Dharamsala - 10 day retreat

Yesterday ended the 10 day meditation-retreat and I am glad I can move freely again, communicate and have my own space. During the past 10 days all students followed a very tight and strict program starting at 4:30 am and lasting until 9:30 pm with short breaks for breakfast, lunch and a little rest. We spent about 10 hours a day sitting and meditating in a big hall learning different techniques while we lived the rest of the time in an monastery like environment in small huts or rooms for two or three persons. Basically the meditation-course was about purifying several levels of the mind by concentrating on the observation of one´s respiration or body-sensations. The fact, that according to the rules we were not allowed to communicate, read, write or do any other activity apart from meditating and satisfying our basic needs helped a lot to calm down the mind and improve it´s capacity of concentration. After a few days I managed to sit for one hour without moving at all, staying present, focusing on the changing sensations of my body. I don´t want to go much into detail here about what the meditation and what it is or is not because it is very difficult to explain something which is rather an experience than a theoretical concept, but I am happy to explain in more detail to those of you who want to know more as soon as we meet in real life again…

The experience of sharing one´s life with about 100 students of different social, cultural and geographical backgrounds had it´s surreal and funny aspects. The lack of movement and the two rather heavy meals (containing beans, peas, milk, chai…) per day had their consequences on the digestive systems of the students. So at times I started doubting if I was attending a meditation course or a fart-camp ;) The hilarious thing about the situation was the fact, that due to the rule of "noble silence" - no communication what so ever - nobody was supposed to react or say anything about the bio-chemical attacks of his neighbors, so some people toke advantage of that and ventilated their bodies in a shameless manner. By the 10th day I could identify the originator of a given fart or eruption by it´s sound and I started wearing ear- and sometimes even nose-plugs ;)))

Before and after the retreat I had the opportunity to explore the mountains around Dharamshala together with other travelers. We found some magical spots by accident climbing around some mountains… I leave you with some impressions. See you soon in real life. Big hug


PS. I know I am asking a lot, but I would really love to know who actually reads this… the only way for me tho find out is when you post a comment. So please don´t be shy, just imagine you are on Facebook and leave me few words or lines ;)))