Just a few days ago I completed a 10-day meditation retreat in the monastery of Suan Mokkh. It changed my life completely. There was about 70 participants from all over the world, Australia, Indonesia, Switzerland, England, Germany, ect. We all arrived to learn how to meditate and to learn more about ourselves and the world. For 10 days I was silent and I never understood until now how powerful and revealing silence can be. We woke up at 4am everyday, did Yoga, ate two meals a day and meditated for most of the day. We learned about learning how to breath with mindfullness. We learned about the Buddhist philosophy, about respecting Nature and about how to look inwards and deal with yourself. Now, it may sound like very deep stuff but nevertheless you learn to face yourself. Revered monks showed us how to listen to our breathing, how to be mindfull about every little thing we do and about understanding the root of our suffering.
I did gather a lot of tools to meditate effectively but I mostly learned how to look at my emotions in a different light. Not being able to speak makes you have to deal with everything on your own, happiness and discomfort. I loved the expereince but it was also very difficult. This by far has been the hardest thing I have ever done but also the most rewarding. I got so much good out of it and it was not all about how to meditate. I observed that all human beings can live in harmony together regardless of language, status and nationality. We each had a chore to do every day, we had to wash our own plates, wash our clothes and for the women bathe in a sarong. Everything was done with such mindfullness.
Now, I'm back in the real world and I am faced with so many distractions, cravings and challenges. I plan to continue meditating. Not to become a differnt person, but to be a better person to myself and to the ones I love.
