Surviving 8 days of silent meditation (plus thriving and evolving, too)

I've been getting all sorts of questions about my eight-day, (mostly) silent meditation retreat.

So I'd love to share a little bit of my experience and answer some common questions here.

To give a little background, I have been practicing meditation since the end of 2006 and have sat more than 129 days in silence.

I love it. AND IT CAN SURE SUCK. 😩

And it’s the thing that’s transformed my life (so much more than anything else). 🙂

So whether you have a practice (or not), I invite you to remember a few things.

First thing’s first: make this part of your life if you haven't already. In other words, just do it (and keep reading for reasons why).

Next: meditation is a practice. Just like anything that you practice — is to remember that it is a PRACTICE. Yes, you will make mistakes, learn, enjoy, dislike, and everything in between.

Another thing (especially these days) is that you can do meditation retreats from home. This was my first one from home. Previously, I have done retreats in India, California, and New York. So it was interesting to be in my own space with the neighborhood sounds and the cats.

And periodically peeking at my email. (Don't tell the teacher I said that!)

But even with the challenges and distractions of being at home, I was still able to get into and hold that sacred space. (Earplugs were very helpful. So was white noise.)

As far as the actual sitting goes...

... the schedule went from 5:30am until bedtime, around 10pm. At this retreat, I satt an hour an average of eight hours a day. (I've been at other retreats where it's been more like 12.)

It's incredible to practice understanding your mind more deeply and how it moves around so easily. And how essentially we're all crazy people. And I say that with love. Because compassion towards oneself is so important.

Not just in life, but especially on retreat. Being compassionate to yourself, not judging yourself for having a monkey mind. Forgiving yourself for being antsy or uncomfortable as you're sitting for extended periods of time.

One of the things I especially appreciated about this retreat and this practice is the emphasis on walking meditation. But not the slow ponderous kind of walking meditation that you might picture... but an energetic stroll that gets your blood pumping.

Not only was the walking an amazing way to wrap up a long session of sitting, it was also a great way to prepare for a session of sitting (as a way to be both energized and relaxed).

So I invite you to meditate. And if you're off the wagon, get back on and keep going. It will continue to change your life and impact the people you serve.

And there are so many more things I could say and share and talk about but I just like to wrap it up with one of the most important parts of my experience.

It's the absolute necessity and criticality of smiling and relaxing and smiling and relaxing into everything that comes up in our meditation — and in our lives.

All the joys all the pains all the sorrows.

Heaven the hell and everything in between.

The more we relax into what arises, the lighter our mind becomes. And the more we are able to respond instead of reacting. And to keep developing ourselves in such a way that we stop suffering and be happy, no matter what's happening in our lives or in the world.

(How does THAT sound?)

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Photo by Alexas Fotos on Unsplash