So I mentioned in an earlier blog about a Vipassana 10 day meditation course. I will give you a bit of background info first. So funny enough, the first time we actually heard about this was back in Australia. We were on a day trip with my cousin at a National Park just outside of Sydney. We had met many of her friends & one of the couples mentioned a 10 day meditation course they had done in India many years ago. They didn't name it but the mention did spark up a conversation. Then, when we were in Melbourne, our Airbnb host mentioned Vipassana meditation to us and that she really wanted to do it. We told her we were going to India and she encouraged us to do it. Then when we arrived in Chennai, we ended up having a random coversation about it with my cousin Karolina, who also encouraged us to do it (especially given our chosen career path of psychiatry!). Then, when we were in Mammallapuram, we happened to bump into a psychologist from Toronto who had just done the 10 day course and strongly encouraged us to do it!! A lot of signs I think...!
Tom was up for it way before I was. Maybe if i give you details about it you will understand why:
1. 10 days of 10 HOURS of meditation /day.
2. Complete silence i.e not allowed to speak AT ALL for 10 days.
3. Males and females are separate from each other for 10 days.
4. Only 2 meals/day, breakfast and lunch. No food at all after noon.
5. No contact with the outside world and no reading or writing. You really are supposed to do nothing !
6. Free accommodations and food. The whole 10 days are completely free. You are, however, expected to leave a donation at the end.
7.The teaching of Vipassana follows Buddhas meditation practices and the focus is to learn, through silence & meditation, a way to see the world differently.
I am sure you can see both the beauty and fear in all of this. An amazing experience and accomplishment?! Yes, ofcourse! Not talk for 10 FULL days!? Easier for some than others! 10 hours of meditation/day?! My butt will be very sore and I might go crazy. No food after noon?! Hmmm, no fun. And being completely alone for 10 days?! The solitude I might not mind actually....:P
Well, somehow events happened in a certain sequence and we did indeed sign up for it. We are doing it
from the 14th of March to the 25th at the base of the Himalayas in a town called Dehradun (about 7 hours north of Delhi). I am terrified about this but I also think it might be one of the best things I have ever done for myself in my life. I hope that it will let me take a step back and see the world differently. I also hope that it will teach me to mellow out the parts of my personality that often cause me trouble and stress. I am a willing participant and we will see how it goes! It will be interesting to compare my before and after thoughts.....
What better place and time then now? ....
