A personal account of a ten-day vipassana meditation retreat

[soundofwater]

The Voodoo Bone Lady's predictionThe Voodoo Bone Lady of New Orleans had predicted that August 8 would be my lucky day this year. I burned the date into my brain and waited to see what luck would bring me

Comments

[thedarkcrystal]

I often experience pain as cathartic and spiritual, but I don't think I would want to put myself through this. You should be impressed with yourself for managing.

Just a random thought: If you are gay or bisexual then how would distancing you from people of the opposite sex help with the sex thing?

[soundofwater]

I was wondering the same thing! I guess they can't account for everybody.

vipassana and homosexuality

[thedarkcrystal]

here is S.N.Goenka's response to a similar query

[kadenza]

Oh, interesting! You made it! I was wondering about you last week and if that's what you were up to. How many people gave up, would you say? And what was your first meal on the "outside"?

[soundofwater]

On the men's side, four students left partway through the course, and I heard that one student on the women's side left before the course started. The women were definitely able to handle the course better than men were; they used fewer chairs and back rests, too.

I had an elaborate plan to lavishly spend $50 in a steakhouse after I left the retreat, but I ended up eating whatever was in my fridge. I think my first meal was an ice cream bar and grocery store quiche. The quiche had a little bit of ham in it.

[epi_lj]

It'd almost be worth doing it just to learn how to sit cross-legged for lengthy periods of time.

[soundofwater]

It claims to be the ancient meditation technique that led to Gautama Buddha's enlightenment, stripped of modern-day Buddhism's sectarian impurities.