Yesterday I returned from a 10 day silent Vipassana meditation retreat and feel mentally exhausted but in the best possible way, like my brain has received an upgrade.
I am calmer, clear headed and reconnected to my sense of self. Having said that eight hours of meditation a day is challenging and the schedule is not for the faint hearted.
Here’s what a typical day looks like:
Daily schedule
Wake up at 4am questioning my life choices and begin meditating by 4:30am. After a short break, try and stay awake whilst listening to a discourse on a Buddhist teaching from 5:45am for one hour.
Breakfast at 6:30am and then free to rest. I would often go to sleep in my dormitory until the next meditation session at 8am until 9am.
Meditation and group interviews from 9:30am - 11:00. This was an opportunity to ask our teacher any questions we had on the meditation practice or about anything related to the dharma (the Buddha’s teachings).
Lunch at 11am followed by free time to rest, read (but only Buddhist related texts!) or walk in the beautiful grounds.
12:30pm - 1:30pm afternoon meditation session, followed by a short break and then from 2:30 - 3:30 yep, you guessed it - more meditation.
Late afternoon consisted of another meditation session and a second group interview and then more meditation between 6pm - 8:30pm.
And then ideally lights out by 9pm, by which point I was exhausted.
The type of meditation
Vipassana meditation develops one pointedness, by focussing on a particular area underneath the nose and above the lip. As one becomes aware of the sensations of feeling the breath in the same area, we develop calmness of mind.
During the second half of the retreat we focused on insight meditation. I don’t want to go into too much detail as it really needs to be experienced first hand, but by noticing the different sensations that arise in our body, we can become more aware of the Buddhist principle of impermanence (change).
This meditation practice is the purest form of what the Buddha taught 2,500 years ago and is supposedly the most effective way to reach Nirvana a.k.a. enlightenment/the end of suffering. And who doesn’t want that?!
The lineage
My retreat was at the International Meditation Centre in Heddington, UK. ICM was founded by Sayagyi U Ba Khin in Rangoon in 1952. He created the ten day course with lay people in mind, who worked full time jobs and would not be able to spend months on end meditating in a cave or forest.
Our teacher was Roger Bischoff, who I cannot speak highly enough. He has taught at the ICM since 1989 and his direct way of teaching was very effective. He combines humour, insight and a delivers the words of the Buddha in a simple but profound way.
I was unaware that there are two separate Vipassana retreats in the UK. One is taught by S.N. Goenka and the other that I attended, was founded Mother Sayamagyi (who Roger assisted for many years). Both are in the tradition of Sayagyi U Ba Khin, but the later is a softer, more heart centred approach, whilst S.N. Goenka’s is much stricter.
That’s not to say that my experience was easy. As you can see from the schedule, it was rigorously structured, but there was an emphasis on not forcing the meditation. If we needed to rest, we were advised to do so and no individual meditation session lasted more than an hour. Although we could continue for longer if we chose to.
I feel fortunate that I unintentionally chose the later, as the style of teaching worked for me. Everyone is different and others might need the added discipline, so as always D.Y.O.R kids.
The effects of silence
As I’d been on previous retreats I didn’t find the silence too challenging. What tends to happen for me is that by day five, a surge of energy builds up and I get a tonne of creative ideas. I become playful in nature and think up ideas for films, sketches and anything else that makes me laugh inwardly. The challenging part was not being able to write any of them down, as we were advised not to.
I had a dormitory buddy that I chatted to on the first night pre-silence. Throughout the retreat, we’d often give each other a motivating fist bump or share a passing wink or knowing smile. Technically we weren’t allowed to do this, but what can I say, I’m a bad Buddhist!
Not speaking to people that you are surrounded with for ten days, is an odd experience. I began to draw up conclusions in my head on other participants and their lives. I made assumptions based on the way they walked, what they wore and how stern faced they were. Part of the magic of breaking the silence on the final day is realising how wrong I was and that everyone was going through a similar process.
The food
The food alone was worth going for! There are a team of lovely volunteers who live on site and many of them have done for years. They grow a lot of the fruit and vegetables and as a result the ingredients were fresh af. We were served vegetarian food for the first nine days and then surprisingly chicken on the last.
Interestingly they take a different view on the eating of meat from other Buddhist practices. I won’t go into my views on it, but I did chat it through with Roger and was satisfied with his take on it.
Final thoughts
Would I go again? One hundred percent. I came into the retreat feeling quite scattered and left with a sense of calm and inner peace.
I enjoyed Rogers direct teachings of the dharma, which have reaffirmed why I first felt a strong pull towards Buddhism. Now more than ever we need tools to train our mind and Vipassana meditation offers this in a very practical way.
Another positive takeaway was the people I met. Meditation retreats attract interesting and open minded individuals and when you’ve spent ten days in silence together, you share a literally, unspoken bond. People came from all over the world to attend the retreat, which has meant some new global friendships in the making!
Finally, when the ten days are over there is a real sense of accomplishment. Like completing any challenge, such as a triathlon or sticking with BJJ, despite getting battered by Men ten years younger, you feel proud of your stickability.
And so if you’re thinking of going, my advise would be do it and experience the sound of silence.
Steve John tried his best to hold it in, but eventually the brain fart turned into an actual one and the sound of silence was broken forever.