an every day practice rather than going for a short retreat.

I remember going on "retreats" when I was quite younger, and often worked like a vacation, but once you get back in your every day routine, you forget everything you learned within that time frame and it really never sticks long-term.

Which then you create a habit of repeating this cycle, but can't ever figure out why it's not sticking, since you're seeing it as a short time frame which is short-term gains, versus long-term gains where it becomes a daily routine and naturally becomes a habit where you don't think about it anymore. You just know naturally to go take the time you need each day versus thinking I will just put it off until I go on that "Retreat".


I actually meditate since 2015 and I have read many books about mindfulness ( from Zen masters to neuroscientist from Oxford), but it might be true that those retreats might feel just like vacations after all.

How much do you meditate per day on average?
 

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I'm doing my sixth vipassana course at the end of the month in Washington state. My first was 15 years ago. It can be counterproductive sometimes to overthink things. If you feel drawn to it, why not give it a try?
 
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I know meditation is touted as the be all end all of the great things to do. But it can seriously F*ck you up too.

A family member of mine did vipassana. It's a bit extreme if you're just looking for cognitive benefits.

I'd look at Isha Yoga and Inner Engineering if you feel inclined to meditate. It's the safest I know of and will help enhance your cognitive abilities and emotional well being if that's all you're looking for.

You do you, but I'd recommend if you do meditate, do your research and get initiated by someone who knows what they are doing and not just kinda sit doing mindfulness if you don't do the vipassana thing.
 
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Mattie

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I actually meditate everyday since 2015, I just heard the experience of doing it for 10 days straight might bring some extra benefits.


I actually meditate since 2015 and I have read many books about mindfulness ( from Zen masters to neuroscientist from Oxford), but it might be true that those retreats might feel just like vacations after all.

How much do you meditate per day on average?
usually one or two hours before I go to sleep. I am a night owl, so usually I stay awake when other people are already sleeping, so I use this time since it's quiet.
 

Mattie

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I know meditation is touted as the be all end all of the great things to do. But it can seriously F*ck you up too.

A family member of mine did vipassana. It's a bit extreme if you're just looking for cognitive benefits.

I'd look at Isha Yoga and Inner Engineering if you feel inclined to meditate. It's the safest I know of and will help enhance your cognitive abilities and emotional well being if that's all you're looking for.

You do you, but I'd recommend if you do meditate, do your research and get initiated by someone who knows what they are doing and not just kinda sit doing mindfulness if you don't do the vipassana thing.
I think in any meditation or visualization can screw you up if you're trying to force things to happen fast. Which there are people online that promote skipping steps in the process of their growth and development. If you're try to race through anything in life. Inner Engineering is just a new label for old teachings. lol Sadghuru uses that term.

Is he any better than any other Eastern Teacher that speaks on the same subjects? Really just depends on what you want to call it, sell it, and promote it.
 
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Tourmaline

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@Olimac21 How long do you typically meditate for?

What is the longest you have meditated for?

What are different things you do while meditating?
 

Olimac21

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I aim for 20 minutes straight and 1 hour per day these days ( the hour can be divided in chunks), I think my record for longest period of time has been 45 minutes.

Regarding what I do while meditating, I experiment with different musics/guided meditations (I used Insight Timer app) with some zazen (just sitting and staying quiet). I have used Headspace in the past too and I found it a good tool, however I am not willing to pay subscription fees lol.

What about yourself?

What about your approach?
@Olimac21 How long do you typically meditate for?

What is the longest you have meditated for?

What are different things you do while meditating?
 

Olimac21

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I did. Hardest thing I've ever done in my life, by a long shot.

And also one of the best things I've ever did.

Looking back, without buyer's bias, would I have done it? Yes.

Would I do it again? Not right now.

What was the biggest benefit that you had from the experience? And are you still meditating nowadays?
 
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Tourmaline

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I like doing at least a 20 minute session a day. My longest is 2 hours although I prefer 40 minute sessions in general.

To learn to meditate I used guided meditations. Now I typically will put in ear plugs, sit comfortably, and then meditate.

What I do depends on the day and what is needed or what goal I have.

I do what I see as 'maintenance', which is very much like vipassana meditation. Watching your thoughts and feelings and more go by. When I find myself lingering on something, I take note of it, and then let it go and focus back on whatever it is I'm focusing on.

Usually I will start off doing maintenance in every session. Once thoughts stop coming, then I move on to something more. Usually some form of energy work. If you are aware of your chakras and can activate your crown, the amount of creativity that comes from using it is amazing.

Sometimes I explore things that have been bothering me as well. If I find myself often getting hung up on the same thing, then it's probably bothering me. Usually there's some unnecessary attachment to an event or issue, and addressing the attachment and undoing it helps quite a bit.
 

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What was the biggest benefit that you had from the experience? And are you still meditating nowadays?

The Vipassana in itself is very experiential. It's not about concepts, it's about feeling the truth, and knowing it.

In this case, the biggest benefit to me was to see that the cause of my suffering comes from attachment.

