Saturday, January 30, 2010

A spiritual adventure?

I'm leaving later tonight to participate in a 10-day immersion course on the Vipassana technique of meditation. The course is held in the city of Bodhgaya, where the Buddha achieved enlightenment.

I'm not exactly doing this for fun; I don't see how there's any way you can have much fun with the stringent rules that students are expected to follow, and besides, the course isn't meant to be just a novelty act. The morning wake-up call is at 4am, with 10 hours of meditation interspersed throughout the day. No talking, physical contact, eye contact, reading, writing, electronic devices, or distractions of any kind. I think the course will involve some real mental fortitude, and I'm anxious to see if I can get through it without succumbing to psychological monsters.

I can't promise that I'll return a changed woman, but there will certainly be reflections to come when I return on February 13th. If you're interested in what I'll be doing, you can watch some videos here.

6 comments:

Lexie said...

ohhhh this sounds really amazing. i first read about this sort of thing in eat, pray, love. i cant wait to read about your experience.

Unknown said...

Agreed - you must write about this when you're back.

Eugenia said...

Sounds incredible. I hope you have a good journey!

Manish Majgaonkar said...

hey I like the term 'Spiritual Adventure' ;)

Unknown said...

I know it will be awhile before you read this..mostly b/c this thing above sounds awesome.

But anyways, I am actually not taking off a semester but working from online plus academic hours for this internship.

Jacob said...

I did some brussel sprouts in a cast iron pan, cut in half like you talked about. They were awesome. It was like eating a tiny delicious cabbage.