Have you ever spent days on end in silence?
I highly recommend it. There's this quiet, magical place about 20 minutes outside of Merrit, BC were you can sit in silence for 10-day Meditation courses. Vipassana Meditation. I sat for my first time in February of this year. It was one of the most transformative processes I have gone through. (The list of transformation is getting longer as I follow this path - but definitly a key step along the way). The style of meditation is one of truth and experience. Its really hard to discribe to someone who has not had the experience themselves.
The Dhamma Centre (Dhamma means wisdom) is set up so that the only thing you have to focus on is yourself. Selfish you say? Well, kind of, however it is such a beautiful gift to give yourself it is worth every second. The place is away from the noise - there are people there who cook and take care of your every need. The day's schedule is posted each morning when you wake up for your morning meditation. The food is delicious, healthy and designed for a meditator's needs. There are no phones, no computers, no music, no distractions, no books, no journaling. Nothing. Silence. The work being done here is quite serious and deep. It is a non-denomiational place where people from every religion or non-religious background are welcome. They say the practice is universal.
The Centre runs off donations. So once you have sat your 10-day course, you are able to give a donation, or Dana, as they call it in the Pali language. No one can make a donation if they have not had the experience themselve. The people working at the centre while you're meditating are servers (Dhamma workers), working for nothing in return, just in hopes that other meditators can have an environment to go deep in their practice, selflessly serving from a place of love. You can only serve once you have completed a 10-day course as well.
I just got back from serving a 3-day old students course. The experience as a server is quite a bit different from the experience as a meditator. When I was there the first time, I sat in meditated over 100 hours in the 10 day course. I swear at times I was meditating instead of sleeping! This time I was working. We still have our 3 manditory sits a day. Sits of strong determination where you don't move. However, we are up in the morning making Oats for breaky, after breaky we clean and then go sit for an hour. Once that hour sit is done, we start preparing lunch, serve lunch, clean lunch, sit. Back the the kitchen! It was great. A lot of work - but so is sitting. I learned how to cook for 60 people. I made bread (12 loafs) from scratch using the left over oats from breakfast. It says right on the recipe that if you're not getting a workout - you're not doing it right. I learned how to better incorporate meditation into my daily life. It was a great experience. I also served with a man who's goal is to become a monk. I have never met a man with this goal. He would already be one if he could, but you can't be a monk if you have debt, so he is paying off his debt right now. We work a bit more deeply with Metta Meditation. Such a beautiful and amazing practice. I think I like the Vipassana because it gets me to a place where the Metta is stonger and more powerful.
If anyone is interested in this style of meditation or meditation in general - I would love to share with you. Tell you more of this magical place. When I left there the first time - I swore - if everyone had that experience even once in their life - the world would be a better place!
I highly recommend it. There's this quiet, magical place about 20 minutes outside of Merrit, BC were you can sit in silence for 10-day Meditation courses. Vipassana Meditation. I sat for my first time in February of this year. It was one of the most transformative processes I have gone through. (The list of transformation is getting longer as I follow this path - but definitly a key step along the way). The style of meditation is one of truth and experience. Its really hard to discribe to someone who has not had the experience themselves.
The Dhamma Centre (Dhamma means wisdom) is set up so that the only thing you have to focus on is yourself. Selfish you say? Well, kind of, however it is such a beautiful gift to give yourself it is worth every second. The place is away from the noise - there are people there who cook and take care of your every need. The day's schedule is posted each morning when you wake up for your morning meditation. The food is delicious, healthy and designed for a meditator's needs. There are no phones, no computers, no music, no distractions, no books, no journaling. Nothing. Silence. The work being done here is quite serious and deep. It is a non-denomiational place where people from every religion or non-religious background are welcome. They say the practice is universal.
The Centre runs off donations. So once you have sat your 10-day course, you are able to give a donation, or Dana, as they call it in the Pali language. No one can make a donation if they have not had the experience themselve. The people working at the centre while you're meditating are servers (Dhamma workers), working for nothing in return, just in hopes that other meditators can have an environment to go deep in their practice, selflessly serving from a place of love. You can only serve once you have completed a 10-day course as well.
I just got back from serving a 3-day old students course. The experience as a server is quite a bit different from the experience as a meditator. When I was there the first time, I sat in meditated over 100 hours in the 10 day course. I swear at times I was meditating instead of sleeping! This time I was working. We still have our 3 manditory sits a day. Sits of strong determination where you don't move. However, we are up in the morning making Oats for breaky, after breaky we clean and then go sit for an hour. Once that hour sit is done, we start preparing lunch, serve lunch, clean lunch, sit. Back the the kitchen! It was great. A lot of work - but so is sitting. I learned how to cook for 60 people. I made bread (12 loafs) from scratch using the left over oats from breakfast. It says right on the recipe that if you're not getting a workout - you're not doing it right. I learned how to better incorporate meditation into my daily life. It was a great experience. I also served with a man who's goal is to become a monk. I have never met a man with this goal. He would already be one if he could, but you can't be a monk if you have debt, so he is paying off his debt right now. We work a bit more deeply with Metta Meditation. Such a beautiful and amazing practice. I think I like the Vipassana because it gets me to a place where the Metta is stonger and more powerful.
If anyone is interested in this style of meditation or meditation in general - I would love to share with you. Tell you more of this magical place. When I left there the first time - I swore - if everyone had that experience even once in their life - the world would be a better place!
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