Attachment to either pleasant sensations, meaning I want more of them, or to unpleasant sensations, meaning I want to avoid those.

As a concept, this might be easy to understand.

But once you're sitting for the 8th hour of the day meditating, feeling as there are 1000 hot needles piercing through your back and you're practicing to be equanimous with that feeling, and 10 seconds later all that pain transforms into pure energy, you will know that you can be free from suffering.

Just as a tiny example. A couple of weeks ago I was at a friends house, and there were lots of mosquitoes. I was trying to swat them away, and was in agony because there were so many. As soon as I realized "This too shall pass", I calmed down instantly. The mosquitoes could bite me, and I wasn't bothered at all. In fact, I was enjoying it thinking "Wow, what an incredible experience of life!".

Nowadays I can see clearly where I have attachments in my life, and can dissolve them faster.

Vipassana is about changing this pattern of attachment at a subconscious level. You can't change it from the conscious level, by thought and awareness alone. You have to do it in a practical level, through the body.

If you're considering it, the only advice I'll give is don't quit. Go through all 10 days.

To me it was insanely hard but going through the whole 10 days made me feel strong. I say that I went in as a boy and came out as a man. My perspective on life has matured, I don't agonize over short-term pain or pleasure anymore.

I still meditate, almost every day. But I don't do the Vipassana meditation. I'm doing meditations from Joe Dispenza describe in his book "Becoming Supernatural", as I felt I resonate better with them.
 

jebusx3

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Has anyone of this forum tried a 10 days Vipassana meditation retreat? I am thinking about doing one in November this year and I have heard it can be very beneficial for creative/lateral thinking.

Here is a testimonial of the experience:

My Exhausting meditation retreat

First post, yeah I've done it over in 29 Palms. "10" Days (There's a day 0 and day 11 ((intro outro))). One of the greatest decisions i've ever made in my life. Bring earplugs just in case your roomie snores. All your capabilities will increase. Just make sure when you're there that you put in the work. Don't sleep in and miss morning meditations and other (optional) meditations like many do. Put the work in and get your 100+ hours of meditation in. Work hard gain hard. Enjoy your trip, turn your phone in, and go for it.
 
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raden1

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I think in any meditation or visualization can screw you up if you're trying to force things to happen fast. Which there are people online that promote skipping steps in the process of their growth and development. If you're try to race through anything in life. Inner Engineering is just a new label for old teachings. lol Sadghuru uses that term.

Is he any better than any other Eastern Teacher that speaks on the same subjects? Really just depends on what you want to call it, sell it, and promote it.

The meditation he teaches is called Shambhavi Mahamudra. It's old, nothing new about it from what I know.

Look, someone in my area injured their hip going to a yoga place around here that is your standard McDonalds yoga studio. According to a psychiatrist I talked to, 6% of hospital admissions in India are from bad yoga.

Personally, I've had terrible experiences meditating, and I didn't try to force or skip anything. Since going to a professional environment for meditation, those experiences have not repeated themselves.

My comment is not about him being better than other teachers, marketing, promoting or selling anything.

It's just this: few people think about going to a "professional" meditator for guidance. And it might be worth considering, especially if you're new to meditating and don't want to start off with a 10-day silent retreat.

There are other teachers who are just as legitimate, and it might be a good idea to find one is all I'm saying.
 

Olimac21

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The meditation he teaches is called Shambhavi Mahamudra. It's old, nothing new about it from what I know.

Look, someone in my area injured their hip going to a yoga place around here that is your standard McDonalds yoga studio. According to a psychiatrist I talked to, 6% of hospital admissions in India are from bad yoga.

Personally, I've had terrible experiences meditating, and I didn't try to force or skip anything. Since going to a professional environment for meditation, those experiences have not repeated themselves.

My comment is not about him being better than other teachers, marketing, promoting or selling anything.

It's just this: few people think about going to a "professional" meditator for guidance. And it might be worth considering, especially if you're new to meditating and don't want to start off with a 10-day silent retreat.

There are other teachers who are just as legitimate, and it might be a good idea to find one is all I'm saying.
What do you consider a professional meditator? Someone with a neuroscience degree for example?
 

Mattie

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What do you consider a professional meditator? Someone with a neuroscience degree for example?
Ha ha..I have studied neurology a little bit. I believe anyone can be a professional, if they practice enough. I think it's more of an individual going inward, silencing the inner voice. I taught myself, and really I've found out in life there's a lot of people who believe you should have some type of paper or title to say your a professional. When your next door neighbor could be excellent at meditation and better than a guru. You never know.
 
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Tiago

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First post, yeah I've done it over in 29 Palms. "10" Days (There's a day 0 and day 11 ((intro outro))). One of the greatest decisions i've ever made in my life. Bring earplugs just in case your roomie snores. All your capabilities will increase. Just make sure when you're there that you put in the work. Don't sleep in and miss morning meditations and other (optional) meditations like many do. Put the work in and get your 100+ hours of meditation in. Work hard gain hard. Enjoy your trip, turn your phone in, and go for it.

