Any one that done a vipassana retreat ?

[Ash55]

My intuition is nudging me to do retreat for a while now for more than a year, but am not in a first world country am currently in Egypt moving to Syria I wanted to do it in a desert in Egypt  but now Am thinking about the lush northern Syrian mountains, i would love to hear your experience if you had one even if its a different type of retreat, what i have in mind now is eating only one time a day something super simple like dates and fruits, silence no talking, Meditating several hours a day for 11 days or so, I hope to hear your thoughts, I also thinking about 2-3 months Beast next years not sure about that, Am wondering how many people I should do it with too, I met someone that did a vipassana retreat in dahab but i didn't have enough time to ask him for details, and never met an expert on this topic very difficult to do so for me, my business didn't take off yet tho i had small wins I really really feel like doing that  retreat tho
 

[Tistepiste]

Hey, I have done two Vipassana retreats. I post here to remind myself to write something when I'm home 

[Flowerfaeiry]

I’ve done two. But it’s been a few years. It’s very very intense, if you’re doing the Goenka one. 

[Recursoinominado]

I've done three 10-day vipassana retreats—two as a student and one as a server.

Yes, it is always difficult, no matter how you look at it, even for veteran practitioners but it is doable, the drop-out rate is surprisingly low. 

The first one was the worst, I was very immature, at the beginning of my spiritual journey, although I was more prepared (I was doing 1h meditation sessions without moving every day), I still had a lot of trauma and went through a hardcore purging of emotions. Mostly, anger, lots of anger.

Also, the physical pain from sitting several 1h periods in a row every day was horrible but I managed to pull through by changing my seating positions (one time cross-legged with a pillow, then one my knees with a meditation stool and then, when things got worse, with a meditation chair).

The boredom is painful too, especially for us addicted to our phones and music and all of that. 

I suggest you to prepare beforehand by doing at least 1h meditation sessions without moving every day until this is easy for you, then do a dopamine detox 1 week before you go and quit caffeine 5 days before (quit cold turkey during the retreat and had horrible headaches and neck pain the first 3 days). 

[Leo Gura]

If you are doing a formal retreat, they will take care of the food for you.

[Harikrishnan]

Did 2 10 days and a dozen short retreats. Great experience. Once you have done one full 10 day retreat then you can go do short retreats, that is a great thing.

[Daniel123]

I did five 10-day courses and joined one as a server.

My first retreat was just a few months after I tried meditation for the first time. On day seven, the pain of all the sitting got so bad that after one meditation session I rushed to my room and cried into my pillow in anguish. The very next meditation session I had my first mystical experience, being in total surrender and watching the pain dissolve into just vibration.

This was the moment I got hooked into spirituality, one of the best decisions to join the retreat for me personally.

It can be very challenging at times, the timetable is quite harsh, but at the end of each course, everyone I talked to was happy to have joined.

[Ash55]

On 3/8/2025 at 3:50 AM, Leo Gura said:

If you are doing a formal retreat, they will take care of the food for you.

We don't have a formal ones in Syria i think, and organizing it my self with few friends  should be possible i think

@Leo Gura  I hope you don't mind answering this, I believe you have blogs about retreat I haven't seen them yet but i would love to ask you, what are the most effective ones you have done

Or to frame the question better way if you would to go back in time what retreat would do to achieve full awakening

 

On 3/7/2025 at 2:48 PM, Tistepiste said:

Hey, I have done two Vipassana retreats. I post here to remind myself to write something when I'm home 

Love to hear out from you  @Tistepiste
 

 

On 3/8/2025 at 3:15 AM, Flowerfaeiry said:

’ve done two. But it’s been a few years. It’s very very intense, if you’re doing the Goenka one. 

Goenka  what is that a new fruit ? lol  jk
Was the retreat just meditation and silence mostly ? was the place super quit ? I wanna get better and better idea on what i should expect and do

 

On 3/8/2025 at 3:45 AM, Recursoinominado said:

I suggest you to prepare beforehand by doing at least 1h meditation sessions without moving every day until this is easy for you,

I been meditating everyday almost everyday for the past 6 years
 

 

On 3/8/2025 at 3:45 AM, Recursoinominado said:

then do a dopamine detox 1 week before you go and quit caffeine 5 days before (quit cold turkey during the retreat and had horrible headaches and neck pain the first 3 days). 

