gggkkk

Completed a solo retreat (WOW)

9 posts in this topic

Hi forum, I am back from my first week-long retreat. Now I understand what Leo means by real personal development. This truly is an advanced technique for growing yourself emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. I want to share some of the things that I have done and learned. 

I have completed 40 hours of formal meditation. I have assigned different meditation techniques to the numbers on a dice. Every hour or two I would roll the dice and do the technique which corresponds to that number. 
1-Concentration
2-Do Nothing 
3-Mindfulness Meditation 
4-Breathing Meditation 
5-Self Inquiry 
6-Strong Determination Sit 

It was very interesting to slowly see my consciousness rising and reaching a point where I felt connected to life, myself, and being. I started to truly appreciate every little activity (doing the dishes, cooking, eating food, writing, thinking, being alive, looking at the stars).  

I also had many different insights, but the one that shocked me the most is how little I really know about life and reality. It's really easy to get lost and sucked into actualized.org ideas and concepts, create a belief system, and act as if you already know how everything works. As Socrates would say: "The only true wisdom is to know, that you know nothing." 

Although it was a very humbling and profound experience, it doesn't come even close to a psychedelic experience, which increased my respect for those substances even more. 

When I came back home/to society I felt like I was away for decades. I immediately noticed how luxurious my life is, with a decent house, cars, money, technology, people, food which was totally taken for granted 7 days ago. Only by living through such boredom and minimalism, a contrast of lifestyle was created, which helped me realize all of this. 

To those who have never tried a solo retreat, I can say that planning and going for a retreat should be on your top priority list. I will be committing to do at least one of these every year. 

Take care and good luck!

 

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28 minutes ago, gggkkk said:

Although it was a very humbling and profound experience, it doesn't come even close to a psychedelic experience, which increased my respect for those substances even more. 

In what context? In what way?

I just completed a 10 day meditation retreat and walked away feeling that it was much more *transformative* than psychedelics. Psychedelics take me higher no doubt, but the states and insights don’t have a great time sticking around unless Im doing series meditation. 

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@gggkkk Excellent! Good work :)


You are God. You are Truth. You are Love. You are Infinity.

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Love it! Thank you for sharing @gggkkk

I honestly can't wait to finally dive into as many retreats as possible. Retreat-Bucketlist:

  1. meditation & solo retreat
  2. darkroom retreat (solo retreat in total darkness)
  3. psychedelics retreat
  4. darkroom retreat + psychedelics :D

A yearly ritual sounds reasonable and sustainable for the long term but at some point, I probably will want to do this full-time until the 'big' shift happens. 

Keep up the Good work guys!


"The journey never ends, the point of arrival is always now." 

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Awesome work! Solo retreats are the best.


If you have no confidence in yourself, you are twice defeated in the race of life. But with confidence you have won, even before you start.” -- Marcus Garvey

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22 hours ago, Consilience said:

In what context? In what way?

I just completed a 10 day meditation retreat and walked away feeling that it was much more *transformative* than psychedelics. Psychedelics take me higher no doubt, but the states and insights don’t have a great time sticking around unless Im doing series meditation. 

@Consilience Mostly regarding the speed at which your consciousness shifts and the level of the increased awareness. 
I feel this way probably because the psychedelic shows you the contrast between ordinary consciousness and high consciousness so quickly that it truly leaves you baffled and astounded. 
However, I agree with you that retreats are much more effective to gather insights and make serious habitual changes in your life. 

My retreat was only 6.5 days long, so I assume that doing those extra 3.5 days might have made a significant difference.  
 

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11 hours ago, Spiral Wizard said:

Love it! Thank you for sharing @gggkkk

I honestly can't wait to finally dive into as many retreats as possible. Retreat-Bucketlist:

  1. meditation & solo retreat
  2. darkroom retreat (solo retreat in total darkness)
  3. psychedelics retreat
  4. darkroom retreat + psychedelics :D

A yearly ritual sounds reasonable and sustainable for the long term but at some point, I probably will want to do this full-time until the 'big' shift happens. 

Keep up the Good work guys!

@Spiral Wizard It's a creative bucket list although number 4 takes balls to do. I would even suggest you add number 5. Sensory deprivation tank + psychedelics. 

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Beautiful! I like the dice idea. 

I'd love to do my first retreat this year! Hopefully lockdown ends here by summer so I can book a place to stay. ? 


"Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it" -Rumi

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