This, if you decide to do Vipassana, put in the work. It's hard work, not a 10-day spa.
 

raden1

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What do you consider a professional meditator? Someone with a neuroscience degree for example?

It's more of I know it when I see it. Since that's not a very helpful reply, I'll try and articulate what I see anyway.

I only use the term professional because guru is so tainted, so a degree in neuroscience wouldn't matter to me.

The people I gravitate to tend to have some or all of these traits.

8 Common Traits of Legitimate Meditation Teachers I've Noticed

1. The person had meditated or done yoga over a long period of time (~15+ years). This way, whatever level of consciousness they've attained, it means they've gone through the whole process. So Eckharte Tolle is out.

(It's like taking money advice from someone who has a lot of money. Did they win the lottery or build a business?)

2. They understand deeply and thoroughly all the tricks the mind will try and play while going through certain processes.

3. They understand the physiology of what happens during meditative practices.

4. Don't skewer me on this, but they also understand what happens on the energetic levels (for example, kundalini energy).

5. They devote at least part of there time to teaching. (So a friend who's meditated for a long time doesn't count)

6. They go through life with a certain ease. (Just like you don't listen to a broke uncle on how to make money, listening to someone with anger issues on how to meditate would be a no go.)

7. They tend to talk about personality as ego or Maya. The goal of meditation is then to annihilate it, or to expand your field of experience so that the ego kind of expands and everything you witness becomes part of you.

In other words, there becomes no separation between you and your environment.

8. They act ethically

Two Main Types of Meditation Teachers

Nondual

Typically the people who teach this are very dry and a pain in the a$$ to listen to. Common teachings are about how everything is an illusion, all experiences are just experiences (don't try and find meaning in anything) and you should try to obliterate the sense of self through concentration.

So for example, if visions, shaking or "downloads" happen during meditation, it is my understanding they'd tell you to ignore this as it is "just an experience/illusion/trap of the mind." And you could become addicted to these sensations, or the pursuit of these sensations instead of furthering your path to enlightenment.


Additionally, the mindfulness exercises and talks focus more on the mind and ignore the physical. They say the kind of shit like "who is watching the watcher?" And inquire you to go "back" in your awareness until you can't go back any further.

From what I've seen, they don't teach yoga at all. Rarely are good feelings or bliss ever talked about when it comes to the goal of meditation or in their talks.

Furthermore, I've never heard a nondual teacher talk about initiating someone into a meditation. By initiation, I mean an energetic giving from the guru to the disciple. This way the disciple can start rising this awakened (or given) energy up the spine to hit various chakra centers.

Lastly, they are for the most part deterministic and do not believe in free will.

Examples of these teachers are Rupert Spira and Adyashanti.

Physiologically Focused

These teachers tend to teach yoga along with meditation. The goal of yoga is to create a geometric union between you and the universe. Once your body is physically aligned you will mentally and emotionally be more stable and pleasant. Ultimately this process ends up in enlightenment for some people.

***The yoga practice is meant to enhance the meditative practice, they are not meant to be done separately.

The teacher tends to talk about the chemical and physical process that goes on through the body during meditation.

They talk about how bliss is the founding pillar that makes up all of existence. Additionally, most signs of abnormal experiences during meditation are explained as kundalini energy rising through the body.

Additionally, devotees are initiated into some kind of meditation. As stated earlier this helps the energy at the base of the spine become active (to the best of my understanding).

Once this happens the goals of meditation are two-fold.

1. To destroy your karmic structures through awareness. Once your karma is destroyed, you're done with the process of birth and death.

2. To raise the energy from the base of the spine through all the Chakras until you hit the top chakra, which gives you a permanent, blissful feeling.

The devotee might be given different types of breathing exercises to go along with their meditation which may include blocking the nostrils with their fingers and doing certain breathing patterns.

The teacher doesn't use the term to destroy the ego. They talk about using meditation to expand your awareness/ego/self so that it takes in everything it sees without prejudice. Once this is done, to a certain extent, no outside life experience will fundamentally disturb you. And since you can see things objectively, generally better decisions come from this.

Apparently, you become one with everything too.

(There is a history of course, of gurus doing all sorts of heinous things, which is why it's important to vet them.)

They believe as you develop more control over your life energies, you can kind of get "more" free will.

Examples of this type of teacher are Sadhguru and Igor Kufayev. I would even add Wim Hoff into this category as well.

What they both have in common

They both understand meditation to be a tool of liberation in some way or another. And they both talk about in some way or form, getting rid of or infinitely expanding your self. It is understood by both that meditation is much more than a mere 15 minute or 45 minutes relaxing technique.


This is of course all from my experience and to the best of my knowledge. Obviously, there could be inaccuracies in the above text. And of course, there are whole religions that talk about this stuff too.

And it can be difficult to find a legitimate teacher online when everyone is on a marketing frenzy.

Shit's complicated and that's why I suggest a teacher (I prefer ones who explain the energy systems and the physiology) if you can find a good one.
 
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