a letter from Vipassana

Here's the text of an email I wrote a friend regarding my Vipassana experience, a teaser of a much longer article I'm working on.
it was the most grueling thing i'd ever done. i was pushed to the limits of my mental tolerance. it is not easy stuff to do.
i don't think it has any particular agenda, but i didn't enjoy their "If you are doing Vipassana correctly, you'll want other people to join." philosophy. Otherwise, there doesn't seem to be anything suspicious or fishy about it.
Most of the people, on the last day when we could talk, seemed to have loved the experience. i was mostly just glad to get out of there, but i admit that i was curious as to what effect it would have on my daily life. thus far, it's hard to say. i think i'm still recovering from the lack of sleep and food (i lost 8 lbs!), so i'm hesitant to gauge any differences in my emotions and reactions.
it might be a lot less shocking if you are already in the habit of meditating every day, which most of the others seemed to have. As a non-practitioner, I found it quite a bit to take. I was very tempted on the 2nd or 3rd day to just leave and forget the whole thing.
but in the end i'm glad i persevered and stayed, if only for the experience. i don't know if i can recommend it, but maybe my mind will change later. right now i can only remember the suffering and intensity.

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