India is such a spiritual place and I did not want to leave this country without experiencing some of this. Furthermore, with less than 2 weeks left, I realized that I was not ready to come home. I therefore decided that I wanted spend the last days of my trip clearing my head, challenging myself and reflecting on the amazing 7 months that I had experienced. From several fellow travelers I had heard of a type of meditation called Vipassana which holds a 10 day course for beginners. This is a very intensive course that requires 10 hours a day of meditation and a vow of silence during your stay (surprisingly the silence was the easy part). I realized that I was up for this challenge and if there was ever a time in my life to do something like this it was now.
Out of all the crazy things I have done on my travels this "10 day silent meditation course" is what my friends and family could and still cannot get over. And I will be honest-- it was probably one of the hardest things I have ever done in my life and 90% of the time I was there I was miserable. Nonetheless, it is one of the best things I have ever done. I really feel a difference in myself and I believe it was this experience that made my transition back to American so easy.
In this blog post I am not going to go into the philosophy of the practice or how I feel it has affected so if you are interested and would like to hear more about it please contact me. I highly suggest this for anyone however I do believe that the timing needs to be right and you need to go into it with an open mind. There are Vipassana centers all over the world including the U.S. and I will probably take a "refresher" course in the next year or so.
THE COURSE TIMETABLE
Out of all the crazy things I have done on my travels this "10 day silent meditation course" is what my friends and family could and still cannot get over. And I will be honest-- it was probably one of the hardest things I have ever done in my life and 90% of the time I was there I was miserable. Nonetheless, it is one of the best things I have ever done. I really feel a difference in myself and I believe it was this experience that made my transition back to American so easy.
In this blog post I am not going to go into the philosophy of the practice or how I feel it has affected so if you are interested and would like to hear more about it please contact me. I highly suggest this for anyone however I do believe that the timing needs to be right and you need to go into it with an open mind. There are Vipassana centers all over the world including the U.S. and I will probably take a "refresher" course in the next year or so.
THE COURSE TIMETABLE
| 4:00 am | Morning wake-up bell | |
| 4:30-6:30 am | Meditate in the hall or in your room | |
| 6:30-8:00 am | Breakfast break | |
| 8:00-9:00 am | Group meditation in the hall | |
| 9:00-11:00 am | Meditate in the hall or in your room according to the teacher's instructions | |
| 11:00-12:00 noon | Lunch break | |
| 12noon-1:00 pm | Rest and interviews with the teacher | |
| 1:00-2:30 pm | Meditate in the hall or in your room | |
| 2:30-3:30 pm | Group meditation in the hall | |
| 3:30-5:00 pm | Meditate in the hall or in your own room according to the teacher's instructions | |
| 5:00-6:00 pm | Tea break | |
| 6:00-7:00 pm | Group meditation in the hall | |
| 7:00-8:15 pm | Teacher's Discourse in the hall | |
| 8:15-9:00 pm | Group meditation in the hall | |
| 9:00-9:30 pm | Question time in the hall | |
| 9:30 pm | Retire to your own room--Lights out |
I did have one full day left in India after the course and I spent it with Mercy and her family in their home in Chennai. Mercy took me shopping for souvenirs and we went to her sister's house for dinner. It was the best last day I could imagine-- I felt like part of a family.
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