Hacker News Reader

Comment by PuerkitoBio | Hacker News Reader

I don't think you can expect a daily practice to have "an equivalent effect" to a 60-day retreat. I know there are 10-day retreats for vipassana meditation just about everywhere in the world (probably for many other types of meditation too), though I've never been to one (scares the hell out of me to be honest, must be so incredibly hard - both mentally and physically).

I recently started meditating for 20-30 minutes at a time, once or twice a day, and the eerie calmness that settles in when I'm done (for the "good" sessions) is a great feeling. I can only imagine what 10 and 60 days can do.

View on HN

It's worth it. I've done two 10 day courses and you learn to develop your focus in ways that are pretty hard to believe without going through it.

I know about a dozen people who have done the 10-day Goenka course. It is definitely hard work because you are meditating for around 10 hours a day, but it isn't actually what I would call hard to do; all your needs and schedule are taken care of and you just give into it.

A lot of the resistance for me was actually preparing family and clients for me being completely offline and unreachable for 10 days, and going through that was a revelation separate from the benefits of the meditation.

The recommendation I give to everyone is that if you have any interest, just book a course several months out when you think you may be able to make it. If you end up not being able to or not feeling ready, then you can very easily cancel in advance, and there is usually a waiting list anyway. However, booking a spot seems to set the wheels in motion.

Thanks for sharing, good to hear stories from people that have done it.

good to hear stories from people that have done it.

FYI, there are now many articles/blog posts/etc. by people who have done these Vipissana retreats -- this Google search will find you some:

https://www.google.com/search?q=vipissana+10+day+retreats

(Here's one with the details of the daily schedule (among other things), if that's of interest:

https://oneshrinksperspective.com/2013/06/27/i-am-slowly-goi... )

It's important to note that the sales line of this being purely practical without dogma is completely false. Goenka is very clear in the lectures that meditation is all about purifying yourself for reincarnation. There's tons of anti science stuff, like claiming Buddha knew more about physics than the inventor of the cloud chamber.

The entire time, he chants in a dead language, and they want you to blindly recite things in said dead language. He purposely plays with his accent and speaking in order to push a bit of mystical properties to what he's saying (repeating words over and over, laying on a thick accent, whereas at other times he is capable of speaking very clearly).

The actual practise may be fine, but I found the woo-factor to be incredibly high - false advertising.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com