Cool idea to do a dopamine detox 1 week before

[Ash55]

On 3/8/2025 at 7:26 AM, Daniel123 said:

cried into my pillow in anguish.

that is a bit crazy

 

On 3/8/2025 at 7:26 AM, Daniel123 said:

I did five 10-day courses and joined one as a server.

done any retreat longer than 10 days ??

 

On 3/8/2025 at 7:26 AM, Daniel123 said:

It can be very challenging at times, the timetable is quite harsh, but at the end of each course, everyone I talked to was happy to have joined.

Can you tell me more about timetable

[PurpleTree]

No i haven’t done any so far.

I’ve researched where they are near me, that’s about as far as it got.

[Daniel123]

15 hours ago, Ash55 said:

that is a bit crazy

I was very inexperienced at that time though, so don't let this deter you

15 hours ago, Ash55 said:

done any retreat longer than 10 days ??

No ,not so far. They require sitting a few 10-day courses and some more prerequisites before going for a longer course.

15 hours ago, Ash55 said:

Can you tell me more about timetable

You can read about it here at the bottom of the page:

https://www.dhamma.org/en/about/code

[Tistepiste]

On 7-3-2025 at 1:48 PM, Tistepiste said:

Hey, I have done two Vipassana retreats. I post here to remind myself to write something when I'm home 

Better late than never.

So I have done two retreats. Both in Belgium, Dilsem Stokkem.

I must say, the location and center are amazing. The food perhaps even better.

The organisation is very professional, and the same structure is followed in every location around the world. Even the menu of the food (afaik).

Everything is taken care of for you, they want you to focus on your meditation as distraction-free as possible.

For a first retreat, this is probably your best take.

My two cents:

- It can feel a bit dogmatic. It is good to realize he is teaching a method influenced by his teachers 

- He focusses attention on the bodily senses. Which can get you into deep meditation. I've went through different stages quickly on my first retreat.

I want to say more, but I am hesitant as I don't want to influence your experience too much.

My advice, if you go, go with all your energy and without expectations or ideas.

Accept his teachings fully, at least in that moment.

Always happy to talk about your experience afterwards 

Bon voyage!

Edited August 25 by Tistepiste

[theleelajoker]

Maybe will be relevant for others, I reply even if it's old thread.

16 hours ago, Tistepiste said:

Better late than never.

So I have done two retreats. Both in Belgium, Dilsem Stokkem.

I must say, the location and center are amazing. The food perhaps even better.

The organisation is very professional, and the same structure is followed in every location around the world. Even the menu of the food (afaik).

Everything is taken care of for you, they want you to focus on your meditation as distraction-free as possible.

For a first retreat, this is probably your best take.

My two cents:

- It can feel a bit dogmatic. It is good to realize he is teaching a method influenced by his teachers 

- He focusses attention on the bodily senses. Which can get you into deep meditation. I've went through different stages quickly on my first retreat.

I want to say more, but I am hesitant as I don't want to influence your experience too much.

My advice, if you go, go with all your energy and without expectations or ideas.

Accept his teachings fully, at least in that moment.

Always happy to talk about your experience afterwards 

Bon voyage!

Aligns very well with my experience. Food tastes like 5 star deluxe menu almost every time : )

On 8.3.2025 at 2:45 AM, Recursoinominado said:

I suggest you to prepare beforehand by doing at least 1h meditation sessions without moving every day until this is easy for you, then do a dopamine detox 1 week before you go and quit caffeine 5 days before (quit cold turkey during the retreat and had horrible headaches and neck pain the first 3 days). 

I agree on the pain part from @Recursoinominado above. The dopamin and caffeine stuff can certainly be useful.

The 1h part - well, I went there first time with basically zero meditation experience. Even later, I never was able to sit 1h before without moving. You can easily and quickly pick up this ability duriing the 10 days, so you can relax about that. IME, the majority of old and new students can't do this when starting the reareat (inlcuding myself). 

IME als integration is key, it's good to have someone to talk about if afterwards.