Winter retreat
lobster
Crusty Veteran
Despite dire warnings ... tsk, tsk ...
Is meditation dangerous?
https://www.researchgate.net/post/Can_meditation_have_negative_side_effects
Is yoga bad for you?
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/08/magazine/how-yoga-can-wreck-your-body.html
... I have been on a solo retreat, coming to an end shortly. It has been wonderful.
I do an hour of formal practice using the insighttimer app. I have only been out of the retreat house twice, once to a local temple and once for a walk around a nearby boating lake. That really is Rudolph in the pic. He got his red nose whilst listening to the Buddhas first lecture - that is if you can believe stone statues ... The squirrel in the other pic had just been squabbling with local parrots about tree access rights. Parrots won. I reassurred him - all is change ...
The rest of the time I am free to watch the open sky, comedy on youtube and the posts on NewBuddhist. Wot you thought solo retreat meant [insert expectation] ....
My retreat. My rules. 
The yoga I am doing is extremely gentle Hatha yoga. Really based around using the mind to relax in a very gentle posture. The child is a good one and the cat asana. I even did a candle meditation, which I have not done for years. Basically you focus attention on a candle flame.
I sleep when I want. Eat when hungry. Bubble bath and chant whenever ...
Fed the local birds and foxes a couple of times. No itinerary, which would not work for me.
Is retreat possible for a short time, internal, best amongst others or done formally?
Share.
Comments
Those articles lump all forms of meditation into "meditation".
I'd like to see studies on single pointed Breath Meditation versus dry Vipassana.
You'd see entirely different results.
Those practicing single pointed meditation correctly would wind up with clearer thinking, better concentration, and mental tranquility.
Also, I swear my IQ has risen because of single pointed meditation.
Bold statement.....
What can I say. I'm a Samatha guy.
(In best 'Forrest Gump' voice) "Samatha said as Samatha does, Lootennint Dan...."
I think it's harder to do retreats of any kind when you are involved in a family and have a demanding and tiring job....
For me, 'mini-retreat' doesn't cover it. I'm lucky if I get a half hour to myself.
I get a mini-retreat every school day, as my kids are all in school and husband is at work. I do yoga and meditate and read and take baths and drink tea and spend time making nourishing food. When 3pm comes and everyone comes home, it's back to the rat race, lol. But the peace I generate carries through my day most of the time. I do take a more "formal" individual retreat in the summer and take the kayak and my tent and spend a weekend alone camping. Different, but the same benefits.
Meditation: I strongly prefer vipassana meditation myself. I spent several years focused on samata but at this point for me I get more benefits from expanding awareness outwards rather than coming back inside. I still do both, because I think balance is important and often what I desire the most isn't what I actually need.
I do yoga every day, but I balance it out with stronger practices and gentle/yin practices. Today is supposed to be a strong practice but I might substitute something else in. It's done everything but wreck my body. Regular daily life wrecks my body,