It’s been exactly one month since I got back from the Vipassana silent meditation course.
Held at the Dhamma Aloka Meditation Centre (90 minutes from Melbourne), I spent 10 days learning the Vipassana technique and living by the rules of the centre. This entailed:
- Waking up at 4am
- Sitting down and meditating for 10 hours a day
- Observing 24 hour ‘noble silence’ – no talking or communication with other students
- No writing, reading or listening to music
- No exercise except for walking
- No dinner (except for a piece of fruit)
- Nothing but your inner voices to keep you company
Sounds like fun, right?
(Hint: it’s not. And it’s not supposed to be.)
But for some reason, I felt drawn to the challenge. And it definitely was, as many others have put it, one of the hardest things I’ve done, but also one of the most transformational.
On the podcast this week, I share what the experience was like for me.
PLEASE NOTE: if you are planning on doing Vipassana for the first time, I suggest that you don’t listen to this episode.
Everyone experiences the course differently, and it’s best that you approach it with an open mind. I don’t want to taint your perception with my experience!
I will be back next week with some of the key lessons I learned, including..the secret to happiness (yes, really. I figured it out)
Have you experienced Vipassana? What was one thing that stood out for you?
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