This prep guide is put together with the intention to offer a first timer the best experience without actually giving away the experience. There will be core items that are crucial for your success and then the smaller details to clear up your expectations and serve more as an ice breaker. We start with the core items.
Be Clear
You need to be clear why you are spending 10 days of your valuable life to go and experience this Vipassana meditation retreat. You already know it will be challenging for you. You are here to see what else you can gather to help you or if it is even for you to begin with. What intrigued you to go? What do you think you will get out of it? Is it just a challenge to conquer? Are you looking to strengthen your meditation practice? What is there to gain by completing a retreat like this? Are you looking to grow spiritually?
I can tell you it isn’t a place to run away from the world. You will be in your head more than normal and one of the things you will be doing is working on becoming the master of your mind and more. It won’t be a place for fun and games. It’s a place to work hard and make progress in your life without the distractions you would normally deal with. It’s really a pure and quiet place that serves as a safe haven for you to work deeply and effectively. Will you grow from the experience? Who knows, but something will change. If your mind won’t change, then your body will change…something will change. The experience of not talking for 10 days alone will do something as well as eating vegetarian food for 10 days. Who knows what exactly will happen because no one knows the future, but for certain, you won’t be the same as when you started on the 1st day. We’ll dive into the mental and physical aspects of things to get you ready!
Do not blindly believe what others say. See for yourself what brings contentment, clarity and peace. That is the path for you to follow.
Gautama Buddha
The Art of Living
Read or listen to The Art of Living by William Hart. This book will give you a very good idea what to expect of a 10-Day Vipassana meditation retreat; therefore, I suggest you read or listen to it before going for the first time. Something may resonate for you and you will be glad you did.
You can download the book to rear or listen to for free at https://store.pariyatti.org/art-of-living-english-vipassana?redirect=1#freeDownloads
If you want to know a little more you can also watch/listen to this video. https://youtu.be/P97criit1qI
Beginner’s Mind
Beginner’s mind is exactly what it means. It is like being an empty cup so you have space to fill it. If your cup is full (stuff you already know), then there is no space for new things to come in (info from retreat).
For this reason, they ask you to suspend any rites or rituals you already have so that you can give this meditation technique a fair trial without your ego or previous knowledge modifying the program as intended. Even if you see flaws or things you’d love to incorporate into your daily spiritual practice, hold off on “thinking” about all of these things (distracted) and come back to meditating and being present and if anything just observing the thoughts arise and pass away. They will remind you while you are there, but it is good to know this beforehand, so you can take in the instructions as clearly as possible without clouding it with what you already know.
Surrender
Surrender and knowing why you are at the retreat is what will get you through the course. For your first 10-day course, it is very important that you put a lot of effort into surrendering. That means, follow all the rules and guidelines. Don’t question things, because your mind will want to distract itself from meditating. It will come up with whatever it wants. It can be rational or irrational and this could be something that shows up due to feeling the constraint of not having your phone, not being able to talk, no physical contact, course boundaries, eating only what’s given, vegetarian food, physical discomfort from sitting, and the list goes on. You have to really understand that this whole retreat is run on donation. Whoever went before you donated money so they can keep the place running and all the servers working in the kitchen and the teachers are all volunteering for free. Everyone is here to support you and your experience so you can get the most out of it.
Code of Discipline
Go over the code of discipline on the dhamma.org website. https://www.dhamma.org/en-US/about/code
You need to understand all the rules so you can properly surrender your expectations. The closer you can follow these rules, the better, since that means you are surrendering and letting go trying to control what is being offered to you.
Noble Silence
What does Noble Silence mean? During the course you will not be communicating with others. That means silence of body, speech, and mind. You are prohibited from using eye contact, hand gestures, written notes, etc.
When can you speak? You are allowed to speak with the course manager if you have any specific needs of material things and, of course, you can speak with the assistant teacher during the interview and question time.
Why Noble Silence?
- Communicating may cause harm unintentionally or intentionally.
- Communicating about the teachings or experience of the meditation practice may create expectations for other meditators and will hinder their experience/progress.
