Rethinking Meditation Retreats

[Tboy]

I've been doing the satisfaction meditation for about 6 years now and its completely changed my life. I just completed one year of doing it for an hour 6 days a week and 1 day of 30 mins (before that I was just doing 30 mins 6 days a week).

I've recently started having more difficult meditation sessions, where my ego starts fighting back and as I stay with it I go through very difficult emotions and process trauma. This is good but is very hard to sustain for more than an hour and even that can be too much.

My trauma healing coach says that you don't want to overdo this and fully overwhelm yourself as it becomes counterproductive to the healing process after a point.

I was planning on doing 3 meditation retreats this year but I don't know what to do if a ton of trauma comes up - it doesn't seem productive to force myself to still do a full day of meditation if a ton of unexpected trauma comes up that I can barely handle for 1 hour, let alone 7 or 8 per day.

 

Maybe its like weight lifting and I'm just not advanced enough yet to handle that amount of meditation and I will eventually be able to do that? 

 

What do you guys think?

[Ramasta9]

The path of Truth should not feel forced, rather the path of least resistance and effortless action. I rarely meditate these days, i just live more mindfully and simply, and yet there are many who religiously meditate for hours and hours and still have little to no peace or calm in their being. 

They still have no idea what Truth or True Nature is, they still don't know who they truly are, cause they are trying and forcing and striving to get beyond themselves, not realizing by simply being, there you always are.

I go through phases but nowadays for me meditation is more about being more mindful and present in all areas and aspects of life, this then becomes effortless meditation. Life is a balancing act, don't do things religiously, observe the cues and signs, ebbs and flows, balance between movement and stillness. 

Each moment is a unique calling of being. 

[Elliott]

What kind of meditation at the retreats? Ya, rumination type meditations can often be unhealthy. Mindfulness and transcendental meditation should have a cleansing effect.

[bazera]

@Tboy

Quote

I was planning on doing 3 meditation retreats this year but I don't know what to do if a ton of trauma comes up

You could always terminate your retreat and get back to home, couldn't you? If it becomes unbearable. Do you usually get trauma surfacing when you meditate for long hours?

Also, what exactly do you do during your "satisfaction" meditation? What's the technique?

Edited 3 hours ago by bazera