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july2019yogajournal.com.auWhathappenswhena seasonedyogateacherandmeditationpractitionergoes
ona 10-daysilentvipassanameditationretreat?LaurenEckstromreports.
WE TRIEDIT
Om
PHOTO: KRISTINAJOVANOVIC;ISTOCKPHOTO.COMThe Sound of
SILENCE
I’VE BEEN MEDITATING FOR A LONG TIME,
but as I arrived for my first 10-day
vipassana retreat, I was terrified. What
have I gotten myself into? I wondered
as I drove down the dirt path to the
California Vipassana Meditation
Centre. What if we get dragged into
another world war and no one can
reach me?
My nerves were running high. I was
about to spend a whopping 10 hours
and 45 minutes a day in seated
meditation in complete silence—no
phone, computer, journal, books,
exercise, yoga, or speaking.
Not talking seemed like it was
going to be easy. As a yoga and
meditation teacher, I spend all day
every day using my voice. Silence felt
like a welcome reprieve. But no
journalling, reading, or yoga? That felt
downright cruel.
As I unpacked my bags and the
many meditation cushions and props I
had indulgently dragged with me, I
was aware that despite my years of
yoga practice, the most challenging
part of this retreat was likely going to
be the physical discomfort that would
arise from all those hours of sitting. I
walked to the small pond on the
women’s side of the centre—men and
women are separated during the
retreat—and took a seat near a small
stream. I could hear frogs ribbit as a
beautiful dragonfly buzzed near me.
Nature was telling me it would be OK.
I began to settle in.
That evening, as 50 women entered
the meditation hall, I gazed around at
the people I would be sitting with in