just got back from the retreat, which was arduous. 10 days of silence and meditating seated on a cushion on the floor for 8-10 hours per day. Getting up everyday at 4am and eating only a vegetarian diet. Its difficult to sit for that long and my body was aching a lot and I considered leaving at least twice, but once the silence ended and I talked with the other participants, many felt similarly. For the first three days you do nothing but try to sense your breathing in your nose and on your upper lip. Then they teach you to scan your body for subtle and gross sensations to teach the idea of impermanence as all physical sensations as well as everything else in life comes and goes, rises and disappears. I learned a lot about having emotional equanimity and my body is less tense and my mind a bit slower as well. The other participants were very friendly. They we're mostly mexican but one mexican american guy was from Houston and another foreigner originally from France. we all went for a day afterwards to a neighboring pueblo called Valle de Bravo, which was awesome. It has a decent sized lake and the plaza full of tress with Orange and yellow flowers, beautiful. Overall the retreat was painful but really a helpful experience and I plan to make it a daily habit. Should reach enlightenment just about the time that I die. Right now I am fifteen percent more enlightened, ten percent less tense physically and fifteen percent more equanimous than before. The best part of the course is its free and you can make an optional donation based on your means and benefit. They put their money where their mouth is. Flying to the coast this sat to enjoy some warmer weather and the beach eventually. Am having a good time still now that I've connected with more people. My spanish is more fluid but it's still hard to really connect with people who don't speak much English. Adios.
