meditation bootcamp
Oxymoron much?
I don't have time to elaborate on why I want to do this, I just want to give a little background and then request your input.
Back in February 2004, I did my first 10-day meditation retreat. It was the Vipassana Meditation retreat and it was totally life-changing. I went knowing very little about Buddhism or meditation at the time, but I went because it was recommended to me from two different people (as in, their paths didn't cross at all, they were divergent personalities) and someone lent me a book about it. The fact that it was by donation sealed the deal; not just because I'm usually broke but also because I don't believe anyone should have to pay for spiritual enlightenment (I don't believe spirituality as anything to do with religion, but I am decidedly agnostic). It was also a dire emotional time for me...I was getting over my first "oh shit I fell in love" moments and my father had passed away a few months before as well. I'd also just started doing yoga (something I also want to get back into!)
I went back to the same place in August 2006, to sort of "reset" myself before I went back to school (uh...when I was transitioning back from my experience in Brasil and just going to college to do some science transfer courses, before SFU), and I went back to work in the kitchen because I could not afford donating and I wanted to return the service. I also wanted to only meditate 3 hours a day, rather than the 10 hours a day that you have to sit through, but it was met with falling asleep and SNORING in the meditation hall and getting poked with sticks with the people behind me (I had sprained my ankle on site the first day I arrived and had a walking stick). While I laugh at it now, it certainly gave me a traumatic association with doing it.
Anyway, I would like to do another retreat again. Perhaps over the Christmas/New Year's holiday. I'm not sure I would like to go back to Vipassana. Actually, I know I would like to try something different. 10 days is good. Fewer days is fine but more than just a weekend. No talking except to the instructor would be ideal. Something a little less rigid though...I remember Vipassana being CRAZY strict with sitting posture that I would feel bad if I was responding to my "sankara" by moving. No, sitting cross-legged for 10 hours a day and moving only once an hour is NOT good for the body!!!
I Googled "British Columbia Meditation Retreats" and found a lot of them but I don't want to get sucked into yuppie frou frou middle class whitesville wannabe hippie land either. That's what I liked about Vipassana; it was very real and not "trendy". I'd prefer to go to one that I was recommended to and one that had a good mix of meditation and...? I don't know what else.
All I know is I need to hit the reset button...!
I don't have time to elaborate on why I want to do this, I just want to give a little background and then request your input.
Back in February 2004, I did my first 10-day meditation retreat. It was the Vipassana Meditation retreat and it was totally life-changing. I went knowing very little about Buddhism or meditation at the time, but I went because it was recommended to me from two different people (as in, their paths didn't cross at all, they were divergent personalities) and someone lent me a book about it. The fact that it was by donation sealed the deal; not just because I'm usually broke but also because I don't believe anyone should have to pay for spiritual enlightenment (I don't believe spirituality as anything to do with religion, but I am decidedly agnostic). It was also a dire emotional time for me...I was getting over my first "oh shit I fell in love" moments and my father had passed away a few months before as well. I'd also just started doing yoga (something I also want to get back into!)
I went back to the same place in August 2006, to sort of "reset" myself before I went back to school (uh...when I was transitioning back from my experience in Brasil and just going to college to do some science transfer courses, before SFU), and I went back to work in the kitchen because I could not afford donating and I wanted to return the service. I also wanted to only meditate 3 hours a day, rather than the 10 hours a day that you have to sit through, but it was met with falling asleep and SNORING in the meditation hall and getting poked with sticks with the people behind me (I had sprained my ankle on site the first day I arrived and had a walking stick). While I laugh at it now, it certainly gave me a traumatic association with doing it.
Anyway, I would like to do another retreat again. Perhaps over the Christmas/New Year's holiday. I'm not sure I would like to go back to Vipassana. Actually, I know I would like to try something different. 10 days is good. Fewer days is fine but more than just a weekend. No talking except to the instructor would be ideal. Something a little less rigid though...I remember Vipassana being CRAZY strict with sitting posture that I would feel bad if I was responding to my "sankara" by moving. No, sitting cross-legged for 10 hours a day and moving only once an hour is NOT good for the body!!!
I Googled "British Columbia Meditation Retreats" and found a lot of them but I don't want to get sucked into yuppie frou frou middle class whitesville wannabe hippie land either. That's what I liked about Vipassana; it was very real and not "trendy". I'd prefer to go to one that I was recommended to and one that had a good mix of meditation and...? I don't know what else.
All I know is I need to hit the reset button...!