got accepted on 10 day meditation/vipassana course UPDATE - couldnt get there

[TheBeigeBomber]

Do you get paid for this? Maybe this can be my last resort too.

why would you get paid for it? its an ancient buddhist practice thousands of years old not some human experiment centre

 

[the cool]

does anyone actually want to post something relevant to the thread? like at all? fukking losers

How do I sign up

 

[Matt504]

I want to do it but I'm afraid tbh, I haven't gone more than 48 hours without using a computer in about 20 years, and I suspect it's not something I can just "cut off" for 10 days. that's 10 days with no electronic devices or interaction with any other human beings, that's literally frightening to me.



the fact that I'm so afraid is probably exactly why I should do it, I've grown too comfortable with an unnatural lifestyle.



here's more info, hopefully it'll cut down on some of the misinformation being spread in this thread.
https://www.dhamma.org/en/docs/core/code-en.pdf

All who attend a Vipassana course must conscientiously undertake the following Five Precepts for the duration of the course:

1. to abstain from killing any being,
2. to abstain from stealing,
3. to abstain from all sexual activity,
4. to abstain from telling lies,
5. to abstain from all intoxicants.

There are three additional precepts which old students (that is, those who have completed a course with S. N. Goenka or one of his assistant teachers) are expected to follow:

6. to abstain from eating after midday,
7. to abstain from sensual entertainment and bodily decoration,
8. to abstain from using high or luxurious beds.

The Timetable The following timetable for the course has been designed to maintain the continuity of practice. For best results, students are advised to follow it as closely as possible.

4:00 a.m. Morning wake-up bell
4:30 - 6:30 a.m. Meditate in the hall or in your room
6:30 - 8:00 a.m. Breakfast break
8:00 - 9:00 a.m. Group meditation in the hall
9:00 - 11:00 a.m. Meditate in the hall or in your room according to the teacher's instructions
11:00 - 12 noon Lunch break
12:00 - 1:00 p.m. Rest, and interviews with the teacher
1:00 - 2:30 p.m. Meditate in the hall or in your room
2:30 - 3:30 p.m. Group meditation in the hall
3:30 - 5:00 p.m. Meditate in the hall or in your room according to the teacher's instructions
5:00 - 6:00 p.m. Tea break
6:00 - 7:00 p.m. Group meditation in the hall
7:00 - 8:15 p.m. Teacher's discourse in the hall
8:15 - 9:00 p.m. Group meditation in the hall
9:00 - 9:30 p.m. Question time in the hall
9:30 p .m. Retire to your room; lights out

 

[TheBeigeBomber]

How do I sign up

find a centre nearest to you

https://www.dhamma.org/en/locations/directory

 

[Matt504]

 

[TheBeigeBomber]

Before, I thought of meditation as a mental and emotional exercise. The physiological symptoms I viewed as secondary to these. The biggest shift was realizing that the deep purpose of mindfulness meditation isn't to practice being calm. While that is a benefit, it isn't primary, but is a side-effect of what is actually happening.

When something unpleasant happens to us, we feel it in our body. We develop a verbal thought about what happened in an attempt to describe it, and we generate a picture in our mind's eye. Then we forget about it. We distract ourselves with entertainment, or drugs, or reddit, and it goes away. Or so it seems at the time.

But around day 7 I had an epiphany as to what was really happening. When something negative happens to you, it's stored in your mind and your body(somehow). When it's stored it is stored at a particular level of emotional strength. When you remember the memory, it recreates the feeling, and causes you pain again.

There is a natural system for purging these pains in the body. Primitive human societies had far less stressors and distractions than we did, so when something bad happened, you had more time to heal. We don't have that now. We are constantly piling new things on, whether positive or negative, that distract us from the pains we have been through.

This disallows the physical systems that are in place, designed to clear psychological pain out, from working effectively. These pains remain stored in the body, and manifest as generalized anxiety, depression, etc...

When you meditate, you're entering a state in which your body can begin to naturally clear out the queue that has built up. However, this isn't necessarily obvious. The ten days lets you really have time to dig in and get things cleared out.

This queue is fairly obvious when you spend the ten days meditating, because every painful thing that has happened to you, starting with the day before the retreat, bubbles into your mind, and then works backwards in time. If you face the memory without responding, the next day you wake up and it carries no emotional weight. Everyone at the retreat had this experience. No one expected it.

There came a time near day seven when I realized that the emotional memory was stored in these pains and knots in my body, that I would do a body scan of a particular part of my body and ask "what are you?". Floods of memories would come out, along with the pain attached to them, and I do my best to face them without reacting. The next day the discomfort in that area would be gone. Remembering the memory would produce no pain.

There is a neurobiological explanation, which is that every time you remember something a copy is re-saved, not the original memory. Each memory has at least three attributes - verbal, visual, and emotional. When a memory is brought up, it is brought to your awareness and you are given the opportunity to re-save it with the emotional weight you now think it deserves. If you panic it is saved with higher emotional weight, if you stay calm it is saved at a lower emotional weight.

 

[DreadBrown]

i dont eat magic mushrooms regurarly. you dont need to. its not like weed. i havent done shrooms in like 4 months or something. my brain is fried because of alcohol abuse mixed with boxing. my friends noticed my bad memory also. its that bad.



im a human being too. i need money to live. my food is running low.

Do us all a favor bro cancel your internet package and use the money to feed yourself

 

[TheBeigeBomber]

Do us all a favor bro cancel your internet package and use the money to feed yourself

should i sell my laptop? i just got it fixed last week. i dont have anything else to sell really.

 

[STEVE]

good for you. i am a yoga teacher who got to do a 30-day intensive teacher training which consisted of nothing but yoga, meditation, chef-prepared vegetarian food, and riding my bike and it was the best most fulfilling experience of my life. i wish you well.

 

[CinnaSlim]

good for you. i am a yoga teacher who got to do a 30-day intensive teacher training which consisted of nothing but yoga, meditation, chef-prepared vegetarian food, and riding my bike and it was the best most fulfilling experience of my life. i wish you well.

Is teaching yoga your main source of income or do you have another job? Because people tell me that you can't live off of teaching yoga.

 

[STEVE]

Is teaching yoga your main source of income or do you have another job? Because people tell me that you can't live off of teaching yoga.

i have another job. yoga money is just free money to me. all the yoga teachers i know who solely teach yoga generally are supported by someone else.

 

[TheBeigeBomber]

@nikkaz In Paris
@KillahKamn

 

[Ninjaz In Paris]

This is where I learned to Meditate out here in Cali...

Meditation has helped me immensely in my pursuit...

 

[HoloGraphic]

@Indica proud of you breh.

This will change you for the better and will add to your boxing.

Remember, you are an observer of life. Endurance.

 

[the cool]

This is where I learned to Meditate out here in Cali...

Meditation has helped me immensely in my pursuit...

how do you meditate... can you help a breh out?