Meditation, anyone?

I mentioned earlier that Candace, my kind-of-sister-in-law, is in the middle of a 10 day meditation retreat. I got a email from Janice's brother Jeff which gave more details on what actually happens during these 10 days. The email is written by a former attendee who gives a first-hand experience. It's posted below.

My first thought is that I wouldn't make it past hour 6 at this place. And I'm not sure I want to look at myself "objectively" - I would then create a checklist of things I need to work on and that list would number in the hundreds, I believe.



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...let me go ahead and tell you what I experienced. It is something I would recommend everyone to go through - it is only 10 days in a whole big lifetime.

The 10 day course aims at putting you on a path of self-discovery and correction with the final objective of making you a more sensitive, sensible, ego-less and balanced individual who is able to take the good and bad life has to offer, with equanimity.

You start after taking an oath to not speak for the entire duration of the course. It is not normal silence, but 'noble silence'. You do not communicate verbally, through actions, in writing not even using your eyes. You are not expected to look anybody in the eye, your eyes have to be downcast all the time. In essence, you live the life of a monk for those 10 days. Halfway through the course the silence really hits you.....

Additionally you also agree to (for the duration of the course): 1) not kill any living creature 2) abstain from lying (not very difficult as you are not talking) 3) abstain from stealing 4) abstain from sexual activities (sexes are segregated, so virtually impossible). 5) not use any intoxicants.

The course itself is very practical in nature and aims at experiential learning. The day starts early, at 4:00 am, which is the wake-up time. At 4:30 am you start meditating and this goes on till 9:30 pm, with recess for breakfast(6:30 - 8:00 am), lunch(11:00 am - 1:00 pm) & tea(5:00 - 6:00 pm). There is no dinner. In the first 2 days you realize 2 things - one, that you have a subconscious mind (or unconscious mind) that is nothing more than a junkyard, and; two, it is not in your control.

By the end of the first 4 days, all you manage to do is to get your mind to focus on a small triangular part below the nostrils with the line of the upper lip as the base. You think of nothing else but the breath coming in & going out of your body. Other than this, your mind is unaware of everything else happening around you & inside you. Then you use this heightened (sharpened) awareness to probe into yourself over the next 6 days.

You are trained to look at yourself objectively - at a physical level, as you meditate you feel pleasurable as well as painful sensations all over your body. You are expected to deal with both kinds of sensations with equanimity/equipoise/ indifference, being the observer. The underlying concept is that everything in life is impermanent, so learn to deal with highs & lows with a smile, objectively.

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