- Being silent may allow a person to go deeper within and really disconnect and focus on oneself and the meditation.
- Notice how speaking affects you.
- Sparks a different experience from your daily life and allows you to observe yourself in a refreshing way.
- Part of surrender and determination why you are at the retreat.
Understanding Meals
You will receive buffet style meals. At 6:30 am, you will be served breakfast, which may include oatmeal and prunes, cereal, breads and condiments like peanut butter and jam. They will also have yogurt, milk, almond milk, and maybe more. At 11:00 am for lunch, there will be hot food that may include vegetarian stews, soups, chilis, baked tofu, mac & cheese, bean burritos, lasagna, and more. The menu can change so it may vary since each center has their own menu so don’t expect them to all be the same. At 5:00 pm, for tea time, you will be given fruits and possibly lemon water and hot ginger tea. Keep in mind because you are spending most of the day meditating, your body will not need as much food as normal since you are in a resting phase most of the time. You also want to keep in mind that if you eat too much you, will get the itis, bloated, or gassy, and won’t be able to focus on meditating as well.
The big one is to definitely stay hydrated. Feel free to bring your own drink bottle or thermal insulated cup to keep liquid handy throughout the day and night. Just remember, you are not allowed to bring it into the meditation hall, and really you shouldn’t even bring it inside the meditation building.
FYI: Lemon water and ginger tea is good for you. You can see if it helps you when you drink some during tea time.
Practice Your Meditation Seating Position
It is recommended you figure out your most comfortable seating position so you have an idea what to start with. It may change and it may be the same, but it’s a good time to experiment with different ways of sitting if you haven’t figured it out yet. They suggest you sit cross legged with an upright spine, chin tucked a little bit with relaxed jaw, your hands can be overlapping and arms resting on your lap/thighs. You can sit as you’d like and if you need a chair, because of health issues or extreme physical discomfort, you can talk to your course manager about it. For comfort, it seems firmer cushions will be more comfortable because it is less work for your back to stabilize. If you need some support for your hands you can prop them up on a pillow and it will relieve some tension in your shoulders and AC joint. You can also do some light stretching before and after meditating.
The center will provide you with plenty of meditation cushions, benches, backjack, pillows, and blankets for you to borrow during the course. Remember, they do not want you to injure or harm yourself during the course, so if you are having some extreme pain that is holding you back from being able to meditate, let the course manager or assistant teacher know. They will do their best to help you.
Dress Code
- Wear comfortable, simple, and modest clothes.
- Nothing distracting in color or that shows too much skin such as tank tops, shorts, and over the knee skirts. If there is distracting branding on the clothing you can cover it up like with a sweater or jacket or turn it inside out.
- A sample outfit would be loose sweat pants and t-shirt. It will be cooler than normal in the meditation hall so some kind of sweater or jacket comes in handy.
- For footwear, a pair of slip on shoes such as flip flops are convenient especially since you will be taking off your shoes often. Some people also bring extra indoor shoes for their room as well as some closed toe shoes for taking walks outside or if it rains or is cold.
Pre and Post Meditation Exercises
Here’s a few exercises we have available in case you want to incorporate them to prepare and relax your body to meditate.
- Standing Spinal Twists
- http://www.buddhanet.net/bvk_study/bvk22c.htm
- Thoracic extension over foam roller
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81kPLsMt6wY
- Thoracic rotation with foam roller
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7ZFeEZr2sA
- Lunge stretch for hip flexors
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsGPYSQbZx4
- Figure 4 stretch for hip rotators
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8kQfJDB1vE
Tips
- Take care of your body by stretching, walking, resting, and staying hydrated and nourished.
- Work on being less distracted/pulled away by your thoughts and emotions/feelings that arise as you meditate or throughout the day…they all are trying to get in the way of you going within and letting things release as you observe them without becoming reactive to them.
- It’s always good to have a private interview after lunch with an AT, especially your first time. Have an interview with the AT even if you don’t have questions. If anything, you can explain to the AT how you are practicing to see what their feedback is.