Wheres chasing the dream
Member
Join Date: Sep 2014
Location: Australia
Posts: 211
Top of tha morning to ya people, all OK here in gnarly land, just been on a 10 day silent vipassana meditation retreat which was my attempt to address the underlying thought patterns which trigger my using. Results were a mixed bag.
Retreat located was about an hours bus ride into the bush, it consisted of 4am wake up meditate, 6:30am breakfast, then meditate through to an early lunch at 11am, and then no more food to eat until next day. No phones, no books, no exercise, no TV or movies, or ANY from of distraction from yourself and you're feelings, add to this 10hrs of sitting still every day and it's fair to say I "broke" mentally a few times. Had a few cats leave who couldn't hack it, there was crying and breakdowns, it would make a good soap opera for deaf people, bc no one was talking the entire time!
Otherwise all OK, I really wanna use, too many demons faced at once i think but i'm gonna hold in there.
Early recovery vipassana retreats = bit off a bit more than i could chew! lol
Retreat located was about an hours bus ride into the bush, it consisted of 4am wake up meditate, 6:30am breakfast, then meditate through to an early lunch at 11am, and then no more food to eat until next day. No phones, no books, no exercise, no TV or movies, or ANY from of distraction from yourself and you're feelings, add to this 10hrs of sitting still every day and it's fair to say I "broke" mentally a few times. Had a few cats leave who couldn't hack it, there was crying and breakdowns, it would make a good soap opera for deaf people, bc no one was talking the entire time!
Otherwise all OK, I really wanna use, too many demons faced at once i think but i'm gonna hold in there.
Early recovery vipassana retreats = bit off a bit more than i could chew! lol
Member
Join Date: Sep 2014
Location: Australia
Posts: 211
This is where the course was held Final - Vipassana Meditation Centre - Dhamma Medini | Kaukapakapa, New Zealand. In the tradition of Sayagyi U Ba Khin, as taught by S. N. GoenkaVipassana Meditation Centre ? Dhamma Medini
Clean , it was one of those things I've been wanting to do for a couple of years but always been unable to bc of using, it did feel a bit sadistic tbh, and the general consensus after the retreat was that it was a serious physical and mental challenge, at the end of the day through, it's all done in the name of charity and the payment is based on a purely voluntary basis, which is pretty neat in this day and age I thought. Out of the 40-50 meditators there, most of the ppl I met on the last day (when we could speak) were really down to earth and lovely.
It was more intense than I intended, I was expecting to have progressively positive experience, with my practice getting deeper and 'better' as the days went on, it was a total roller-coaster though. I woke up in panicked sweats the first two days just shaking from facing all the emotions I had been distracting from.
If you're an addict / alcho and want to do one of the vipassana courses, I think it's a cool thing but I would suggest doing some therapy before so you have an idea of what might come up for you on retreat!
Clean , it was one of those things I've been wanting to do for a couple of years but always been unable to bc of using, it did feel a bit sadistic tbh, and the general consensus after the retreat was that it was a serious physical and mental challenge, at the end of the day through, it's all done in the name of charity and the payment is based on a purely voluntary basis, which is pretty neat in this day and age I thought. Out of the 40-50 meditators there, most of the ppl I met on the last day (when we could speak) were really down to earth and lovely.
It was more intense than I intended, I was expecting to have progressively positive experience, with my practice getting deeper and 'better' as the days went on, it was a total roller-coaster though. I woke up in panicked sweats the first two days just shaking from facing all the emotions I had been distracting from.
If you're an addict / alcho and want to do one of the vipassana courses, I think it's a cool thing but I would suggest doing some therapy before so you have an idea of what might come up for you on retreat!
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